Is it hard for you to read a thick book?

Question

I've heard that modern people can't read a book without thinking about some smartphone service that gives them a dopamine hit. Is it possible to have a smartphone and still enjoy reading thick books? Especially if you're young and don't remember a world before smartphones.

ggm · Accepted Answer

I enjoy kindles because i can adjust point size.
I don't miss paper, and I don't worry about the length of the written word.
I do find my concentration has lapsed somewhat, I read in small chunks but I do read to the end. Mostly.
What I want is >600dpi e-ink. We've been stuck in 200dpi for a long time. And I would prefer a form factor closer to classic paperback. Boox may come close. Colour boox is 160dpi so is worse, and I'm told the contrast isn't great. Kindles are crap at illustrations.
For context, I grew up in an academic household in the 60s and 70s with over 10,000 books of all kinds, and I married a bookseller and we had 5,000 or so at home until the last decade when we downsized. We now have a few hundred kept for sentimental reasons, under 1,000. We both almost exclusively read kindles. Old eyes prefer larger font.

haebom · Answer

I also grew up in a home filled with books when I was young. Reading was my parents' favorite thing about me, and I benefited greatly from it.
I think the recent difficulty people have with reading books stems less from dopamine addiction and more from the sheer abundance of content more appealing than books.
Even when books were mainstream, there were always people who preferred television or comic books. Nowadays, it's even common for people to buy books based solely on the title and author, then take a photo of their purchase and upload it to social media as their goal.
I heard from a friend who works at a publishing company that these days, books written by influencers sell better than those written by professors or experts.