[StevenForth]

I find this silly to the point of absurdity. I spend far too much time online, read laterally as much as vertically, and have no trouble reading books. I spend 1-2 hours a day reading books of all sorts and have never noticed this attention gathering issue. My kids, who grew up online, also read books and do not seem to have this issue. My granddaughter, who interacts with the Internet mostly through voice at this point (yes, my son has one of those devices and it is interesting to ask her what she thinks she is talking to when she has a conversation with Google) is also quite able to sit down and read a book and spends about an hour reading to herself most days. I don't think any of us are special. I think this is an invented claim being used to make a polemical point.