[pmg101]

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries, novels were regarded as the video games or TikTok of their age — shallow, addictive, and dangerous [0]

You can interpret that as either "there's always a moral panic about anything new" or (my own take) "this is how far we have fallen".

[0] https://clivethompson.medium.com/why-novels-will-destroy-you...

[ramblenode]

There may always be a moral panic but that doesn't mean every moral panic is equally misplaced.

Most high school age children of the 1800s weren't inclined to read novels 12+ hours a day and neglect their sleep and hygiene to finish a few more chapters...

[bcjdjsndon]

It's parental hysteria. Same as always.