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chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world â¨4⊠â¨months⊠agoI think that has more to do with technology and the attention economy than anything else. Working class people used to read books a lot more than they do now. Then along came TV (aka the idiot box) to soak up those free hours. Now itâs all Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Netflix.
lennivelkant@discuss.tchncs.de â¨4⊠â¨months⊠ago
I doubt working class people spent their evenings reading high-brow books. Magazines, cheaper novels, things that donât demand much mental investment after 8+ hours of work have drained your energy and left a little for chores.
Families that could live on a single income may have had more time, but if that has reduced, it may well because a single income often canât sustain a whole family any more.
TV didnât magically create a need for mindless entertainment. It may have supplanted other recreational activities, but it couldnât replace e.g. meeting up for a drink and a nice chat unless the convenience of it outweighed the loss of social activity.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world â¨4⊠â¨months⊠ago
They might not have read Joyce but I can guarantee they were reading Steinbeck, Hemingway, Poe, Whitman, Dickinson, Twain, Vonnegut, Lee, Salinger, Frost.
All the novels and poetry in the American canon, the stuff high school students groan about having to read today, were once bestsellers in their day. You donât get to be a bestseller back then by selling only to millionaires.