A report from August tells us that the use of smartphones for reading books is on the rise. The reason is fairly simple - if you've got the book in your pocket there are numerous times during the day when you can read a few pages (probably instead of playing Candy Crush or whatever game is presently the prime time-consumer). Interestingly, that article tells us that:
But of course, there are criticisms to this habit in terms of honing attention span and curbing distractions. However, some people have managed to read classics like Moby Dick solely on their phones.I wonder about the source of that information. "Some people" is a rather vague statistic. Maybe a survey was conducted on a rush-hour subway. Interestingly, the book that usually gets credited with no longer being read is War and Peace, but I suppose that both it and Moby Dick have become generic tl;drs, and of course according to that article the tide may be turning (though I have my doubts).