Books compete with other forms of “entertainment” such as TV, video games, movies, the internet, etc. They are time consuming and relatively pricey to own.
That is true but it’s also very easy to get caught up in mindless, brain numbing entertainment. We get to witness the results all the time by the poor social behaviors, ignorance of what is happening in the world, and atrocious spelling and grammar on message boards.
Those mind numbed robots vote.