I wonder if my theory explains why games are so popular these days (and so lucrative).
Our economic system is taking away opportunities from poor people and giving them to rich people - Games are like a drug to keep poor people sedated and docile.
Our economic system is taking away opportunities from poor people and giving them to rich people - Games are like a drug to keep poor people sedated and docile.
What happens in movies, books, sports games, etc. are determined by others. You simply watch. In games however the outcome is tied (sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly) to your own actions. That's why they can be addicting, especially for people who otherwise feel like they don't have any agency in "real life."
I read a book by looking at contents, notes, bibliography, and index. Then the intro and conclusion. If the meat is worth reading, that.
This means reading for information rather than pleasure, for the most part, though for me, reading for information is pleasure. Yes, there's some fiction I'll read, but that's different.
There's also note-taking and organising my own thoughts as a consequence of what I'm reading.
Games are like drugs in a sense because they provide the high of achievement easily with much less work than actual work.
Although people do like to partially build things as IKEA shows.