Good post. I’ve argued along similar lines before.
One thing that’s worth mentioning is that reading a lot of fiction generally makes one a pretty fast reader. Or at least that’s been my impression. It could be that fast readers are more likely to enjoy fiction. While I’m sure that has some element of truth, in most things you get better with practice, so it seems likely to me that reading a lot makes one a better reader. I don’t think that reading a lot of fiction is preferable to reading a lot of textbooks in useful fields, but it’s better than many other things people could be doing. Ultimately, I don’t think this is a good reason to read a lot of fiction, but those who have read a lot of fiction in the past and now think it was a waste of time have a good reason to think that it wasn’t entirely a waste of time.
I’m not sure if you could make similar arguments for fiction in other forms of media, or other things like video games.
Good post. I’ve argued along similar lines before.
One thing that’s worth mentioning is that reading a lot of fiction generally makes one a pretty fast reader. Or at least that’s been my impression. It could be that fast readers are more likely to enjoy fiction. While I’m sure that has some element of truth, in most things you get better with practice, so it seems likely to me that reading a lot makes one a better reader. I don’t think that reading a lot of fiction is preferable to reading a lot of textbooks in useful fields, but it’s better than many other things people could be doing. Ultimately, I don’t think this is a good reason to read a lot of fiction, but those who have read a lot of fiction in the past and now think it was a waste of time have a good reason to think that it wasn’t entirely a waste of time.
I’m not sure if you could make similar arguments for fiction in other forms of media, or other things like video games.