Alright - I’m here to slightly revise my earlier statement.

Maybe some of you are right about the average American having time to read despite the work culture. As someone who doesn’t have TV or subscriptions to streaming services, I may have underestimated just how much video content Americans passively consume.

I did a bit of research on streaming services. Apparently, as of this year, the U.S. has 81.44 million subscribers to Netflix; Hulu and Disney+ have over 55 million American paid subscribers; 153 million Americans have a TikTok account.

I’m still critical of toxic productivity culture and any condition producing cultural fatigue, and I’m not against watching films or TV shows (I have and will again). But maybe it’s the surplus of entertainment—not work—that’s causing cultural exhaustion.