The Silent Decline of Learning from Books: What Happened?

If you’re in your 20s, you probably learned from books at least until the pandemic in 2020. But the younger generation, and even many of ours, have recently almost completely / partially abandoned books. The shift has been so sudden that I naturally asked myself: Why is this happening?

A Short History of the Problem

Before 2020, schools mainly used textbooks as the primary source of learning. Videos and online content were meant to serve as references—extra tools for clarification and deeper understanding.

Then the pandemic hit. Suddenly, entire chapters were available as animated videos, high-quality lectures, and explainer channels. What used to be supplementary material became the main mode of teaching. It felt like a revolution: difficult textbook language was distilled into short, simple lessons anyone could understand.

As the content library exploded, the EdTech industry, once dismissed as a weak substitute for offline/textual education, started gaining legitimacy. But soon, the goal shifted. Educational content was no longer just about helping students understand; it became a battleground for revenue and attention. Videos were locked behind paywalls, old free content became marketing bait, and every platform tried to convince learners that they had the perfect solution.

This created a chaotic cycle. Students kept switching tutorials to “find the best,” losing time and confidence. This is what many call tutorial hell. People say, “just implement/teach others what you learn to escape it,” but they ignore the real problem: the platforms are engineered by strong marketing teams, SEO experts, and attention-hacking strategies designed to make you believe their tutorial is the best way to learn, more effective than implementing.

Eventually, you feel uncertain about what you learned and think buying the paid course of the same creator will fix it. You binge through hours of content, only to realize the foundation is still weak—or you abandon the course halfway because your brain can’t learn by binge-watching lectures.

Now, with the rise of LLMs, book reading declines even more. AI gives you instant answers on any topic. But don’t forget: LLMs are ultimately controlled by corporations whose business model is to own your attention.

Why I Prefer Books Over LLMs or Courses

I’m part of the first Gen-Z wave that hung out with millennials buried in books, and Gen-Z stuck in tutorial hell. I caught both sides, especially due to the pandemic. When I started learning ML about two years ago, I had two great options: a top-rated course or a highly recommended book. I opened the book, didn’t even finish the first chapter, and gave up.

Why? Because I had become so dependent on video courses that I lost my natural ability to decode topics from text, something that used to come easily when I learned everything from books. People call books the “hard way,” but to me, they’re the easiest way to truly learn. I enjoy blogs as well, but they don’t give the depth books do.

So, Why Are Books Different?

Most technical books are written by authors with years of real professional or teaching experience. Their explanations go step by step with true depth, unlike blogs and videos, which must stay concise and “high-level.” A book is like an index for the scattered world of tutorials and blogs.

Books force you to confront confusion, not skip it. They don’t let you hide behind quick animations and surface-level summaries. They build attention, patience, and the skill of breaking down complex ideas slowly. Those skills are as valuable as the knowledge itself.

The Solution

First, for authors writing their books for the current generation should start trimming jargon and write more engaging text, just like good video educators do. When I was reading math for ML from a different book, I quit early. But recently, I found a book written by , who also writes on maintains a blog ( ). He doesn’t throw terminology at you from page one. He builds concepts gradually, almost like storytelling. That book is now my top recommendation.

Second, we must change how we read. Many people try to read books like they watch video courses—start to finish in one go. That’s not how books work. You skim first, look at headings and diagrams, understand the big picture, then go line by line and decode the topic. Books aren’t meant to be binged; they’re meant to be explored.

I’m still learning, experimenting, and unlearning habits of the digital age. Books shaped how many of us know, but everyone’s journey is different. If you’ve gone through something similar, please share—your story might help someone else too. I’d love to hear how you navigate learning in the digital world.