Or Did TikTok Do It First?

There’s a slow death happening in our minds—and no one wants to talk about it.

It’s not just because of AI.
It’s not just TikTok either.
It’s the whole cocktail of convenience, dopamine, and laziness.

Reading used to be a journey through someone's mind, their years of pain and curiosity, compressed into pages.

Today, that journey is being replaced with 10-second reels and 3-second captions.

Let’s talk about why.

1. We Stopped Reading Before AI Showed Up

People say AI is killing reading. But really… we already stopped reading a long time ago.

“The National Endowment for the Arts says fewer Americans are reading for pleasure than ever before.”

Before ChatGPT, before AI summaries, there was TikTok.
Then came Reels, Shorts, Threads, and Swipes.

These platforms didn’t kill reading. They replaced it with dopamine.
Short-form content trained us to skim, not sit. To scroll, not study.
To snack on ideas instead of digesting knowledge.

So when AI came in, we were already softened up, ready to outsource the last bit of thinking we had left.

2. Why AI Summaries Are Junk Food for Your Brain

AI didn’t just change how we read. It changed why we read.

Instead of seeking deep understanding, we seek shortcuts.
Instead of savoring complexity, we ask for "TLDR."

“AI gives you the highlights in seconds… but those highlights don’t teach you anything. They’re junk food for your brain.”

Reading is supposed to stretch you. You’re meant to wrestle with an author’s thoughts, not just download them like a cheat code.

When you skip the process, you skip the growth.

3. The Trust Between Reader and Writer Is Breaking

One of the authors put it best:

“There is no feeling of betrayal like thinking you're about to read something someone slaved over, only to find out it's LLM dribble.”

When you read a book, you're not just reading words. You're engaging in a deep, invisible handshake between minds.

However, with AI now mass-producing books, that trust is eroding.

Are you reading a person’s soul—or a soulless remix?

4. From Bookworms to Dopamine Zombies

Social media and AI didn’t just steal our attention—they shattered it.

We used to read 90,000-word novels. Now we struggle with 90-character captions.

“People don’t read anymore. They skim. Swipe. Click away. Attention spans are shot.”

When deep reading dies, critical thinking dies with it.
You can't think deeply if you never sit with an idea longer than 10 seconds.

But here’s what we forget:
Reading feels good.
The right book at the right time doesn’t just inform you—it transforms you.

Finishing a book is an achievement—a quiet victory.
A whole world added to your brain. A set of tools for life.
It makes you feel stronger, wiser, and more grounded in who you are.

That joy? That inner shift?
No 60-second summary or TikTok can give you that.

To bring more of that back into my life, I recently created a new Challenge Page inside my Second Brain system in Notion.
It includes 30 meaningful challenges, many of them related to finishing books.
Every time I complete one, I earn a puzzle piece—and when enough pieces come together, I unlock productivity titles and personal rewards.
It’s my way of gamifying deep focus and making reading feel like the achievement it truly is.

(Link to My System )

5. The Worst Part? We Think We're Getting Smarter

AI gives the illusion of mastery.
You ask a question, get a clean answer, and you feel smart.

But it’s a trap.

“Sure, you can ask ChatGPT to write your paper. But did you understand the topic? Doubt it.”

Without struggling to understand, we become consumers of thoughts, not creators.

The more we rely on AI to think for us, the less we remember how to think for ourselves.

6. So, Is There Hope?

Yes.

Reading isn’t dead. It’s just buried under noise.

And the best part? It’s still the most powerful way to build a real mind.

Reading books is like mental deadlifting.
Skimming social media is like lifting a feather.

“Reading fiction can increase empathy… improve focus… sharpen critical thinking.”

You want depth? Go back to books.
You want a stronger mind? Read long-form.

Use AI to help you dive deeper, not to skip the dive entirely.

So,

AI didn’t kill reading.
Short-form dopamine did.
AI just finished the job.

But if you can reclaim your attention, you can reclaim your brain.

Read hard things. Think deep thoughts. Let your mind wrestle and grow.

Because wisdom has no shortcut.