Comics and computers

That's what librarians will tell you is the ‘most popular activity among kids at the library.'

So it's not surprising that most kids would prefer to be a Youtuber than a Mars-colonizing, world-inspiring, astronaut.

And it's not just kids, either. High school and college students spend an exorbitant amount of free time and class time glued to screens, taking in the latest mental junk.

While millions of adults drive to work each day, attuned to silence or the latest mind-numbing riff-raff. Hours committed to slogging through traffic, immune to the mere concept of getting an anything out of the spoken word.

These habits (and yes, they are habits) teach us a lot about what we value as a culture, and even more about what we unknowingly inculcate at school.

So it's no surprise that most people avoid books or complex math problems, free(!) yet challenging online courses, or even podcasts, or documentary tv.

It's not because they're not able or because they don't have access. It's because 'learning' reminds them of something they don't want to remember.