I always wonder why reading a book (especially fiction) is better than watching TV...Today I sat down with a fiction book in the afternoon and my TV-addicted mind jumped and asked - why do you think she is better than me? - I had no answer. I closed the book and lied down. I do see the point if it was a non-fiction self development book, but then I feel most of the self-help books are repeating the same stuff for years.
There's been a ton of research on reading vs TV, though most of it has been on children/adolescents and may not generalize as much to adults. Similarly, a lot of it may be correlation, not causation, and these are studying small populations. Still, various studies have shown that reading is associated with improved attention span, social behavior, imagination, and performance on executive function tests (mental control and self regulation) and TV is associated with poorer outcomes. There's some evidence that TV reduces your willpower for controlling things like snacking on high-calorie foods, which may lead to the obesity associated with screen time. Reading may be protective against dementia. Even fiction requires you to think about what you're reading, imagine the scene, consider new words, think about situations. Books invariably have a lot more plot and character development than a TV show does, and require more patience to get to the conclusion.
This study found that TV watching vs reading was associated with lower verbal IQ over time -
https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/25/5/1188/311796From the Atlantic, but has links -https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/more-evidence-reading-good-you/313575/
Impact of reading for pleasure - (literature review of a number of studies, though was commissioned by an agency to support the value of reading) -
https://readingagency.org.uk/news/The%20Impact%20of%20Reading%20for%20Pleasure%20and%20Empowerment.pdfFor our family, I'm happy with our current level of TV watching. We have one kid with ADHD, and that's about what he can handle without becoming very difficult. More than that and we all get to deal with horrible tantrums. (Screen time and ADHD -
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220824/). We all enjoy reading for pleasure as well, and our 7 year old is halfway through the first Harry Potter book entirely on his own.
My n=1 - when I spend too much time watching TV or online, I start feeling tired and unmotivated. Then I just sit on the computer/phone/TV for longer instead of doing what I need to, often refreshing social media. Then I feel guilty for not getting up and going to do what I should. I end up head-achey, not wanting to do anything, and angry at myself for wasting so much time. When I read, I feel both relaxed and energized by it, and more motivated to go do actual things. I'm actually implementing a 30 min timer method for myself to get me off the computer at a reasonable time, and I put my phone into power save mode for the weekend, which allows calls & texts but I can't use apps or surf the net.