I read books all the time, every day. I don't watch TV, I don't use Youtube much, most of my activity online is reading.
I disagree that you 'need to build the habit of reading to improve your cognitive skills'. There is nothing inherently healthy about reading, I know plenty of people who've been reading fiction for their entire lives and they aren't more informed than people not reading books.
The reason you should read books is because if you look hard enough for good books, the content you can find in them is more interesting, more relevant, more engaging than almost any other form of media. I read books all the time because every other form of media is trash, because they teach me esoteric things about the world around me, that you can't get from Ted Talks or other superficial forms of media. But the interest has to be there, if you aren't interested in engaging, intellectual content then just stick to Youtube and be happy.
I wasn't really thinking of forums when I made that comment. TV, movies, short form video, journalism. Youtube has merit but compared to books the level of quality isn't even close.
Finding the right forum is exactly how you find good books.
I disagree that you 'need to build the habit of reading to improve your cognitive skills'. There is nothing inherently healthy about reading, I know plenty of people who've been reading fiction for their entire lives and they aren't more informed than people not reading books.
The reason you should read books is because if you look hard enough for good books, the content you can find in them is more interesting, more relevant, more engaging than almost any other form of media. I read books all the time because every other form of media is trash, because they teach me esoteric things about the world around me, that you can't get from Ted Talks or other superficial forms of media. But the interest has to be there, if you aren't interested in engaging, intellectual content then just stick to Youtube and be happy.