People used to be very anxious about that sort of thing. Novels like Don Quixote and Madame Bovary were popular because people really did believe you could go crazy if you read too much fiction.

> Books would cause the same withdrawal from actual people and the physical world

No. "Also", but not "the same". And certainly not in the same way.

rimliu made a similar point earlier https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19074971

In my opinion the analogy is basically valid, but it's not clear that they are comparable.

It doesn't seem fair to compare reading books to the worst possible things you can do on a screen device. And the argument made was about physical exercise and engagement with real people.

I think that's a problem of all those studies actually. After all, reading books is a subset of things you could do on a tablet device.

No question there are harmful apps and movies, optimized to increase addiction. Few people you should simply hand kids these devices and never check what they are doing.

And presumably, harmful books also do exist. It probably makes a difference what kind of books you read.