The article above is about their decline in consumption

There’s no such decline in consumption. There’s always been a horde of illiterate people among the lower classes because decoding written letters is a very abstract and complicated intellectual activity.

A few centuries ago, the illiteracy rate was way higher. But it’s always been mostly been niche activity for intelligent people, that’s why the school used to focus on training that skill

There is a decline compared to the brief time period between the invention of compulsory education and the invention of TV.

> There’s no such decline in consumption

Isn’t it? Weren’t people reading more books on average if we go back a decade or few?

So? “Declining in consumption” doesn’t imply “legacy”, or even vice versa.