Wendy Lustbader, a writer and physician, recently cancelled her streaming service subscription, a decision prompted by a growing realization that her reading life had diminished in favor of nightly movie watching with her spouse. This personal reckoning, detailed in a recent online post, reflects a broader concern about the impact of digital media on reading habits and cognitive processes.
Lustbader describes a shift from the immersive, participatory experience of reading novels – a practice she cherished since childhood – to the passive consumption of visual entertainment. She notes the tactile pleasure of turning pages and the active role readers play in visualizing characters and settings, contrasting this with the “spectacle” of film, which arrives fully formed and requires less individual effort. “Books have piled up on my nightstand, bookshelves, and the floor of my office, calling out to the old me,” she wrote, acknowledging the physical presence of unread volumes as a constant reminder of her altered habits.
Her experience resonates with research highlighted in Maryanne Wolf’s book, Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World. Lustbader specifically cites Wolf’s assertion about the development of a “reading brain” during youth and the importance of finding “the many forms of joy that reside in the secret hiding places in the reading life.” This echoes a growing conversation about the neurological effects of prolonged screen time and the potential erosion of deep reading skills.
The shift in Lustbader’s consumption habits comes as libraries across the United States continue to observe strong demand for physical books. Recent data indicates that genre fiction and books by female authors were the most borrowed items in U.S. Libraries in 2025, according to NPR. This suggests that despite the rise of digital entertainment, a significant readership remains committed to traditional reading formats.
Literary events, both in-person and virtual, are as well drawing audiences. The Fullerton Public Library recently hosted a talk with local novelist Linda Zohman Avellar, and the Pasadena Public Library featured bestselling author Liz Moore in a virtual event in January. These events demonstrate a continued interest in connecting authors with readers and fostering a sense of community around books.
Lustbader’s decision to discontinue her streaming subscription, while acknowledging she will likely continue to watch movies in the interim, represents a deliberate attempt to reclaim her reading life. She anticipates a sense of relief and a return to a more active, co-creative engagement with literature. The streaming service has not yet publicly responded to her cancellation.
