Should people prioritize reading books over social media?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Should people prioritize reading books over social media?". Your opponent's style: a 20 year old

Books demand sustained attention while social media is engineered to shatter it. You can't build deep knowledge or critical thinking in dopamine hits. A single book rewires your brain; a thousand scrolls leave you emptier than you started. This isn't preference, it's cognitive architecture. People should prioritize what actually develops them.

You've mistaken neuroplasticity for wisdom. Yes, books demand sustained attention, but that's a feature, not proof of superiority. A documentary, a podcast, a well-researched Twitter thread can rewire your brain just as efficiently. Your real claim isn't about medium, it's about depth, and depth exists everywhere if you're discerning enough to find it. Why assume social media users are passive when the same could be said of people mindlessly plowing through airport thrillers? Which actually develops you more, a mediocre book or engaging substantive conversation online?

You're confusing potential with practice. Sure, depth *could* exist in a Twitter thread, but the platform itself is architected against it. Algorithms prioritize engagement over understanding. You don't choose a "well-researched thread"—the algorithm chooses what keeps you scrolling. A book has no algorithm. It demands you show up the same way tomorrow, and the next day. That's not about being discerning enough; it's about what the medium actually permits. You can't passively absorb a 400-page argument. Social media is designed so you can. That's the difference.

You're confusing architecture with inevitability. Yes, algorithms reward engagement, but so does a book's cover design, a publisher's marketing budget, and your own confirmation bias pulling you toward comfortable ideas. The medium doesn't determine your cognition, your discipline does. Plenty of people use social media as a tool for depth, just as plenty skim books for comfort. If you lack the agency to resist an algorithm's pull, you'll lack it resisting a book's tedium too. What actually separates deep thinkers from shallow ones, the medium or something else entirely?