Americans reading less?

I've always heard people say that people are reading less because of the internet but this article really caught my eye money.cnn.com...

Could it be possible that hollywood is pumping out all of this entertainment in order to dumb us down so that we will willingly so that we will no longer be able to think critically after having watched so many videos? Apparently more people are watching videos than reading literature, and, less people are buying books. Is this an intentional dumbing down of our society? If so, who would be responsible for this?

Not only are people reading less, they are difinately thinking less. There is not much original material being made, which i would actually think in part to be a result of the way EVERYONE has outside influence now. Is there such a thing as originality anymore? People don't want to create and think for themselves. I'm not thinking there's a crazy thing going on "out there" with subliminal advertizing over the television channels, or something crazy like that, but thinking that the influences get less and less original, and people think less and less on their own, and creativity correspondingly decreases as an effect.

The main ones responsible for this are the people themselves for not wanting to read. Its much easier nowadays to watch the movie instead of reading the book. I personally enjoy the books rather than the movie version of the book. A good example is Stephen King movies....in my opinion they all suck because I've read the books and the books are always waaaaay more satisfying. But many people either say they don't have time to read a book or are just too lazy to read one. Maybe Hollywood knows this and is capitalizing off of it...maybe Hollywood created the problem in the first place unintentionally. I think alot more stories would go untold nowadays if there was not a movie to convey them. I do know as people get older though, they tend to read less.

I think with the younger generation, alot of it has to do with videogames. Little Johnny would rather play hours of Grand Theft Auto 4 than go read a good book. And for the older generation, they'd rather watch TV. I can't get my mother to read a book for anything.

Also, I think the book publishers are to blame for not marketing their product right. Have you ever seen a commercial on TV for a book? I haven't.

Okay, but, what started this significant decline in reading? I bet you will find more people playing video games or watching movies than reading a book. It may seem easier but a lot of people are not wanting to read because of it. Why are there so many more people now that don't want to read?