New Social "Disorder?"

While reading Everything is Miscellaneous, about students sharing information and knowledge as they read, and a collective of readers, I had a strange vision:

Gone is the lonely child, reading in a corner. Gone are the school nerds who prefer books to sports. Gone too is the solitary reader, trying to escape into solitude.

Reading is now one of the most social activities out there. Even if you are alone on the couch with your book, you are in fact surrounded by other readers. They make comments, ask questions, raise issues. They are never silent; they never stop.

As the act of reading expands, so does its social status. Readers are no longer snubbed or taunted, but embraced as fellows.

You can read by yourself, but you will never be truly alone in reading again.