Yes, exactly that. Folks thought that cheap, freely available books would ruin a generation, their minds being unable to remember things like past generations. Young folks would no longer learn as their heads were stuck in fantasy books. They might even become immoral.
They thought similar things about chess - that it would make a generation of morons.
"The Simpsons" were controversial in the 80's, since they just knew kids would try to emulate Bart, just for a more recent example. My mother wouldn't let me watch it for some years on the single family television.
And lastly: I don't know if folks are reading fewer books or not if you count digital books. That said, I think folks read a lot more than they used to, since a lot of communication is text-based.
Quick look shows I've mixed up facts, and honestly don't have the time to do a deeper search to find the attitude. It seems more of a social evil from a shallow search, but that's just a mention in the Wikipedia article [1]. A little more information here [2].It has been banned numerous times through history.
They thought similar things about chess - that it would make a generation of morons.
"The Simpsons" were controversial in the 80's, since they just knew kids would try to emulate Bart, just for a more recent example. My mother wouldn't let me watch it for some years on the single family television.
And lastly: I don't know if folks are reading fewer books or not if you count digital books. That said, I think folks read a lot more than they used to, since a lot of communication is text-based.