They've gotten significant increases over the last 10 years. Maybe do a modicum of research before whinging about something?

More of this please

I wouldn't consider looking at your phone while watching a movie "multi-tasking." Simply doing one thing when you're "supposed" to be doing something else isn't multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is doing and paying attention to muliple things at once. For example: I work at a marijuana dispensary, and a lot of our downtime is spent rolling joints. I always listen to an audio book or podcast while I'm rolling, and I can easily focus on both tasks. No one is going to convince me that that isn't more productive use of my time.

I have a severely limited time on this earth: not nearly enough to consume and learn everything I want to. 🤷‍♂️

I'm aware. I'm just participating in the conversation, same as you. Not sure why that's a bad thing but okay 🤷‍♂️

I don't buy it. No one is going to convince me that multi-tasking and trying to make the most out of my time is a bad thing.

I don't buy that one bit. Consciously avoiding multitasking isn't going to teach you to focus. Being good at multi-tasking is all about being able to focus while doing multiple things.

Why wouldn't I want to fill otherwise mentally unstimulating, unbenficial hours with audio books or podcasts or whatever? Heck, I now read like 3 times as many books as I did before I started using audible during housework and whatnot. And for someone like me, whose worst mental torture is thinking about my ever-expanding backlog and the fact that there just isn't enough time in my measly human lifespan to read all the books I want to read, that's a true godsend!

I don't think that's what the post is implying at all. It's just suggesting that you think about what you're reading and what it might be trying to tell you; not all writing is trying to tell you something, or teach you a lesson, but if you go into any book open to being taught, to learning, you can almost always take something positive away. That's what reading is all about! That and just plain old fun!