I think you can argue that 'books' were deemed as intellectual in Huxley/Orwell's time, so banning them would be a sign of society decline ---> BUT, todays books can be seen as just part of the entertainment distraction. Books sales are up, but how many of them are YA, Manga , Pop-Fiction. They are as shallow and distracting as a TV Show.

I tend to think even reading the worst trash book is still better than Video. But it is still playing into distraction.

Note: I Like Manga, but those series that are 100 volumes long, that is distracting.