Would love for this to be true, but how much of this is an intellectual writer talking about how other intellectuals (a novelist, Patrick Collison) liking literature?

I'm not saying it's not happening outside of that bubble. But I will say that most people aren't novelists and taking a metro in a big city (a decent proxy for a cross section of society, at least in that city), I see about 30 people scrolling TikTok/Reels for each person with a book.