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So my energy levels have declined noticeably from age 20 to 30. I thought it was mostly my own chronic health issues causing accelerated aging, but many of my friends are making similar complaints.

I did notice far before this point (e.g. age 10 to 20) that my patience for reading had gone down significantly. If I had to guess I'd say that in my case it's due to an underlying anxiety that started in early teens and never left me. Drowning it out seems to require something more stimulating than reading (on paper).

(Perhaps meditation or therapy (shadow integration?) would help here. I've certainly had glimpses of inner peace during times when I was meditating regularly. One insight from this time: "holy crap, I always thought I needed to struggle harder, but it turns out I just needed to learn how to relax...")

I can get through audiobooks but I can only consume them while traveling or doing chores. If I'm sitting down, the restlessness is too high and I can't concentrate on the book.

I also have ADHD and heard similar things from others with ADHD, so I'm not sure to what degree this translates to others.

I never had ADHD or related attention problems. However, I find the way interwebs has evolved over years and to basically trained our brains to be so focused on super short pieces of simply digestible content has basically turned me off of longer form content. I’ve noticed my preference for immediate gratification has increased significantly. It feels like I’m developing an attention disorder in my middle age years.

Wanted to share that I also had intense anxiety/depression well into my thirties but was able to finally sort it out a few years ago.

I think your phrase "learn how to relax" is spot-on. I was chronically under-slept and chronically over-focused on school, university, career, side-hustle(s), etc.--without much great effect I might add. My brain was so wound up from a decade-plus of hyper-vigilance that I had actually forgotten how to relax.

Obviously, I am not you and n=1, but hopefully it is encouraging to know that you might not always need to drown it out.

I read a huge amount every day, lots of news articles, chapters of whatever book, random material of interest, people's comments and questions. I rarely read anything "long-form", however, because it has a strong tendency to be a giant self-indulgent bloviating pile of shit. There are exceptions: I've read every story on damninteresting, because it's true to its name. (Hi Alan. Post something new.)

I've nearly finished Moby Dick, but I don't know why, it's dreadful, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I guess it's historically interesting.

Possibly you guys are not losing the will or energy to read, you're merely discovering that the things you think you ought to read are terrible. Try only reading what you like. So what if it's short? Maybe your preference is right.

I can't read long form content from a phone screen or computer monitor. I really don't like it. It might be the scrolling, or maybe the type of screen, or conditioning to expect instant gratification. I do, however, read 20-30 books a year, both paper and on an ereader.

I think it's super important to make reading a habit so one must identify what doesn't work for them and try something else. You lose so much if you don't read.

Yeah, reading on a screen is ass. What eReader do you use?

I got a Kobo recently and I don't like it much. It's much duller than my last one, which is either due to the color screen having less contrast or me misremembering.

Kobo's main selling point was that it's not botnet, but I couldn't even turn the thing on without making an online account...

I use a Kobo Clara HD. I think Claras are the second cheapest ones. No colour. I find the contrast about as good as a cheap paperback book. Not as good as good quality printing on acid-free paper, but that's OK.

I actually prefer lower contrast, it gives me less eye fatigue and I've specifically chosen low-contrast themes on my computer for as long as I can remember.

I think there is a way to not create the account if you really don't want to. I put KOReader on mine straight away and never use the built-in software. That also incidentally has an option to adjust the contrast.