No. Reading is not painful, it's awesome. I wish I had more time to spend doing it. The older I get the better I appreciate truly good writing. Spending time with the language of Moby Dick or the living characters of War and Peace was an absolute pleasure.
It has everything to do with the experience, and nothing to do with "being seen reading a thick book." I'm not on Instagram or Tik Tok with images of me reading. I'm reading because I want the experience and actually enjoy it.
I did not make a statement on reading, but on social perception where I'm from. Reading is nice, I have many thick books myself and I love(d) them, and it's a sustainable hobby in my perspective of social relations because the majority of people here tend to have a negative experience with reading, not being a thing of their own volition, but a requirement, especially on content they don't even care about. Therefore, if, say, you're a child, and your parents see you reading, they're less likely to throw a fit than if you were playing Counter Strike or something.
Yeah, kiddo is allowed to read as much as desired, but video games are not allowed. (I'm a gamer, but my wife now hates the hobby with a passion. She was ambivalent until we had a child.)
It has everything to do with the experience, and nothing to do with "being seen reading a thick book." I'm not on Instagram or Tik Tok with images of me reading. I'm reading because I want the experience and actually enjoy it.