Reading books is one thing, but sorting through articles online is another. There's so much crap out there put out by so many bad faith actors that it's become a necessary everyday skill to be able to skim through something to decide if it's even worth your time (which itself is a highly literary skill). Even when you've found a good paper or article, does it relate enough to the topic you're looking for? There's a reason even academic papers come with abstracts and executive summaries.