One thing I find interesting/ironic is that some of the very parents who want their kid to read (talisman of success) don't want them to read too much--not, y'know, if it interferes with other college-application-building activities, like getting first violin in the regional orchestra, or math homework.

And just like today people demonize video games as the thing that'll destroy youth, reading bad stuff in the past (comic books, say, or pulp novels) was the thing that was going to destroy them, back in like the 1930s. So the current notion that any old reading matter will do is new; people didn't always feel that way by any means.

And yeah: reading can traumatize you as much as a scary movie can, for sure. I remember being terrified by stuff I encountered in books.