I don't think it's just techies who believe that (although plenty do, for sure!). Lots of regular non-techie people think only old people care about books, for

I don't think it's just techies who believe that (although plenty do, for sure!). Lots of regular non-techie people think only old people care about books, for instance. When I worked at a used bookstore (left just before COVID), family members would make comments like that and seemed surprised when I told them we had tons of people in their teens and 20s coming in and buying books (used and old ones at that!). It is true that the bookstore business has faced a lot of downturns: indie bookstores were really hurt by the big chain stores, Barnes & Nobles and Borders in the '90s, then Amazon and online shopping hurt them all some more. But the indie scene is stronger than it was, say, 15 years ago. A lot more smaller and niche shops have been opening up (at least in US cities I'm familiar with).