For years I read dismaying reports about the inability and unwillingness of young people to read books, to read at all. I still hear the same thing about attendance at symphony, ballet, opera, jazz and theater.
All of these forebodings are unwarranted.
My rule in the matter is: HP and MTT.
Kids from age 7 to 14 started carrying 600 page books with them all the time, everywhere. The books were written by J. K. Rowling, the hero was Harry Potter (HP). There were seven in the series and each was gobbled up like macaroni and cheese.
When Michael Tilson Thomas came to the San Francisco Symphony in 1995 it suffered from the same doldrums every other symphony in America suffered from. The Davies symphony hall immediately filled up and has been sold out for MTT's performances ever since.
Got the rule of HP and MTT. Any and every medium can thrive if there is available first rate talent. We live in a time when movies and video offer more interest and challenge than books, so books have to be really good. We live in a time when recorded music and arts are first rate, so live performance must be of higher quality. It is that simple.
All of that is true for every medium I listed in the first line, with the exception of theater. Theater has been a home to Left wing rant for fifty years. Consequently, no intelligent person wants to risk paying for a live stage performance that will insult his values and intelligence. Theater is probably gone for ever.