This could be from any age really. I remember reading lots of books like Harry Potter as a 4th grader to seem smart to the teachers looking at me but I didn’t understand any of it. When the big YA dystopian boom was happening, I read tons of terrible YA dystopias to seem cool but many of them frustrated me.
Yeah, I defs grew out of that whole “reading to look smart” thing back in middle school. I really really don’t want people asking me about what I’m reading because how do I explain to them “yeah I’m reading a book about different fishermans’ stories catching bluefin tuna.” That’s not really very exciting at all.