I can agree with what you say broadly, and yet - as far as the tested science goes, the difference in how a text is ingested (decoded or merely listened to) does not seem to actually matter to your brain as far as processing the information in the text goes.
I agree that there is literally a difference in the act of reading a book versus listening to an audiobook, but the message/text/story itself seems to be absorbed the same regardless.
If you’re aware of studies that suggest this isn’t the case, I’d be more than willing to hear them out. Otherwise this debate is mostly people talking about how they feel about the different acts, or their general vibes about how they’re obviously different. So far, science says otherwise when it comes to what actually matters - digesting the text.
This is exactly what science is for, isn’t it? Actually testing our biases to prove them correct or incorrect?
These are all about comprehension of text. I think a discussion about whether reading text versus listening to text allows you retain information better is a little different than what we’ve been discussing, personally.