I've spent a lot of time sitting by myself on a sailboat, and I do kind of align with the though that true solitude is not achieved when reading books or watching TV. And I do believe that solitude from these media may offer some benefits. But I am not sure if I think this holds true for all media.
Watching a TV show affects you're thinking much more than listening to music. To me music is just pleasant noise.
I cannot program while a TV show or podcast is playing, but I tend to program better under certain music. Same goes for studying math. I think the ryt...
Why did you not reflect on your 2021 prediction? We've already passed the first 3 years of that prediction after all.
Lovecraft's stories don't really read as novels though (he essentially only wrote a single novel, the rest are short stories). Most stories are more like memoirs from the victims themselves.