I guess I did. What am I missing?
Everyone is on their phone texting, tweeting, etc. while one person is expanding their mind/world by reading a book. Hell, even in your picture at least some of those guys are bound to be learning shit and broadening their horizons by reading actual news.
On the other hand, most of them were probably the equivalent to the modern day drones and their cell phones that the cartoon illustrates and little of what they read is actually sticking. <shrug>