/lit/ - Literature

Has anyone ever experienced being told by family members, peers, etc that reading fiction is a waste of time? I've started getting into reading, and I have the goal of reading roughly 4,000 pages this year, but some of the people in my life tell me that reading is a waste of time, and I should use books as a way to improve myself directly, such as by reading self-help books, and that the internet has now replaced books as a form of gaining information and entertainment. I don't plan to give up reading, but it's quite disheartening. Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing before?