I’m watching shows on Netflix/YouTube now and pausing every now and then to do flash cards… I don’t know how much I’m getting from watching in my target language without subs but at least it keeps me in language learning mode.
I would say anyone that stresses “do this one thing” be it listening, speaking, Anki, textooks etc. There is no one thing. It all helps some but no one thing will get you there. Speaking or having real conversations is probably the most effective activity of all but obviously it’s hard to find someone who will spend much time talking to you in a meaningful way.
It’s weird. When I was in college I got really into learning German and dabbled in French and Spanish. And at that time I would have sworn up and down to you that reading was where it was at. And while reading feels helpful to me now it’s nowhere near enough by itself.