Life is an ever-changing experience, one in which we think we control – or would like to control – our fate; to the extent we do or can, it’s called agency or free will. 

Reading (in this context) is the mental process of seeing words so arranged and presented as to communicate something.  Watching is the mental process of seeing images (which may of course include words) and (most often) hearing sounds that communicate something.  Both communicate but in the how