Learn Hardcore Russian: Такая обстановка побуждает меня читать книгу, а не бесконечно смотреть видео. - Such an atmosphere encourages me to read a book instead of watching videos endlessly.

такая обстановка ≈ “such an atmosphere / such conditions.”
It describes the type or quality of the atmosphere. It’s more descriptive and general, like:
- Такая обстановка побуждает меня… = An atmosphere like this / this kind of atmosphere makes me…
эта обстановка ≈ “this atmosphere / these conditions (here).”
It points more to a specific, already-known situation:
- Эта обстановка побуждает меня… = This particular atmosphere makes me…

In your sentence, the speaker is characterizing the atmosphere by its nature, so такая (“such”) is more natural.

What exactly does обстановка mean here, and how is it different from ситуация?

Обстановка is a feminine noun meaning:

physical setting: the way a room is arranged, its furniture, overall feel
psychological atmosphere: mood, vibe, conditions around you

In this sentence, обстановка is closer to atmosphere / environment / setting — maybe a quiet room, cozy chair, good lighting, etc.

Ситуация is more like situation in English: a set of circumstances, events, conditions (social, political, etc.). You could say:

Такая ситуация побуждает меня…, but it sounds more like external circumstances (e.g., at work, in life), not the cozy/quiet atmosphere of a place.

So обстановка focuses more on surroundings and mood; ситуация focuses more on circumstances, events.

What does побуждать mean, and how is it different from заставлять?

Both verbs can be translated as to make (someone) do something, but the nuance is different:

побуждать (кого к чему / делать что-то)
- to prompt, to encourage, to motivate
- suggests an inner motivation or a gentle push
- Такая обстановка побуждает меня читать книгу
  = Such an atmosphere encourages/motivates me to read a book.
заставлять (кого делать что-то)
- to force, to make (against someone’s will)
- stronger, more external pressure
- Такая обстановка заставляет меня читать книгу
  would sound like “forces me to read a book”, as if you have no choice.

So побуждать is softer and more positive than заставлять.

The perfective partner of побуждать is побудить.

Why is it меня and not мне after побуждать?

Because меня is the direct object of the verb побуждать.

Pattern of this verb:

побуждать кого делать что
- кого? – accusative case
- делать что? – infinitive

So:

побуждать меня (кого? – меня, accusative)
побуждать его, её, нас, их etc.

Мне is dative and would be used with verbs like нравится, казаться, хотеться, etc., but побуждать takes a direct object, so it requires меня.

Why is the verb читать in the infinitive and not читаю?

With побуждать, you use the infinitive to express the action that someone is being motivated/encouraged to do.

Standard pattern:

[Subject] побуждает [кого] [делать что].
- Такая обстановка побуждает меня читать книгу.
  = Such an atmosphere makes me read a book / encourages me to read a book.

If you said побуждает меня читаю, it would be ungrammatical because читаю is a finite verb form; Russian doesn’t allow a second finite verb here. The infinitive читать functions like in English “to read” after “encourages me”.

Why is it читать книгу and not читать книгy without an object, or читать книги?

All three are possible in Russian, but they mean slightly different things:

читать книгу – to read a (one specific) book
- focus on a particular book (or on book-reading as a more concrete, “one-book” activity).
читать книги – to read books (in general, plural)
- emphasizes the general habit of reading books, not videos.
читать with no object – just to read (very general, could be books, articles, etc.)

In your sentence, читать книгу contrasts naturally with смотреть видео as two specific activities: reading a book vs. watching videos.

Grammatically, книгу is accusative singular feminine (from книга).

Why is there а не instead of just не before бесконечно смотреть видео?

А не is used to express contrast: “but instead, not …” / “rather than …”.

The structure here is:

…побуждает меня читать книгу, а не бесконечно смотреть видео.
= …encourages me to read a book rather than endlessly watch videos.

If you used only не:

побуждает меня читать книгу, не бесконечно смотреть видео

this would sound unfinished or odd; it lacks the clear contrastive “instead of” feeling. The little а marks a clear opposition between two alternatives:

читать книгу ↔ (а не) бесконечно смотреть видео

Why is бесконечно used here, and what nuance does it add compared to something like постоянно or целыми днями?

Бесконечно is an adverb meaning endlessly, without end. It comes from бесконечный (endless).

Nuance:

бесконечно смотреть видео – to watch video endlessly / without stopping (it feels like it never ends)
- often with a negative or critical tone (e.g., “scrolling endlessly”).

Compared:

постоянно смотреть видео – constantly, all the time (more neutral or factual).
целыми днями смотреть видео – to watch videos all day long (emphasizes duration within the day).

So бесконечно stresses the seemingly infinite, mindless nature of the video-watching.

Why is it смотреть видео and not смотреть видео́ы or видосы?

Видео is an indeclinable neuter noun borrowed from English. In standard Russian:

It doesn’t change its form:
- видео (nom.), видео (acc.), о видео (prep.), etc.
It’s usually used in the singular even when meaning “video(s)” in general.

So смотреть видео can mean:

to watch a video, or
to watch videos (in general, plural meaning from context).

Colloquial forms:

видосы is slang / informal (“vids, clips”). You could say:
- смотреть видосы, but that changes the style to more casual/slangy speech.

Видео́ы is incorrect in standard Russian.

Why is there a comma before а не?

In Russian punctuation, а is a coordinating conjunction that usually needs a comma before it when it connects clauses or parallel sentence parts in contrast.

Here, it connects two alternative actions:

читать книгу
(а не) бесконечно смотреть видео

They are parallel infinitive phrases in opposition, so Russian rules require:

…, а не …

Thus the comma marks the boundary between the two contrasted parts of the sentence.