We live in a generation fixated on social media. As a society, we've become obsessed. Despite our obsession and through social media, it has given people a platform to post pictures of random moments, share fond memories with followers, and archive our life. Social media has been a great asset. It has opened a door—a door of newfound opportunities and communities that have been unheard of before the invention of social media.
As a semi-bookstragrammer, I feel that social media has been a wonderful way in sharing and spreading bookworms’ love of literature to people from different parts of the world. I entered this social media universe believing that I would a part of an accepting community of fellow avid readers, such as myself, but only to discover that it is not what I had initially expected. Bookstagram, in my opinion, has become way over the top. To be precise, it has become too focused on aesthetics and less on sharing our favorite reads. Also, bookstagrammers aren’t only obsessed over making their book pictures “aesthetically pleasing” but they are more so concerned on the number of likes their pictures receives. How has this community shifted? Is it social media and the misconception that as users, we must post something that is absolute perfection? The reality is, bookstagrammers are more concerned on the aesthetics than on what they are actually sharing to fellow followers.
The reason for my rant and the inspiration behind it came from a YouTube video I watched a couple of days ago. I watched a video titled, “Has Reading Become Competitive???” by famous BookTuber, Ariel Bissett. Bissett mainly focuses her discussion on how BookTube has completely changed; it was once an online universe where bibliophiles could talk about their favorite or current reads openly, but has now altered the hobby of reading. In her view, she believes that BookTube has made reading competitive—it has become too concerned with reaching reading goals, making sure to track our page counts, and trying to stay relevant with trendy reads. I watched the entire 25-minute video, listening to her every word, and I found myself agreeing with everything she stated.
Although I am not a BookTuber, I see the same issues happening on bookstagram. Besides the obvious that it has become too concerned with likes and aesthetics, it has made reading into one big contest. For instance, the amount of books a bookstagrammer reads. Some openly share their disappointment that they only read 6 books the previous month—meanwhile, I am struggling to finish 1 book because of my hectic schedule. Yes, some are fast readers, but the way bookstagrammers convey how they didn’t accomplish their goal of reading 10 books in a month makes everyone who can’t read 10 books in a month feel bad. At least for me, it makes me feel like less of a reader or a bookworm; I feel as if I should read a crazy amount of books too, even though I know I am unable to because life gets in the way. So sometimes, bookstagram gives other bookstagrammers unrealistic expectations of reading.
Then of course, there is that whole “reading what’s relevant or trendy” issue, which is another major problem in the bookstagram community. Bookstagrammers who buy a new release of a trending novel and share it on social media at times make it seem that everyone else has to read it too because of the hype surrounding it. What happened to reading what you like than what everyone else is reading? Unfortunately, this has become problematic because when you don’t reading something that is “relevant,” you feel as if you’re behind the times; therefore, you’re sort of inherently forced to read it.
There are a number of issues that bookstagram has cultivated over the years since its inception. I could literally go on and on about it, but what’s the point? What I mainly wanted to address to my readers is that don’t allow bookstagram or even BookTube ruin your personal conceptions of reading. Read because you enjoy it. Read because you love to read. Read books that aligns with your interests and not of others. Let’s be honest, we’ve read books because everyone else is reading them, and as a result, we became disappointed in ourselves for investing our hard-earned money on a crappy read that we didn’t enjoy. Read for pleasure. Don’t allow the bookish communities that we love so dearly change the way we read. Don’t feel bad that you didn’t read a certain number of books in a month because someone else in the community read 20. Together, let’s ignore the newfound stigma of reading and read for our own enjoyment.
x, k
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