Shut Up Kristyn! | Misc

77 | booktok

For those of you who don't know, "BookTok" is the word used to describe the community of book lovers on TikTok. Various communities and niche topics are described on the platform as "___tok", like once I was on Bob Duncantok and didn't know how I wound up there. There are smaller communities within BookTok dedicated to specific fandoms and such, but the umbrella term for everyone posting book content/engaging with it is BookTok.

I hope that made sense. I didn't realize how much of the TikTok lingo was engrained into my brain until I tried to describe that.

I'm not really a connoisseur of the community myself, but I've noticed a lot of backlash surrounding it on other platforms like Twitter and Tumblr, so I wanted to discuss my thoughts as well!

THE PROBLEMS PEOPLE HAVE

+ Note: these are not my opinions nor are they proven facts. They are the arguments of others and I am sharing them. I will say what I agree/disagree with later on.

1. IT PROMOTES OVERCONSUMPTION. Lots of popular content creators within the community have huge bookshelves with HUNDREDS of books, often used as the backdrop in their videos because they're pretty and it relates to their content. You can usually see a thumbnail image of someone sitting in front of a bookshelf and assume they will be talking about books.

Some feel that doing this promotes overconsumption because people see others with such gorgeous, rainbow shelves and want something similar. They purchase tons of books that they may or may not ever read. The cycle never ends and they just keep buying more, all to fill up that shelf (or shelves) and make it just as pretty.

2. THE POPULAR BOOKS AREN'T "ACADEMIC" OR "CHALLENGING" TO READ. If you've ever walked into a bookstore, or any place that sells books, and seen a display related to popular BookTok novels, you may have noticed that the majority of them are contemporary/romance books. Some argue that these books are so easy to binge read because they don't require the same amount of analysis and thought as, say, classics.

Content creators will occasionally do "binges" where they post videos of them reading 3-4 novels a day, or in a week. Zipping through stories this fast doesn't allow for any digestion of the story since your only goal is to finish it and get to the next one.

3. THE BOOKS ARE ALL THE SAME. "Enemies to lovers" with two straight people who end up together in the end is one of the most popular tropes in the community. There is little variety in the types of stories hyped up on the platform. They are all essentially the same basic plot with minor changes. There aren't any new ideas.

One person on Tumblr says: "the worst part, to me, about the booktok phenomenon is not necessarily that people aren't reading books that are actually challenging but the fact that people aren't reading books that are different. The homogenization of what people are reading these days created by the vacuum of booktok is harmful to the publishing industry in the long-term and a disheartening monopoly of individual thought in the short. there is nothing wrong with enjoying lighter reads or whatever (but you cannot, for everyone's sanity, act like they are interchangeable with more complex books for grown ups) but by god read something new. think with your brain instead of blindly following the display at barnes and noble or the most recent post of your favorite uninteresting 25 year old with rainbow shelves and harry potter mugs."

Another person: "the commodification of aesthetics and the downfall of literacy is the reason people have shit critical thinking skills. simplifying everything down to popular tropes or forcing your favorite things into boxes labeled as 'that girl' or freaking out over books and movies and songs that were created with the intention of going viral on tiktok is not doing anyone any good and using the answer of 'yeah i know but it's all for entertainment'is not even close to a decent response."