While many people believe that with the digital age taking over among younger generations, a pastime spanning centuries remains more popular than some may think.
A big, if not the biggest contributor to younger generations being more interested in reading are book communities formed on social media with arguably the most well known being ‘BookTok’ on the app TikTok.
In said communities, large, medium and small creators give book recommendations, do book-related challenges and in many cases share lists of purchased books that they plan to read which are called ‘hauls.”
The amount of books in some of these hauls show exaggerated amounts of books and the content creators that upload these videos seem to acknowledge so in the title of their videos.
In the caption for PeruseProject’s book haul, she uses the phrase “booktube made me buy it” which is a spin on the “made me buy it” phase referring to someone being influenced by a content creator to buy a certain product.
Said influences on social media have been seen to create trends of viral items, clothing and in this case books, and caused large waves of consumption for said items.
The resurgence of Colleen Hoover books can be attributed to these trends created by social media, with Hoover’s books becoming popular over four years after being initially released when being talked about on TikTok. After the initial popularity of Hoover’s books on TikTok, many then began to criticize her work for what many deem as her romanticization of abusive and toxic relationships. This therefore created a new trend of bashing Hoover’s books, which is a cycle that can be seen for many popular books and book series.
Youtuber EmilyReadsBooks compares the consumerism and fast paced trends of books through social media as that of fast fashion, stating “people buy [books] because they want to be relevant and part of the conversation that is happening on BookTok.”
Just as the disposal of fast fashion can be seen to create dumps of clothing, one can expect the same to occur with the over consumption of books created through social media. The carbon emissions produced to generate goods as well as the waste produced from said goods becoming past trends continue to build onto the growing climate change dilemma.
Some alternatives that can be used by consumers to be more mindful while still being able to enjoy their hobby of reading could be checking out books from libraries, shopping at second hand establishments such as Half Priced Books in Des Moines and or borrowing a book from a friend or family member.
While it is an overall positive thing that people are reading more, it is also important to be aware of some of the consequences consumerism has on the environment and what one can do to prevent said consequences.
Other Sources:
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2020/12/16/buying-stuff-drives-climate-change/
https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/bookselling/article/87304-how-tiktok-makes-backlist-books-into-bestsellers.html
