Why is booktok discourse so shallow?

Head to https://squarespace.com/accordingtoalina to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code ACCORDINGTOALINA YouTube has been taken over by "booktok bad" videos and after watching an inordinate amount of them, I got a sneaky feeling that although they are very good at explaining what Booktok is bad at, these videos might not be that "good" themselves. Does Booktok have an overconsumption problem? Yes. Are reading aesthetics a bit cringe? Also yes. And yes, the "spicy" book community can be a weird place at times. Certainly, one that comedian YouTubers can easily poke fun at. But is that enough to throw around the "booktok is ruining literature" claim journalists and commentators love to clickbait with so much? timestamps: 00:00 - I try to convince you I'm not a booktok apologist 01:19 - everyone's favourite scapegoat: the spicy book ladies 2:30 - "the problem with booktok is that it's performative" 5:21 - romance readers and being an intellectual online 9:12 - booktok is not just romance and spicy books FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 10:11 - the "tropeification" of literature 11:42 - the death of negative reviews 13:13 - caveat: some of the spicy book people are just unhinged 13:54 - the romance/ spicy book moral panic 19:45 - romance and erotica books have always been bestsellers 21:00 - critical thinking ≠ being a hater 23:30 - criticizing booktok gets views the sources on this were all included on screen, sorry if I miss some of the links videos mentioned: Cyber Noop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwS2Qt0wexA&t=104s Aydin Atush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R92UY6HoxGY&t=22s RayLikeSunshine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CuuTCbo3vo&t=23s Chad Chad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCQpkI6waYs&t=20s Alisha not Alihsha: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3v6aY8LSXo&t=821s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC0rTfDe7DI&t=810s Princess Weekes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54v0KJZJuyw&t=1945s Jack Edwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtG4OKU7q-M&t=1789s Alice Cappelle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmMDikbHgTc&t=24s my previous video about romance books being "bad for women": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dczTv_J__Dg&t=1117s the substack essay: https://madisonhuizinga.substack.com/p/booktok-is-turning-books-into-commodities NYT article about Penguin Random House CEO: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/books/penguin-random-house-nihar-malaviya.html #booktok