Reading has widely been known as a healthy and educational hobby, but most people assume the books that bookworms read are intellectual masterpieces. But with the use of social media, TikTok specifically, has that perspective changed? Are authors now more focused on pumping out shallow books, with little to no plot to appease readers? That question has mainly been asked of BookTok, a subdivision of TikTok has emerged, focusing on, you guessed it, books! 

I remember the good old days of book recommendations and book aesthetics on BookTok. I have a kind of emotional connection to BookTok because it got me back into reading. But as BookTok and social media progress, some of the content has become questionable. For example, there are POVs, which are basically when authors put y/n (your name) in Wattpad stories, aka you pretend to be the main character of a book. This essence sounds fine, but in reality, these POVs are often sexually explicit, and I get secondhand embarrassment from seeing them.

But these POVs aren’t the only raunchy part of BookTok; the book recommendations are also getting a bit out of hand. I still remember when BookTok would promote YA, young adult, fantasy books like “Throne of Glass,” By Sarah J. Mass or “Shadow and Bone,” by Leigh Bardugo. However, now I go on TikTok and all I see is dark romance this and dark romance that. I’m probably not the first to say this but some of the books don’t have much substance and are instead filled with cliché “tropes,” or insubstantial romance that are by all accounts, boring.  

I think that BookTok overall has its pros, which include having a community filled with people who have the same hobby as you, getting some splendid book recommendations (I swear they’re out there), helping out newer writers get their books out there and encouraging people to read more. You don’t know how many times I’ve almost given up on a book only to find a video on TikTok about it that has renewed my interest, or how many books I’ve decided to pick up because I got an honest review on TikTok. You may be asking, “Well can’t you do this on any app?” Well the answer is yes, but because TikTok is video-based, specifically short videos, people are more inclined to listen and more likely to find books they might have never found without the app.  BookTok has also provided a community for people to share their perspectives, theories (it’s sometimes nice to fall down the rabbit hole of theories), fanart, jokes and merchandise about books. 

While some are dropping out of this subsection of TikTok I think that the pros outweigh the cons. If you’re like me and sometimes struggle to reconcile the earlier wholesome BookTok with this more modern…and interesting one, I have a solution. Mind your own business. TikTok even has a feature where you can select “not interested,” in any videos you might not want to see again, and then you won’t have to worry about it anymore! If you see a TikTok with a tag that you don’t particularly like, in my case anything having the words “Mafia Boss,” or “Dark Romance,” just ignore it and trust that the video will find a user who will truly cherish it. This also goes for books that are considered too shallow or “trophy.” Again, just don’t read it! 

While yes, this article is me complaining about some things I don’t like about BookTok, which I think every user has their separate complaints about. TikTok is also an algorithm based so if you don’t like something, you can swip past a video clip you don’t like, and you’ll probably never see something similar again. So if you really care you could curate your for you bage.  it While I’ll still probably cringe at the occasional sight of a POV or dark romance recommendation video, I know that I have the self-control just to swipe away from the video and continue enjoying my day.