Discussion: Is Blogging Making Us Shallow?

  

DISCUSSION: IS BLOGGING MAKING US SHALLOW?

 A couple months ago, I saw a video on Youtube that was titled “Is Booktube Making Us Shallow?”  I connected with a lot of things that were mentioned, and wanted to share my own thoughts on it. I changed it to blogging because I feel like that’s an issue here.

Incident #1: I was reading my brand new copy of Winter at school the other day, and my desk partner got highlighter on it. He apologized, and I’m not upset at him, but my first thought was: I want a new, perfect copy. Immediately after, I realized how terrible that was, and suppressed that thought, BUT IT WAS STILL THERE, in a tiny dark corner of my mind.

Isn’t that awful? It’s a tiny spot of highlighter on the pages, but I wanted a new copy. When has it turned from what’s inside the book to what the book looks like? Isn’t about the story the book contains?

When I was younger, I didn’t care what my books looked like. I cared about the words inside. Now, it’s hard for me to even lend them out, because I’m worried about them being damaged!

Incident #2: I was out taking pictures for my bookstagram account, and had a stack of books in my arms and my camera around my neck. I ran into a table (I’m very clumsy), hitting the books and camera on it, and my first instinct was to check if the books were okay. Not the extremely expensive camera, the books. (Both are fine, by the way.) I was worried that the books were damaged. “They won’t look pretty in pictures or on my shelf if they’re damaged!” That was my first thought. It’s embarrassing.

Before blogging and bookstagramming, I didn’t care what format my books were in. Hardcover, paperback, mass market paperback… It didn’t matter to me. Now, I try to only buy hardcover, because they “look better”- on my shelves and in pictures. When did the format of my books matter to anyone but me? Hardcovers are double the price of paperbacks- but I buy them anyway, because I like them more.

Dog earing of pages- I’ve never done it. Even before blogging, I didn’t do it. But did I care what others did? No. Now, whenever I see someone dog earing a page, I get upset. Why would they damage a book that way? I have to remind myself, it’s their book. They get to choose what they do with it.If they ripped a book to pieces in front of you, you could do nothing about it, because they bought it and it’s not up to you. The same goes for people who write in their books. Do I still hate it when people do either of those things? Yes. Very much. Why does it matter to me? It’s not about what it looks like, it’s about what is inside. But is it, anymore?

Do we, as bloggers, think someone is better than someone else because they have a hardcover or keep their books in perfect condition? Do we buy our books in hardcover so we can feel above someone who has the book in paperback? Or so it looks better?

I think I’m guilty of being shallow when it comes to books. Are you? Do you think blogging is making us shallow? Do you think this is an issue?

Thanks for reading!

Ava