If you have scrolled on the BookTok side of social media recently, you might have noticed a common theme: competition. Well, I just want to say that reading is not a competition, and it never should have become one. When I scroll through that side of my social media, I’ve noticed people constantly talking about their goals for how many books they want to read in a month, or how many they already have. I’ve even seen some comparing their total books read to other influencers or even their own family members and friends. This needs to stop.
Reading is a hobby and should be left as that. Having goals is fine, sure, set a goal to read a couple of books a month, but you don’t have to share it with the world. When someone sees someone else set a goal of 30 books in a month, and then the next goals they see online after that just increase, they might assume that it’s normal. I am here to tell you that it’s not normal. You should never think that because one person has a high goal, your goal needs to be even higher in order to feel accomplished. It is completely normal to not have a goal and just read for fun, and if you do set a goal, set one that you know you can reach, or that won’t cause you stress.
Additionally, seeing these videos and feeling as though it is a competition can negatively impact your self-esteem. If you have ever seen how accomplished someone else is in something that you also do, and you realize you aren’t successful, how do you usually feel? In most cases, you probably feel ashamed or like you aren’t good enough. On the more extreme side of things, I’ve even seen situations where people will go as far as thinking they don’t deserve to do that thing anymore and just quit. No one should ever quit reading because they don’t have a massive goal.
We, as a society, need to stop making everything into a competition because, while yes, it can be beneficial to have a small one, it is getting severely out of hand. If more and more people start to become discouraged because of this, the literacy crisis in our world will only go further down that steep hill it’s on. People need to keep reading, it should have never mattered how much or even what they are reading. As long as people are reading, people will continue to have creativity and will continue to inform themselves. For all we know, reading could be what keeps the nations of the world from starting a war due to misinformation. All in all, keep reading, it doesn’t matter how much, just keep reading. Reading should have never become the harmful competition it has become due to social media, and it’s time to fight back.
