my bf and i had a long discussion last night about the Aesthetic Intellectualism you've been talking about, and while i agree that reading is always a net positive compared to like, scrolling on tiktok for hours, as a lifelong reader i can't help feeling a little bitter about the sudden "trendiness" of reading as an aesthetic signifier rather than something people actually engage with thoughtfully. i hate seeing things that feel real and meaningful becoming commodified!!! (feels very similar to the rise of therapy culture!)
I think I get this; but my question is always, so what? whats the real loss to anyone if reading becomes cool and perhaps commodified? reading to me should be something the masses engage in on every level- whether thats chick flicks of lit fic. I'm not sure I know what it means to engage with reading 'thoughtfully'. would love to hear from you what that looks like. reading doesnt necessarily have to be this sacred thing for everyone. it's something everyone should be doing one way or the other imo. and the text these celebrities and brands are doling out aren't harmful text, so what exactly is the real loss here? wanna hear your thoughts!
it’s a good question — i’m not sure there is a real loss that i can articulate, but something about it still bugs me. i think partially when i say engage with reading thoughtfully, i mean to engage with reading outside of the trend cycle and outside of the now highly aesthetic quality of it. are people choosing books because they’re actually interested in them, or because it’s the booktok pick du jour? are they exploring their tastes beyond what they see in their algorithms? it seems like people do less developing their own tastes and preferences now because of the social media trend cycle and social media has also decreased critical thinking skills in general (a trend teachers talk about a lot with high school students), and so i see the reading trend as symptomatic of these more macro cultural trends, too. i’m also definitely being a bit of a snob in the way people often are when something they’ve loved for a long time suddenly hits big mainstream popularity and starts to feel different lol so i’ll own that!!
also re: guys having no close friends and spending more time on screens/less time socializing than girls -- i am so worried about young boys!!! and i hate that expressing that concern online is often met with a faux-feminist "um hello we live in a patriarchy, so men have it good?" response 😵💫
ughhhhhh it really bothers me too. nothing in extremes is a good thing! and we're complaining about why these boys are obsessed with Andrew Tate and were not looking inwards to our won culture. we're the ones that are going to lose out!
your roundups are all i need and also glad someone else is talking about audrey gelman LOL and my notes app has been FILLED lately with nonsensical thoughts about aesthetic intellectualism, for better or worse, so keep talking about it please!!
I did a deep dive on the rhode blush launch last night and I have a sneaky feeling the colour choice mayyyy be because the nudestix founder called them out for "copying"
my bf and i had a long discussion last night about the Aesthetic Intellectualism you've been talking about, and while i agree that reading is always a net positive compared to like, scrolling on tiktok for hours, as a lifelong reader i can't help feeling a little bitter about the sudden "trendiness" of reading as an aesthetic signifier rather than something people actually engage with thoughtfully. i hate seeing things that feel real and meaningful becoming commodified!!! (feels very similar to the rise of therapy culture!)
I think I get this; but my question is always, so what? whats the real loss to anyone if reading becomes cool and perhaps commodified? reading to me should be something the masses engage in on every level- whether thats chick flicks of lit fic. I'm not sure I know what it means to engage with reading 'thoughtfully'. would love to hear from you what that looks like. reading doesnt necessarily have to be this sacred thing for everyone. it's something everyone should be doing one way or the other imo. and the text these celebrities and brands are doling out aren't harmful text, so what exactly is the real loss here? wanna hear your thoughts!
it’s a good question — i’m not sure there is a real loss that i can articulate, but something about it still bugs me. i think partially when i say engage with reading thoughtfully, i mean to engage with reading outside of the trend cycle and outside of the now highly aesthetic quality of it. are people choosing books because they’re actually interested in them, or because it’s the booktok pick du jour? are they exploring their tastes beyond what they see in their algorithms? it seems like people do less developing their own tastes and preferences now because of the social media trend cycle and social media has also decreased critical thinking skills in general (a trend teachers talk about a lot with high school students), and so i see the reading trend as symptomatic of these more macro cultural trends, too. i’m also definitely being a bit of a snob in the way people often are when something they’ve loved for a long time suddenly hits big mainstream popularity and starts to feel different lol so i’ll own that!!
also re: guys having no close friends and spending more time on screens/less time socializing than girls -- i am so worried about young boys!!! and i hate that expressing that concern online is often met with a faux-feminist "um hello we live in a patriarchy, so men have it good?" response 😵💫
ughhhhhh it really bothers me too. nothing in extremes is a good thing! and we're complaining about why these boys are obsessed with Andrew Tate and were not looking inwards to our won culture. we're the ones that are going to lose out!
Ah it’s always been like that!
your roundups are all i need and also glad someone else is talking about audrey gelman LOL and my notes app has been FILLED lately with nonsensical thoughts about aesthetic intellectualism, for better or worse, so keep talking about it please!!
I love everything about this comment. and yes will always talk about aesthetic intellectualism. its fun!
Fun fluff 💕 it
I did a deep dive on the rhode blush launch last night and I have a sneaky feeling the colour choice mayyyy be because the nudestix founder called them out for "copying"
also they may be launching spf?? fun!
wait what?? haha literally havent thought of nudestix for so long they need to chill
It confirmed my desire on hosting a dinner party, btw the Bon appetit link is not working. Always a Nice read! :)
thank you and good luck with your dinner party!
Perfect start to my morning, thank you very much 🙂↕️
always welcome :)
i once fell into the hailey bieber rhode rabbit hole... the girl really is more than meets the eye and that brand is a machine