intellectualism, but make it curated - by Paige

Last semester, a guest lecturer came to my Literary Institutions class to discuss how the novel has declined in popularity as a serious art form in the last 20 years. I found myself initially disagreeing with him. In my experience, the novel has only increased in popularity throughout the past two decades. Why was it that when I was in middle school and high school, I was the weird girl, embarrassed to always be reading books? Why was it that when Instagram and TikTok drastically rose in popularity during my university years, it suddenly became “cool” to read, and in fact, an indicator that you are smart, interesting, and not just surface level? My Instagram feed became filled with people posting pictures of themselves reading books at the park, on vacation, and so on. A part of me had to wonder: what gives someone the urge to take a picture and share with others that they are reading something, as opposed to just actually reading it without sharing that online? Are people actually rea

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• Mithesh Gawande