also (not connected to your main points but still relevant imo) the term "girl math" pisses me off soooo much bc i feel like it's just supporting misogyny. like i get that it's a joke, same with "girl dinner" or stuff like that, but when large amount of people start using that term, both online and in real life, other people (mostly men i guess) will use it to further their sexist opinions. (not saying that it's women's jobs to make sure men aren't being sexist !! but i feel like women/girls have started using that term more seriously than it was originally used as well so. idk what my point is here lmao.) and also, if you pair this with the rising trend of "trad wives", it just feels like tiktok/social media is largely impacting and restricting gender roles. people always use this example lol, but what are we telling the 12 year old girls when we make videos indirectly saying girls/women are financially incompetent yknow? like idkkkk it's just weird.. also if you think about women in stem and the history of women being denied access to and being under-represented in stem areas. this is a quote i found in an essay about the term "girl math", written by sophie webb, 2023: "Arguably, it implies an underlying ditzy nature - perhaps a failure to understand mathematical concepts, or at least, a willingness to misinterpret them. Should it be considered misogynistic to identify poor financial decision-making and/or poor mathematical awareness as an exclusively feminine trait?" some people would probably say that i'm just taking a silly joke wayyyy too seriously, but like.. THATS MY OPINIOOOOOON 😝dunno if this made sense, i feel like i didn't explain my arguments well enough lol, and also my english isn't super good heh sorry. GREAT VIDEO!!! love ur channel :)

Another thing I've heard a lot recently is "the economy sucks now, it's going to get worse in the future, so why should I even bother saving for retirement?" I'm hoping it's ironic, but yeesh. Bad viral financial advice is very in right now

great video, but more plushies in the background next time lol

You’re exactly like me, only buy album versions i personally like

I can literally only watch commentary on these, the actual videos are too difficult to watch

haha! the algorhitm strikes again! i love your analysis :) keep up the great work

I can't stand shows like Jubilee and their affiliated shows.

OMG this was really fun, you should post more!

The ninja turtle man was saying such out of pocket things. I wonder if he’ll ever find someone who’s qualified 😂

You're so right about the people in reality TV being better on camera and also with the editing possibly cutting out bad or awkward parts. It's so weird watching the KZbin dating shows. It feels like I shouldn't be seeing it

Ur so pretty😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Click to see @jocelinireads READING, but it's just some lady talking.... NOT MY TYPE, NOT QUALIFIED!! 🎈📌 *pops balloon*

THANK U for covering this also that girls rank each other video was nasty work fr fr!!

These shows are SAVAGE!!!!

I just came across this video and i feel like she listened to your criticism

“The football game” 🤣 the Super Bowl lmao

LOL! to shut up and what?! die??? LOLOL love it!

i love your style! thanks for the longform!!! :)

As someone who did go to college and studied even further...I think her logical thinking is very clear and she's quite emotionally intelligent! Her stream of consciousness thinking is actually quite structured, if you follow it Intuitively, with feeling. Sure, some episodes are boring or redundant but as someone in my late 20s, I think she is quite wise and emotionally self-aware, esp for her age. I don't share any context with her tbh but I appreciate the style of talking a lot and she thinks for herself , which that is the basis of critical thinking & deep analysis. I think a lot of people are not emotionally available even to themselves or tuned into others enough to understand diff perspectives. I think Emma has the gift of enterntaining and storytelling which many people probably don't have patience for or subconsciously envy. I think her analysis is deep and refreshingly self-assured

Only think I don't like in booktook is promoting small amount of books over and over again to end of the trend.

this is so relatable. i feel like sometimes i know that i have time to read a book, but then i get lazy and not read at all. also, you should still be so proud of reading 100 pages for almost a week!! alsooo, loved the vlog style of the video, please do more like these soon!

People are very much criticizing A Little Life for its content and trauma fetishization, but you’re right that it doesn’t get dogged on the same way a romance book would.

It’s kind of funny for me to read some of these comments because I had such a negative college experience and wish I had dropped out. I went to a college where the social scene was very much sororities, fraternities, and drinking. I also didn’t particularly like my major, engineering. I felt like it was a work hard play hard very unhealthy environment. I always admire people like Emma who march to the beat of their own drum and choose not to go to college.

im in 8th grade. well, technically 9th at this point because school just ended. some of these kids (and i GOTTA say it here) are freaking STUPID 😭 they arent getting held back because they leave it to the parents. the parents decide if they ACTUALLY get held back or not. the school district goes “hey it seems like your kid struggled, we want them to be held back” and the parents can just go “NOPE!” so it’s mostly the parents fault, and teachers need to get paid more. my school admin SUCKS. he gets paid like $200,000 PER YEAR yet these poor teachers are making like $16 per hour (my mom’s a teacher in my district). i’ve seen one too many kids just actively cheating on tests and these teachers just don’t even care anymore. i’m favorited by the teachers because im just a DECENT HUMAN BEING. these kids suck and it really needs to be fixed

Over consumption aside (like you said, that’s an issue with every online community on social media lol), there are some weird booktok recommendations.. it seems like “romantasy”, is huge right now, and I don’t like fantasy. But those trends are really no different than the Twilight and Harry Potter fandom of my youth lol And a lot of the booktokers are really young. I would be lying if I said I didn’t read cringy books that were targeted to my youth at that age either. 😂 At the end of the day, if it gets people reading, and it gives authors more exposure/success if their books blow up on the app… that seems like a win-win for both parties. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Love this. I totally agree, all the booktok youtube videos just puppet the same script! So boring. Can't wait for the topic to stop trending.

The only video I've enjoyed on the subject of booktok is According to Alina's one as she actually delves deeper into the criticisms of both sides of the argument, the rest of them are the most surface level washed up booktok bad, booktube good arguments with no substance at all its so annoying. I don't think its a coincidence that booktok gets a bad reputation and has a largely young female audience, young girls are criticised for quite literally everything they are interested in (music, makeup, aesthetics etc) and now *SOME* people are finding it hard to come up with excuses for girls liking books being a bad thing - hence the argument of "romance/colleen hoover aren't real literature, ur just reading it for fun and the aesthetics u don't actually care" which like honestly so what if they're reading it for fun, that's its intended purpose - its entertainment. Also THANK U SO MUCH for FINALLY talking abt how annoying the "I read classics and real books not romance ew" people are. They are actually the bane of my existence, I enjoy those kinds of books just as much as a romance or fantasy ur no better than anyone else stop acting so pretentious. It's the same as "modern art" haters which I could go on a whole other rant abt tbh😭 Anyways, I'm so sorry for this rambly comment that probably makes no sense at all I think I'm a bit too passionate abt this subject 😔

I enjoy being a hater and I’m a writer so in depth critique videos are actually useful for me. However, seeing all these booktok videos is annoying for me too! It’s boring to hear the same points about the same books over and over again. There are so many badly written books out there! Why is it always books written by women for women? Men write plenty of trash too. Also I read plenty of bad books and enjoy them, so I don’t just hate on them. Not every story has to be the book equivalent of fine dining.

i was one of those girls who disliked booktok viciously in 2022, mainly because of how it platformed the usual authors. but then, as you said in the intro, i literally picked up a book! NJJSHDSDJSH like whilst booktok is problematic in some aspects, and i may disagree with what is considered good literature there (that has been subjective for millennia - i am a lit student). booktok is just another platform where ppl read! it's just a matter of preferences, i prefer booktube bcus i just enjoy longform content, but booktok is still valid. just find ur niche of small creators and it can be enjoyable. also it has made reading accessible again.

On the over consumption topic, my thing is most people over consume something, it may not be at the same level as the next person but most of us do. Why is it ok to be a wine or figurine collector, but it’s not ok to have a big book collection? Also people watch trash tv all the time, so why can’t people read what they want as well. Why are people making it seem like everything we read must be a literary masterpiece, when people who love tv don’t only watch cinematic masterpieces?

What really confuses me is the people who are criticising the ‘quality’ of the literature that is popular on booktok… I don’t think anyone when they started reading started on Tolstoy. We all had to start somewhere, and your tastes change over time. These are majority young women who have a new interest in reading. Give them time to explore new genres and develop tastes and preferences! And even if they only ever read romance, who cares, if it’s what they like! Open a book and leave people alone 😭

YES you are so real for this video!!!!👏👏👏

I agree, everyone needs to shut up and just read lol. I’ve fallen for “hyped up” books back in my early teens, specifically Looking for Alaska by John Green because I saw it everywhere back in the height of the Tumblr era and was so disappointed as it didn’t live up to its popularity BUT I also only read it because everyone else did when that genre wasn’t one I usually gravitate towards, I hated on it and then just grabbed another book. Booktok isn’t ruining reading for people who ACTUALLY read, it’s just a trend, they always come and go. Just read what you like. Is booktok really going to stop you from reading altogether? If yes, then you weren’t a reader to begin with 🤷🏻‍♀️

Totally agree. These booktubers pick on Booktok and make the same points again and again. (Some of these points I have problems with like ‘young women shouldn’t be reading xyz cause it’s bad for them and they’ll think that is healthy’ as if we are stupid and cannot tell what is right and wrong on our own) They also act like hating booktok is super woke when they are just once again picking on stuff women like.

To be fair I consciously stay away from 'A Little Life' just like CoHo's books because this trend of glorifying misery is incredibly annoying especially when you don't live in a peaceful prosperous country. I don't need to read books focused on bad stuff, I have news feed for this. That being said, I don't think criticizing Colleen Hoover is bad, but hating on people who read her books definitely is unnecessary.

It’s so funny to me too like I’m a hater of a lot of those “booktok books” but they feed into the whole problem of everyone only talking about them,, by talking about them lmao

my native language is not enlgish, and I saw a video of a spanish creator, giving her opinion on how "A little life" is uncomfortable and using trauma to make the reader cry. So, believe when I told you that I was so weird out that most youtubers think is amazing.

Your so real girl, I love reading sm and I love booktok cos it’s my fav place to go to find book recs,reviews,and other stuff related to books. Obv book tok gots its issues but that doesn’t mean every reader is like some smut obsessed person 😭

i feel like booktok is just an umbrella term for all of the content that contains that overconsumption now. like you’re so right- it’s on insta, it’s on tiktok, it’s on youtube. but i think that it’s just an umbrella now, and that people use it indiscriminately because it encapsulates all of that social media book stuff. with colleen hoover- i just hate her blatant glorified abuse and even SA (in her book, ‘maybe not’). i don’t mind when people read her stuff because i like the sarcastic commentary. i want to find other readings, but coho is just more popular. and with people who enjoy certain books- you can enjoy it all, but i feel like it’s just damaging to glorify characters like Zade meadows and his literal assaults on the character!!

ur actually so real i feel like booktok is encouraging reading. instead of complaining, PICK UP A DAMN BOOK!!!!!

bro i keep getting all these videos recommended even though i don't watch them too😭😭 fr that point about everyone just copy pasting the same complaints in their own video - i find it incredibly ironic as they also tend to complain that booktok only promotes the same 20 books... okay and you guys only say the same 5 critiques and act like it's an "unpopular opinion". I'm not even really on booktok like that and i can see it!! ugh!!!!!

As a former Colleen Hoover reader, the jump on TikTok from loving to hating her was insane. I remember the 2021/22 Booktok when everyone and their mother were talking about her but all of a sudden it became a trend to hate her and Booktok. People act like Colleen Hoover, Sarah J. Mass, and Ana Huang are the only bad authors but I'm sure there’s plenty more out there. it’s sadly become more popular to hate their writing and the Booktok community even though there are less mainstream sides of Booktok that are way better- people just don’t look for them and focus on the smut and abuse that is written in only a small fraction of books

looks like she took your advice lol

When i grew up school started at 8:30. Today kids are going to school in my neighbourhood are strolling around with their parents and going to school at 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning!! The k-6 school in my neighbourhood does the whole drop off dance at 10:00 in the morning!!!

There's always people who likes this content and hates that content. Its normal College ain't for everyone half of yall went to college for 4 years and didn't go nowhere in life . Life is soooo simple:you don't like Emma's podcast ?go listen to someone els

You keep saying "yoall..." 😂😂 And you think kids have problems?!

Fun fact about that “John Lennon quote” for anyone who’s curious: He never said it!

I think she saw the video and applied it

What you said about love is sooo on point, I personally think from experience, that Emma is bitter from her hurt, at least at that time, about her relationship with her ex and her other relationship experiences. That's just my personal opinion. 😇 I wish her the best, and that she grows in maturity and wisdom. She's not dumb she's got a brain, there's just some desirable deepness lacking. I also personally think that you don't have to go to college to mature, just living a .real. life. Not just a very pampered one. I learned so much by just working at a restaurant, paying bills, being around the general public, doing yard work for a 50 trees, and doing vet assisting. You learn sooo much. Tough life can deeply mature a person, learning how to work hard, earning genuine precious work experiences, and learning from your elders, hard-earned wisdom being handed down, etc. And there is sooo many books and sources out there, you can really and fully educate yourself. That exists out there.

Nobody should go to college. Who's pepping these chicks up.