How Instagram Ruined Reading For Us

[@muskan_gautam75]

Instagram has completely ruined the joy of reading for me. I remember reading Normal People and not enjoying it at all. But after seeing endless glowing reviews about how it supposedly captures modern love, I started convincing myself to like it, even though I found it hard to get through. Then this "hot girl read" trend, which seems to romanticize mental illness, pushing the idea that being sad somehow makes you more intellectual. It's a dangerous narrative that suggests you're more thoughtful or profound when you're struggling. This kind of mindset shifts reading from an enriching personal experience into a performance, where the focus is on the ‘right’ kind of books to appear cultured. It's frustrating how much emphasis is placed on reading classics or intellectually challenging books to seem smart, while more accessible genres like romance are dismissed as shallow. People are reading classics not because they genuinely enjoy them, but because it gives them an air of sophistication. It's become more about appearing intellectual than actually finding joy in reading - a shift that takes away from the true purpose of literature.

[@okeshsahu3548]

Iam subconsciously feeling very proud that I don't use Instagram 😅😅

[@yogeshwajpeyee9344]

Me to 😊

[@iheights]

I don’t have Instagram account

[@akshz.413]

Instagram is wonderful if u train the algorithm, what to show you.. I am an artist and its main sources of inspiration and information for me. It needs efforts, to tell it, what crap content you dont want to see.. Trust me if u reach to right content creators, Instagram is great, and its coz of those few good people..

[@Samsung11-d7p]

​@@akshz.413 I think reddit will me more useful for you

[@vikassinghmar4514]

​@@akshz.413just suggesting, Pinterest is better for people interested in any kind of art, I've seen all kinds of art simple and complex on Pinterest.

[@pantheonCaspian]

Charu, make a video on your favourite blogs, free online reading resources to explore genres and find new interests. Give homework on what to read each week, how to approach certain topics. Just some massive reading material which matters.

[@KavyaSingh-k8v]

yesterday I was Just soooo bored, I wanted to read something but nothing too serious. While I am an avid reader of classics (being an eng lit student), I needed a session where I would not have to use my brains over the complex analysis or vocabularies of "memoir of a dutiful daughter." So, I picked "Happy Place by Emily Henry," and it helpedddd. I was sooo relaxed after reading around 50 pages. People who judge others on the basis of the genres they read just have a depressed life where they wanna feel superior to others.

[@bobbysingh5470]

""have a depressed life" was good one 🤣🤣

[@JathinGM]

Yeah, instagram I think is the worst app out there.

[@aravindkumar6631]

Absolutely

[@Poojaaa03]

Not at all

[@amitanshu_pattanaik]

Used to be a good place before 2018

[@CallmeTomorrow65]

Oh boy you hve never been on twitter than 😭

[@anxskhxn]

twitter/X is worse but anyway i'm glad to not have both :)

[@sunnysb123]

But don’t you think this applies to every aspect not only books. For music it is perhaps Jazz for some folks, for movies there are the classics, for books again it is also a perceived notion. So books can be no different!

[@AJ-kf4fc]

and the notorious booktok!! completely corrupted my book ratings feed! I now wonder if people really read the books or just use words like cozy, summer read etc to just hype random stuff!! Now I choose books by the review of the lowest review than the 1000s of highest but no longer trustworthy ratings!! pls let's go back to reading not-being-cool era!! I'd rather be in the nerds group that (booklovers were called in another era) genuinely loved books than today's "let's carry books as an accessory" gen!! Btw, I think we should remove the elitist tag for readers though. We all used to read second hand books borrowed from our local second hand library for a few rs in our school days and even in adulthood have used public libraries to read most of my books so it never felt elitist.. it was more about the discovery of adventure/ stories so diverse from our own lives!!

[@adweitaspams]

minor correction at 1:56 - it should be "how did the entire hot girl genre start*? "

[@escapeplan2944]

Charu ❤ ...You are carrying this channel all by yourself...i must say, all your videos are a breathe of fresh air

[@chinmayeesurve7769]

My problem isn't with Colleen Hoover. She's a writer and she can write whatever she wants. My problem is with the readers romantising the content of her books. Be it DV, @buse or extra marital affairs. Like girl, no no no don't romanticise that. Anything but that

[@MOHITKUMAR-ly6yd]

0:30 did she called me beautiful thank you chaaru i am elated...❤

[@Ello927]

4:00 Exactly! The point about Colleen hoover books being equivalent to Wattpad! Everyone needs those mindless books with questionable plots that are so fun to read❤ some of the worst written things on wattpad have stayed with me for the sheer creativity and the authors vision for how the plot would go. Though I won't read Colleen hoover myself, I don't judge people for reading them, especially in this era of reels!

[@adweitaspams]

the problem is not that it is mindless. its okay to shut your brain off and read fluff. the problem with hoover is that she romanticizes violence. wattpad in general is not horrible. colleen hoover is. because she is problematic.

[@neeloybhattacharya8020]

Kudos for covering with a percipient outlook!

[@DiyaJha-d7e]

The first book that i read was by Chetan Bhagat. The second and third were both by collen hoover and these books have only helped me to read more and more . I started reading in January 2024 and i have read around 15 books till now and i think every person has his or her own experiences and creativeness embeeded in their stories for one person the book maybe 10 out of 10 for others it may be 5 . Hating people or prejudicing classics as hot girls read this is so bizzare in itself and if you dont like a particular authors book just dont read it there are tons of book out there.

[@monishkanna1219]

The first book I read as a teen was by CB too. I was 13. I am 23 now. I've read hundreds of books in that period. So, I agree.

[@adweitaspams]

since youve read 15 books now, you would agree that colleen hoover and chetan bhagat are bad and problematic writers right?

[@ashmaparveen3524]

I completely read my first book when I was 15. It was a book called Woman who inspired the world. It was a simple read but that book is the reason I continued reading till now. I did begin to pick up better and great books but I always feel grateful for my first read. This is an important video considering the new wave of aesthetic reading. Thank you for making this.

[@SundramShahi]

i totally agree with you on this, in 2017 i started a bookstagram page and my page was doing well and i was reading a lot but i was not enjoying my reading, it was more to cater to people who followed my insta, i was reading books which i wasn't enjoying but reading them because they were trendy, there are many classics i loved but many famous ones i didn't so it was overwhelming and reading which used to provide me with comfort started feeling like a chore and i deleted that account. Because what's the point in reading 'n' no. of books if i'm not enjoying it just to feel relevant.

[@shreyagoyal7308]

I'm so glad you said it.

[@tanishqthakur3262]

Idk why dostoevesky readers are soo self centric (I am one among them)

[@maihoongiyan]

This had to be said. Thankyou :)

[@apoorvsharma7301]

Beautiful start to the video❤

[@byaditide]

Finally, someone called it out! 🙂‍↕️

[@edgerunner000]

I picked up the habit of reading books to escape from the clutches of Instagram and I've never been happier.

[@pranavshamkuwar]

This appears to be a phase and every field has to go through this. Only the stauch supporters will remain till the very end, so having an ideal perspective does not help. Sooner or later this trend will wither and perish.

[@Philosopher420]

Charu is humble whenever she says:- Hello beautiful people. 😂

[@meghalodh7083]

Finally somebody said it!!!

[@redtulippie]

i have a become a consumer from reader. :( i have become a hater too, here someone is finally matching my freak. i have slowly and naturally become so critical due to less personal fredom to have a perception about a book. i have not hated something, someone so much because i feel alienated due to the hyper categorising. and before i picked a book, someone would have already classified it into some category so it alters my ability to know myself and to connect things i feel to some classification because i am also over there losing my sense of belongingness. this is my take on everyone calling out on us rising to be a hyper individualistic society. to that i will say, it is because of the exaggerated dependence on community and collective and we all want to hold onto our identities because we are seperate entities on our own before or at the same time being a collective. the thing is i have yet to figure out a way to deal with all my hate and rage over this classifying/elitist behavior. am i just going to cry until i find something in me to have love again? i guess.

[@TrishaBarua2913]

I honestly do not think it’s that deep. Print sales of romance books have doubled in the last few years and fantasy keeps getting bigger and bigger. Also when it comes to Colleen Hoover, it’s not that she writes easy to read fiction but she’s literally glorifying abuse and passing it off as a romance ??????? So the hate is pretty valid imo especially because she also gets a movie deal out of it ??? People can read what they want but please have awareness while doing so

[@bhikhta]

If sunflowers could speak, their voice would sound just like this.

[@atharvsingh2406]

What is colleen Hoover knows how to write novels, she really does. If we ignore the trending hate train created for her and talk logically about the points that really are problematic about her novels and give constructive criticism then it would be the right thing to do. I'm not particularly eager to read her books because of my morals( I don't want to give out my money to someone whose son harassed a minor), but her novels do get you off a reading slump.

[@saraswatmajumdar1630]

Well said ..

[@anubhavpathak3319]

I was just thinking about this thing and saw chalchitra talks story damnn man it's sooo true

[@Anshu.24383]

No way you are just 20, charu! I mean how can someone be so mature at such a young age 👀🥺

[@mihir2405]

I feel that reading a personal and at same time a social activity, personal as in we read so that we can enjoy ourselves and have fun, we travel from Hogwarts to world war 2, to Churchil to medivail age, travel to the great himalayas then to deep and calm pacific from of poetry of Galib to Faiz etc and with these similar thoughts and idea we are enganing with like minded people and discuss with them and making our own social community. If within this process we start to categories and make pre concive notion about people then the whole idea of reading or rather learning will be destroyed. even reading chetan Bhagat or Collen Hoover is not that bad, after all they are also people of this society they have also written what they saw and observed. personally I belive we should encourge all forms, mediums, formats and any other mean or mode by reading or rather learning and exapnding knowledge should be focused. I was also a very judgly person few years but now I have admitted that any mean or mode does not define a person. its his knowledge, learning and experince. 🌻

[@devanshipunjabi3928]

Thank you for the quote

[@Rajesh-M]

I think the same for this channel too.

[@shuvojyotirakshit2300]

See, I agree with you on all the points , but the thing is like movies, there are critiques in the book community too. And Critiques are needed because if they are not, authors or movie makes will figure what caters most for the majority of the population and keep making trashy movies or books. I am going to give you a very crude example here. 4-5y ago, there used to be a time when every year one movie by any of the khan in movie industry used to make a movie and people made them box office hits, even now it still continues, but there should be someone to question is it a good movie? Long back, when Apu Trilogy was made , if everyone was only concern about what everyone likes , let that be the main stream , then you couldn't find Ray's work to appreciate in the crowd of bollywood movies ever. Only because a minority of people, and that only in more civilized, more educated viewers understood the value of those films that now you can sit back in your room and enjoy what a masterpiece it is. So, critiques are necessary, if no critiques then Collen Hoover 's best selling book will be equal to a great literature book and people make it the standard great book , and I don't want to be in that future where that happens.

[@Literatureofimagination]

I read comics. I love comics. Superhero comics, sci-fi comics, fantasy comics etc. There are some comic books which might literally bring out creativity and joy hidden deep inside. For anyone new I always recommend, Arrival by Shaun Tan. I dont care what others will think about it, but I do wish more people would try reading comics

[@kk-ot9kn]

Stop judging other people for what they consume focus that attention on why do you need to judge and not let them be.

[@deadbutdope]

agreed

[@satyambikki4870]

Just keep talking ❤

[@Gojosamaaa]

True ppl esp girls nowadays use pretty books or book covers as their accessories 😂 something that will add aesthetic ness to their overall look which is pathetic…cause they don’t really care about the book but the beauty of the cover …I haven’t seen one person even person on Instagram who reads a tattered or a old covered book ….everyone has a shiny colourful book cover to post 😂

[@SunilKumar-sm5sf]

Dead Poets Society Poster in the background ❤

[@bhavyajain9503]

only here for charu's voice..

[@krishnendugoswami4001]

Charu the topic was nice but through the whole video you just made one point, and kept hammering on the same point. Would have loved to see you delve into other points maybe. And are you a fan of bookleo's channel?

[@kwberabbot]

Ma'am your channel name is kitabi cabins and your videos are in english please make videos in hindi too

[@Cinemaoftheheart]

I had a few comment fights on the same issue. They read Dante and use Jargans like BUGEORGISE. But haven't read a single short story by munshi premchand . Instagrammification of books that's what I felt. Thank you for giving me this word.

[@NealGarnerrr]

why is this video 1 hour long?

[@chanderkant9545]

Just discovered this channel.... Can u please upload a video that explains the writings of Marcel Proust? I tried to read it but was unable to understand so an explainer of Proust will be helpful

[@preranadas4751]

Louder louder!!

[@ruchirdeshpande]

This was the thing I wanted to say but people would get mad at me 😂😂

[@CinephilesAssemble]

My first book was Harry potter 😂

[@subhradipmisra3266]

Didn't get what she said 😢

[@YoungSanju]

What book is sydney sweeney reading.?

[@anjishnudebnath8127]

Instagram ruined a lot of things

[@Vickyverma2024]

Charu Ek Video Hindi Literature pe bi banta hai boss. Woh bi hindi meh❤

[@vishaluikey4145]

Hoover ko bas Read karo 😂😂. Defend to mat hi karna. 😊

[@charugautam7217]

hahahah nice

[@SumitSMN]

Vaani kahan hai??

[@ummmohini]

hot girl giving the best recommendations!♥️

[@Jagdish_chavda9]

There's your choice read Book your interest

[@TheJediPrince]

All the trending books on indian social media are shitty in real.

[@suryadevthakur5212]

Charu I love you ❤

[@ra5hid101]

Ditto , but people will do what people want . Shit viral books sell like hot cake .

[@WatermelonSugar1209]

I don’t care tbh as long as people are reading more.

[@DesiBoIl]

Hi kitaabi Cabins i'm not an avid reader but im an aspirant & i most of the time i will read technical subjects only, right now i'm in a breakup mood could any of you guys suggest books for chilling as a single guy

[@sidkhuntia]

I need the dead poets society poster please

[@Namrata-mt9wr]

Read books of ACHARYA PRASHANT

[@vinamraranjan6880]

nice thumbnail.

[@tanvikasingh9294]

Reading colleen hoover uncritically is a problem as she is normalizing toxic relationships as being " romantic". This does influence people adversely. I am all for read what you want but one has to evaluate it critically . Is the work supporting oppression or fighting against it ?

[@aryannijhawan8448]

This is so apt! I had similar thoughts while deciding which book to read because of the analysis paralysis going on. Similarly movies, we become so conscious if we’re watching deep, intellectual movies with crazy plots that we lose the purpose of watching them for entertainment.

[@opiumballlads]

shes carrying da whole channel on her back

[@Itz_waku]

ye im third, hello guys love the way u say

[@globalshetkari]

कृपया आप विडिओ हिंदी भाषा मे बनाने का प्रयास करें. इससे आपके subscriber भी बाढेंगे, और हमारे पल्ले भी कुछ पड जायेगा. ❤❤

[@Shivam-sr1ft]

W

[@karanpatel1346]

it always pisses my mind when someone keeps posting on instagram what book they are currently reading and try to be aesthetic about it. i mean just read the book and put it back in your library what is this show off ?

[@wion.80]

What do you think Instagram is for dude? It's for posting about your life. If you don't want to, that's fine too. But you cannot go on a SOCIAL platform and complain about people being social. People post their travel pictures/blogs all the time. Are you gonna go and complain about that calling that a show off? Why is posting pictures of books considered a 'show off'?

[@karanpatel1346]

@@wion.80 stop blabbering first, I am not complaining about it i have seen my own friends pretending to be readers on social media while in real life they don't even finish a 200 page book. That's what I call a show off. I am not complaining about it i am just calling out the BS people pretend on social media.

[@wion.80]

@@karanpatel1346 if that's the case, your irritation is absolutely valid. Posting about books when you don't even read is definitely dumb. But you did not mention them in your original comment. Maybe learn how to talk first then?

[@wion.80]

@@karanpatel1346 I'm not blabbering, you are. You're blabbering about how posting about books is irritating on a social media platform and that, Karan is stupid asf. People can post about the books they're reading. If you cannot handle people being social on social media, get off social media

[@Rituraj-Ravi]

Video is confusing, especially sudden shift from English to Hinglish. Please keep your script towards camera, looking down create discontinuity.

[@YoungSanju]

What book is sydney sweeney reading.?