Reader in a Strange Land: The Transformation of Reading as a Social Practice in The Digital Age

Abstract

Reading has always been a social practice. With reading communities linking back to storytelling practices in small communities, online reading communities hosted on social media platforms are simply a new way for these communities to exist in the digital age, connecting readers across the globe. Though early communities on BookTube and Goodreads have been around for longer, it was the appearance of TikTok and subsequent rapid rise of BookTok starting in 2020 that has resulted in these communities being more widely discussed. To understand how digital platforms transform reading, this thesis uses the theories of social acceleration and emotional capitalism. Interviews and videos from online reading communities were collected and analyzed. The results indicate that digital tools have shifted how reading is done, and that online reading communities engage in a specific way of reading that centers the sharing of reading statistics and experiences, the rapid consumption of books, and the tracking of reading. Global capitalist processes are expected to sustain this transformed reading practice through the commodification of time and emotions.