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180
Student @ University of Abuja
Relics of Validation
<p>Books still hold weight. But let’s be honest—these days, it needs a viral video on <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link" href="https://twocents.space/insights/tag/booktok" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#booktok</a> and <a class="tc-blue external-link external-link" href="https://twocents.space/insights/tag/bookstagram" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#bookstagram</a> to get anybody to pick it up.</p><p><br/></p><p>The real issue isn’t that social media replaced books. Not really. Not truly. The issue is that social media has turned them into relics of validation. </p><p>We no longer read to discover, we read to “verify” what we already saw in a 280-character thread. </p><p>Influence now moves from screen to page, completely reversing the traditional hierarchy. </p><p><br/></p><p>Think about it. A book doesn’t become influential because it’s well written. It becomes influential because someone on TikTok cried over it. Take my all time favorite, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros for example. I only read it because a certain @Chanè cried over it. Because a tweet dissected it. Because the algorithm blessed it. </p><p><br/></p><p>The knowledge inside was always there. But the validation? That comes from the feed. </p><p>We read differently now. We scroll first, then open a book to check if the thread was right. </p><p><br/></p><p>Discovery happens on the screen. Depth still happens on the page but only after the screen gives it permission. That’s the reversal. Books still hold weight. They just don’t get to decide when it matters anymore.</p><p><br/></p><p>The real shift isn’t consumption. It is authority. Before social media, a book’s credibility came from the author. Now, it comes from engagement. A brilliant book with zero likes might as well not exist at all. A shallow one will a million shares becomes a “must-read.” </p><p><br/></p><p>We didn’t stop reading. We only handed the gatekeeper’s keys to the crowd.</p><p><br/></p><p>Social media drives the influence that moves the masses, but books still hold the power that moves the mind. One is the heartbeat, the other is the bone. You can live without a bone for a moment, but you cannot build anything that lasts without a skeleton.<br/></p><p><br/></p><p>So no, social media has not replaced books. It just decides which ones matter. And that might be a more interesting problem.</p><p><br/></p>
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