Why #BookTok is Overrated

By: A. Lotufo

If you’ve heard of the popular names Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Holly Jackson, and Lynn Painter (and maybe even read some of their books) – you are probably on BookTok. Of course, these authors have proven their excellence by being awarded various prizes; but they’ve also trended on TikTok immensely. The hashtag #BookTok, with almost 53 million videos under it, has been known for motivating people of all ages (especially teenagers) to finally pick up a book and get into reading. Parents and teachers should be happy… shouldn't they?

However, the disadvantages of BookTok are clear – and it sometimes might even be dangerous. Many children (despite the company’s guidelines) tend to have access to TikTok. With BookTok being one of the most dominating topics on the app, children are sometimes exposed to books which are targetted to much older audiences. This is partially due to the YA (young adult) genre. These books are mainly for people which are 12-20 years old, which presents a large issue. At 20 years old, not only are you an adult, but you also have a lot more maturity to be able to read books which elaborate on major, triggering topics (such as domestic violence).

There have also been various complaints about the fact that not all books have age-ratings, making it extremely difficult for parents to monitor the reading material of their children. Moreover, many books are being criticized for their lack of trigger warnings. Many books which are constantly trending (which have no age-rating) have topics which could trigger not only a young community, but many adults. Now if there is no age-rating for these books, nor trigger warnings, children on BookTok and parents might not be aware of the emotional and intense themes present. 
 
So, is BookTok overrated? There still is the need to address many of its problems – but the TikTok platform has also drastically increased the amount of teen readers; that is extremely beneficial and positive for stress-reduction and concentration. Moving forward, the normalization of age-ratings, trigger warnings, and more specific sections (instead of the broad range of ages that YA genres include) can help create a more specific target audience for each book to allow people to still enjoy their favourite #BookTok books.