This is the new trend for being attractive: 'performative reading' (or pretending to read classics)

Although they are not the most popular to take to the beach, if you have chosen this summer to delve into the universe of the great novels of literature, and are immersed in the world of Proust 's Guermantes , the problems of Hans Castorp in The Magic Mountain , or are feeling true devotion to Faulkner , we have good news for you (you are brave) and bad news: you could be doing performative reading . Even more so if you usually read your 900-page book on long subway or bus rides to work or any other public place where there are eyes and cameras nearby.

But what exactly is performative reading ?

As its name suggests (these terms are rarely translated), performative reading is, precisely, pretending to read with the idea that others know you're reading and not for the enjoyment of reading itself. The phenomenon has its roots in 2021, although capitalizing on intellectuality is nothing new. The Times points out that that pandemic year saw a boom in celebrity-led book clubs ( Dua Lipa is a good example), which helped turn books into accessories and trends, as happened with Hanya Yanagihara's famous A Little Life .

'Performative reading' is pretending to read with the idea that others know you are reading and not for the enjoyment of reading itself.

Ten years ago, many tote bags were printed with a famous John Waters quote about how if you go to someone's house and they don't have any books, "don't throw them away." Last month, Hailey Bieber (Justin Bieber's wife) mocked her own rather bland image in a satiricalVogue TikTok, where she mentioned carrying none other than Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Nietzsche ("I love it, this is probably the fourth or fifth time I've read it"). Because if there's one thing that characterizes performative reading , it's precisely the complexity of the works chosen. Reading The Hunger Games on the subway isn't considered a subversive or intellectual act. Carrying Infinite Jest is something else.

Of course, social media is largely to blame, as usual. Not long ago, Twitter and Instagram accounts showing photographs of people (or attractive men, as in the case of @HotDudesReading ) reading in parks or on public transport became all the rage. In our country specifically, the Twitter account (X) "people reading" has more than ten thousand followers. It usually uploads secretly taken photos of people engrossed in particularly thoughtful books, with a brief description.

As the same Times article points out, for some members of Generation Z, books have become a symbol not of intelligence, but of attractiveness. An accessory to wear with a good outfit and a handbag. "Performative reading is everywhere," she notes. "From tattooed creatives smoking while contemplating Marcus Aurelius 's Meditations on an Ibiza beach—probably one of the most misunderstood and most overused books of modern times—to the single man reading, or at least pretending to read, feminist literature in the hope that pretty girls will write to him privately"—one inevitably thinks of the footballer Héctor Bellerín .

In short, in today's ultra-competitive world, it seems that reading books is done less for personal pleasure and more for the pleasure of telling others what you've read, or "as a smug assertion of one's own taste." In fact, social media videos are common in which people share tips for reading more books in less time. The problem is that many people seem to be interested only in how many books they can read quickly, not in how much knowledge they can acquire, retain, or apply in the future.

"This is a terrifying time for anyone who values the written word," journalist Alaina Demopoulos recently wrote in The Guardian . "University professors tell us that students can't read whole books anymore, that Gen Z parents don't like reading to their kids, that smartphones have ruined our ability to focus on anything longer than 30 seconds, and that AI garbage will dominate publishing. Don't be silly."

"From my point of view, there are different factors that explain the rise of performative reading ," health psychologist Sara Montejano tells this newspaper. "One of them is that books themselves are objects that we associate with cultured, curious, intelligent, and conversational people; in short, they are status symbols. They create an attractive identity , so many people want to convey that image. Before, this "posturing" was done through the shelves in people's homes; I mean, the way this image was projected was when someone came to our homes and saw shelves full of books. Nowadays, social media makes it possible to project this image beyond our immediate circle. Many influencers are creating this type of content to convey a deeper image of themselves and create a more "serious" brand image, beyond the usual content that may seem more superficial."

"Another related behavior is that, in general, we like to share things that have impacted us, that have moved our emotions, whether because we found it entertaining, because we identified with it, or because it taught us something. This is why there are many videos on social media, in which book reviews or personal selections of books are shared that the person considers worth reading and therefore shares them on their social networks, so much so that communities have been created both on Instagram (Bookstagram) and TikTok (Booktok), specifically on this topic. This is not new either; we have always shared books that we liked with friends. I also believe that during the pandemic we developed the habit of reading. Reading in general is an activity that "hooks" us, for what we said before, that it is capable of moving emotions , it transports you to other worlds, it teaches you things. And as an everyday activity, many people share it as they share so many other activities in their daily lives. Publishers have seen the potential of this behavior and are creating very visual covers, which are works of art. Instagrammable, and this ultimately works as advertising for their books."

"Publishers have seen the potential of this behavior and are creating highly visual covers that are 'Instagrammable' works of art."

Montejano asserts that in his consultations, he sees more and more young people anxious and stressed about projecting a perfect image that meets others' expectations in order to gain their approval . "However, the perception others have of us has always been a source of concern for human beings. The need for others to approve of us and see us as full members of the group is part of our basic social needs."

"So maybe I would say that more than worried, we are busy with how we are perceived, we invest a lot of time in creating our image on social networks and this often means that the main objective of what we do is not to enjoy it, but to create content for the networks, for example we see it in concerts where people often invest time in recording to then publish, rather than enjoying the experience. It is natural to wonder if social networks are a problem: it is clear that they are a source of personal exposure and a means of approval . The real problem I think lies when we seek approval from people who are irrelevant in our lives but can make a substantial difference in how we feel about ourselves."