Liliana Mirabella

I’ve noticed a recent trend in how we interact with each other and it’s concerning. Social media is flooded with “TL DR” and “it’s not that deep” responses to relatively short paragraphs of information. “Maybe the curtains were just blue,” is doing damage to a generation.

Responding with “it’s not that deep” to any attempt to intensely read into a situation isn’t good.

Books and literature are banned for a reason. They are that deep. Books contain ideas that should inspire you and imbue you with new knowledge or opinions. An author chooses things intentionally. As someone who writes fiction as a side hobby, I know.

Claiming that things “aren’t that deep” is how they get you to ignore pressing issues. For example, I’ve seen TikTok meme images underneath videos discussing genuine horrors in society. When you see these things in response to atrocities it subconsciously urges you to consider that situation as less severe.

Viewing complex ideas in a book through a shallow lens makes you see them as shallow in real life. Reading a book helps you look more deeply into real-world issues. There is a widespread perception at the moment that reading the classics must be performative as if you couldn’t possibly enjoy a text you have to read deeply into.

I do acknowledge that good education is systemically withheld from certain communities due to intentionally zoned school districts and underfunded schools in areas where predominantly minorities live.

However, what I am commenting on is the greater shift in society towards devaluing intellectualism. I do not mean go out and make fun of someone for not having a quality education. What I am saying is if you’re lucky enough to have the privilege of a good education, don’t devalue it.

When I bring politics into the conversation with my sisters, they all groan. They believe that I make situations worse than they are and I shouldn’t be concerned because it doesn’t affect me. In other words, they believe it’s “not that deep.” But it is. Everything is that deep. Even if it doesn’t affect me, it affects someone, and that counts.

As someone who often has extreme levels of anxiety, I tend to read into things more than the average person. This is a trait that causes me distress, but also makes me good at accurately assessing a situation. Reading into things is something this generation needs more of, a whole lot more.

On social media, I often see people mocking the “worst person ever at a bookstore,” pointing out books they’ve read or looking down on literature that is more modern. I am guilty of that sin, but I look down on certain literature for a reason.

Modern authors, I’ve noticed, tend to overexplain. Almost as if they think their audience won’t understand the plot if it’s not given to them in plain, simple words.

This is something I’ve also noticed in TV shows. Instead of letting the audience figure out a mystery along with the characters, they spell out the answer. This makes it easier to view while partially paying attention. Playing games or doing other things while reading or viewing a TV show is all too common. This is training our brains to half pay attention to everything, and I mean everything. Not reading too deeply into things on TV or in literature translates into real life. Your brain can’t develop the skill of full attention if you don’t train it to.

In a world of rising anti-intellectualism, I think it’s OK to hold the material that you read in high esteem. Look into the deeper meaning behind an author’s words. Read too deeply into things. It’s better, I think, to be pretentious about the books you read than not to read at all.