Joy‑first Reading Culture

Online and celebrity book communities increasingly prioritize enthusiastic affirmation and identity signalling over critical engagement, creating social norms where negative judgment or deep textual analysis is discouraged. Reading thus becomes a short, shareable performance (‘five God‑tier novels’) rather than a practice of close attention. — This reframes debates about the literacy crisis: it’s not just time spent reading but a change in what counts as legitimate reading and who defines literary value.