First Post

[hoisinsauce]

A space to chat fandom! Anon!

Got a WIP you're excited about? Want to rave about your fave? Or is your fandom absolutely in love with a character who detracts from every scene they bumble into, and you need somewhere to vent? You're in the right place!

(start a comment thread by replying to this post)

Comments

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, it sat on my shelf for ages before I started it, and then I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! Raced through it in a night.

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

It's gotten uncomfortable and weird for me, tbh, even though I agree with most of her points. Normally I finish books in a day or two, but I'm still struggling through Ch. 2. I don't know why; her writing style is clear enough and pleasant to read. Hopefully I'll sort it out by the time I'm done.

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

Ayrt

It was an odd experience; I read the preview on amazon and haaated the writing style; found it too dramatic and mostly bought it to support her. But then I enjoyed the actual book once I got into it. So not sure if I ended up enjoying it more *because* I went in thinking "grit your teeth through the writing style" and was expecting something worse.

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

Y'know, I think I got it. It is more dramatic than I was expecting. She also uses a conversational tone sometimes and makes a bunch of assumptions about her audience; for me, they're usually wrong. I don't always mind that in books, but all the praise for this one built my expectations up too high. I laughed irl at this bit:

"You grew up differently. You didn't suffer the acute isolation of today's teenagers."

My dude, some of us gen x'ers and millennials have been isolated, anime-watching weirdos our whole lives. I know it's different these days and social media is in your face since childhood, but that and her idyllic description of life in the 90s in Ch.1 were just... funny. The book got a lot easier to read once I started ignoring the second person parts and drama, and focused on the facts.

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

Huh, I would argue that social media and the internet has made current generations LESS isolated? I mean, otherwise how would the social contagion theory work?

As a member of the Oregon Trail gen who grew up without even a TV, I can assure you that I was isolated to a degree that would horrify today's youngsters, LOL.

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

Ah, I should elaborate! I know there's no pressure to write ~*✰Nuanced✰*~ reviews here, but there's a lot more to this book than my mostly petty gripes. xD

I actually agree with her that being extremely online can both be isolating and contribute to social contagion. For teens who are already prone to anxiety, it's easy to escape into social media as their only source of interaction. At that age, it could lead to a skewed worldview because they don't have as much of a reference point in reality. I don't think the book is anti-social media or anti-internet; it's more about usage, patterns in certain communities, and cultural climate in schools and other institutions.

We (and Abigail Shrier herself) aren't that far apart in age. She was speculating that since our generation were forced to socialize in person (she left out the option "or not at all"), we generally were more used to seeing imperfection, and more likely to accept it when our idealized self didn't match what we were. I think you're right that some teens in our day were way more isolated than the teens who are only on social media today. But without that outside pressure, we'd just be lonely, depressed-without-the-label, or whatever else, not lonely and trans-identifying. It was mostly her phrasing I was poking fun at, not the overall point. I have zero writing skill, so maybe that's an asshole thing for me to do, lol

I gotta say, though... several of my friends who were isolated 90s kids are now very online and questioning their gender or transitioned. So. Yeah. The book may be about kids and teens, but people don't always age out of the social contagion. I questioned a bit as an adult, too. Wound up too confused by the gender reading to do anything about it.

The book is written for parents who don't know what's going on, so I think some of the drama is there to alert them. There hasn't been much of the "anime is cgi furries!" or "oh no, DeviantArt!" stuff after those initial moments. Her assessment of what's making things worse seems reasonable so far (schools have changed a lot in the past few years...). I have a few possible disagreements and some open questions, but I'm still only on ch.5 and liking it a lot more.

Other anon in this thread is right, too: there are some really funny bits!

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

I think I had the reverse experience beforehand because I saw the book largely being attacked by feminist critics, and then I was pleasantly surprised when I read it! Plus I guess I'm just used to journalists describing things that are very alien to me as though they're true for everyone, and I did at least find her really funny. I figure I'm not the target audience; those of us who are Very Online probably either already know what's going on, or we're raving TRAs. xD

Re: Books - Currently Reading

[(Anonymous)]

That makes sense! And I agree that she's been funny in the good way, too. I have that same experience with journalists, but probably also have a pair of I Am American So Everything Is About Me All The Time shades on when I read. xD