We all know that technology can be difficult to portray in art (e.g. how filmmakers hate showing texting in movies). Social media is a huge thing in our lives, but do you think it’s possible to translate that into good literature, especially since almost all of social media consists of passive consumption?
I think it is, though the danger is then that a storyline gets consumed with the social media drama of the day that will badly age the novel in record time. But I recently read a couple of books—*Aesthetica* by Allie Rowbottom and *I’m A Fan* by Sheena Patel—that used social media well to delve deeper into a wider societal issue, namely women and the pursuit of beauty and status. I especially loved *I’m A Fan* because it did not hold back on exploring deeply uncomfortable issues on how a minority’s social ambition is often based on both resentment and coveting of white people. I wrote about these books on my Substack, [Salieri Redemption](https://salieriredemption.substack.com/p/social-media-climbing), if people are interested.
by oxkondo
4 Comments
I agree a lot of novels that feature social media will age badly – but I thought Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This was terrific.
a good novelist can write a good novel about almost anything
Not to be That Guy, but… I feel like my wife and I gave it a respectable shot with The Hive. A lot of what we wrote is slowly coming true, which is…terrifying???
Try *Meanwhile in Dopamine City* by DBC Pierre. Whenever the main character has his phone turned on, the page is split in two; the real world on one side, the social media feed on the other. Sometimes they influence each other. Both move forward. But for the most part, you find that they’re inevitably interrupting each other and making it difficult to read. The real world problem? Father has just lost his job and is struggling to raise his daughter who he has recently hit. The social media world? Upcoming celebrity uses her status to push for different people to be cancelled, etc.
Incredible book.