We are worried about young men again, this time because they have put down their books and only stare into tablets all day. But isn’t this just another excuse to lash out at the poor boys? asks Tore Renberg in the column “Everything was always better before”. According to his anecdotes from bookstores, the employees claim that they are selling like never before! Little reason to be concerned, then. I work both in a bookshop and belong to the age group we are arguing about. And I’m worried. The problem isn’t that the guys read so little, it’s what they read that worries me. We are facing a mental health crisis, and especially the mental health of young boys is a nut we are unable to crack. I think we need to take a look at what they stare at for hours every day. You get an insight into Norwegian reading habits when you work in the country’s largest bookshop, and young men bring self-development books to the checkout. Whether it is positive self-development can probably be discussed. The favorite is Robert Greene’s “48 Laws of Power”. Greene teaches you how to manipulate people until you get your way, such as by breaking them down and making them dependent on your validation. Cheerful! They probably only want to learn how to be productive and make as much money as possible. With me, the warning lights come on when this is what turns guys on the most. But a new love of reading has, after all, flared up among teenagers, thanks to “BookTok” book bloggers on TikTok. But which teenagers are drawn to the books by this? At BookTok, there is a lot of “chick lit”. Bookshops are now full of pastel-coloured books with stories about enemies falling in love, or childhood friends finding love. It’s not my favorite genre, but I still get a little happy when I see a group of girls gather around these books, excited about which one they’re going to devour this week. They discuss the themes of great literature such as Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters one moment, then rave about the man of their dreams in a light pink romantic comedy they’ve read the next. Think all they learn! They explore everything from politics to emotions. The guys are missing out on this. They grin at the girls. They see everything written by or about a woman as sugary and banal. And the guys who don’t read? They sit on TikTok and are fed whatever the algorithm thinks will keep them glued to the screen for as long as possible. What most adults have not realized is that they are not just watching a video that flashes by after a few seconds, but that they often have the screen divided into three, so they can make sure that there is always something that is catchy and cool. This can be anything from videos of men reaching down on women, to brain dead content that only exists to break down the ability to concentrate. Understandably, it is annoying to be told that all problems disappear if you get away from the screen, but can anyone honestly say that this does not affect the development of young minds? I am afraid that the boys will lose the joy of knowledge. And thus the knowledge. They would have benefited from expanding their world view through narratives that do not only center around how they can become the most powerful and richest manipulator. (Hello, Switzerland!) They don’t need to read intellectual favorites like Camus and Kafka. Nor must they read teenage girl heroine Colleen Hoover and fall head over heels for a tall, dark, stranger. But books can open the mind and be the ticket out of the echo chamber that so many of them are trapped in. Who knows? Maybe they even dare to read a book by a woman eventually. Also read:
ttn-69
Lack of brain food – Speech
