Why Media Literacy and Literary Competency Matter — Especially in the Age of TikTok Takes

We live in a time when more people are reading than ever before — and yet fewer seem equipped to actually understand what they’re reading.

Scroll through BookTok, Bookstagram, or fandom threads, and you’ll see it:A growing wave of misreadings, emotional hot takes, and confidently incorrect interpretations of characters, arcs, and themes.

It’s not that readers are less intelligent — but that literary and media literacy have quietly eroded, even as content consumption explodes.

📖 Media Literacy vs. Literary Competency: What’s the Difference?

Let’s define the two — because both matter.

Media Literacy

The ability to critically analyze and interpret media — including books, social media, film, and online discourse. It means asking:

• Who made this?

• Why was it made?

• What biases or intentions are at play?

• What is the message, and what context is it situated in?

Literary Competency

The ability to engage with a text’s structure, tone, genre conventions, and thematic intention. It includes:

• Understanding metaphor and subtext

• Distinguishing between plot and theme

• Recognizing character arcs vs. moral messaging

• Differentiating personal discomfort from poor writing

These are core skills that should be taught — and used — whenever we talk about fiction. Especially in genres like romance, fantasy, and young adult, where emotional identification can cloud critical thought.

The Cost of Misreading

When readers lack these skills, we see common patterns emerge:

1. “This made me uncomfortable, so it’s bad writing.” Discomfort ≠ failure. Sometimes, discomfort is the point — and understanding that is key to mature reading.

2. Mislabeling tropes as red flags Enemies-to-lovers becomes “toxic.” Redemption arcs become “abuse apologism.” Character flaws become authorial endorsement. Without genre context or narrative competency, nuance is flattened.

3. Assuming everything is moral instruction Not every story is trying to teach a lesson. Some are holding up mirrors. Others are posing questions. But readers increasingly treat fiction as if every scene must pass a moral purity test.

4. Equating emotional reaction with critical analysis Feeling strongly about a character or plot twist isn’t analysis — it’s response. Valuable, yes, but not a substitute for close reading.

TikTok and the Feedback Loop of Hot Takes

Social media platforms reward speed, certainty, and outrage — not nuance.

On TikTok, Threads or Twitter/X:

• A take like “This character is abusive” gets thousands of likes

• A careful thread explaining thematic arcs gets ignored or labeled as “elitist” or “gaslighting”

This creates a dangerous loop:

Misread → Emotionally amplified → Echo chamber → Algorithmic validation → Canonical fan truth

What starts as a misreading becomes “the” reading — because it feels true to a large group of emotionally bonded readers. This isn’t just fandom discourse anymore. It’s post-literary culture.

Why This Matters — Especially in Romance

Romance is uniquely vulnerable to this issue because:

• It's deeply emotional

• It's often dismissed as “low-brow” (so readers aren’t taught how to engage critically)

• It intersects with personal fantasy, identity, and trauma

This leads to dangerous conflations:

• “I wouldn’t date this person = the love interest is bad”

• “This made me cry = emotional manipulation”

• “This character did something wrong = the author supports it”

Romance fiction isn’t always about ideal love — it’s often about messy love. Love with teeth. Love that demands growth. And that kind of love needs competent, critical readers who can sit with discomfort and ask:

“What is this story actually doing — and why?”

What Can We Do About It?

1. Normalize teaching literary and media literacy — even to adults. Reading isn’t just decoding words. It’s analysis, interpretation, and reflection. Treat it as a skill, not just a habit.

2. Resist moral absolutism in fiction. Fiction isn’t a behaviour manual. Let characters be flawed. Let stories explore the uncomfortable. Ask why the author included what they did.

3. Encourage re-reading, not just reacting. First reads are emotional. Second reads are analytical. Not everything can be judged in 30 seconds.

4. Hold space for both feeling and critique. You can say “this hurt me” and ask, “how was this written?” Both are valid. Neither replaces the other.

Reading Is a Skill — Let’s Respect It

We say reading is fundamental — but we’ve stopped teaching what it means to read with care, with context, and with competency.

Whether you're a writer, a reader, or someone just tired of watching fandom discourse implode every week, one thing is clear:

The health of our storytelling culture depends on the return of real literary and media literacy. And romance — rich, layered, emotional — is the perfect place to start that recovery.