NEVER LOGGED OUT BY RIA CHOPRA: WHO AM I WITHOUT MY BOOKS? PERSONAL REFLECTIONS ON HOARDING AND BUILDING A PERSONAL BRAND

THE BOOK HAUL CRISIS

I have been part of the bookstagram community for a year now, and social media has heavily influenced how I consume books and perceive reading. But my time in this community has also raised some important issues that need to be addressed.

Over the last month, I’ve purchased 14 books, out of which six have been bookstagram recommendations, four are from the bookfair, two are gifts, and the remaining two are recent impulse purchases. And of these, I’ve only managed to read two, because the books featured on my blog this month are the ones I purchased months ago. Its just that I’m choosing to read them now. Then last week, my mother advised me to keep all the books I’ve read in a carton in the storeroom. It is practical advice, because honestly, I do not have a proper bookshelf to display my collection. That is why I keep most of my books in a cabinet, and display the remaining sprayed-edge hardcovers between two sturdy bookholders. But somehow, I did not feel like following her advice. I realise that my defiance doesn’t completely stem from my attachment to all these wonderful stories, poetry and memoirs, but from what these books make me feel. The digital book community, or bookstagram in particular, has a way of making people feel intellectual and well-read for possessing or having a taste for particular kinds of books. I mean, if someone wants to give the impression that they like reading literary fiction, they just need to display Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy and Salman Rushdie’s latest books and upload an aesthetic video on my Instagram handle without really talking about them. One can also read a SparkNotes summary of the major classics to prepare for a fancy blog post on “10 reasons why Gen Z should read the classics” without ever having read any of them. Is it the case with me as well? I realised that I might be refusing to part with my books because seeing them on my shelf every day makes me feel like a highbrow literary enthusiast, even though I mostly read for pleasure. This brings me to a few questions. To what extent has social media influenced my personality, including my reading preferences? Will I still feel like a ‘book girlie’ once I clear out my desk? Ria Chopra addresses similar questions in her latest book, NEVER LOGGED OUT.

BOOK REVIEW

It is no secret that internet penetration has become a permanent part of the world’s socio- cultural fabric. Its pervasiveness has not just shaped all the major industries, but has also raised an entire generation- the Gen Z. Today, Gen Z has become notorious for being lazy, demanding, entitled, shallow and screen-obsessed. But are some, if not all, of these stereotypes really true? What has really shaped this culture? Is it the internet? If true, then a big part of the answer lies in understanding how the internet’s growth over the last thirty years has impacted India’s youth culture.

Writer and influencer Ria Chopra traces the shifting mindset of a generation that must cope with the dream of endless possibilities that come with having the world at our fingertips. A Gen Z kid herself, she fondly remembers a time when the internet was a tool to be used, not a force that now uses people by trapping them in an algorithmic loop of doomscrolling. She points out that in the early days, social media was about intention and curiosity, not envy, capitalism and performative branding. Today, the internet and social media landscape are defined by unwritten rules that continue to evolve with new trends. These trends not only shape how people navigate social media, but also how they build their personal brand and capitalise on it as content creators. For instance, it is believed that in the early days, Instagram felt like a digital playground, a place with grainy filters, grimy screenshots and grinning selfies. But with time, the rules evolved. Maintaining a follower-following ratio became important. The decision to make your account public or private has become a big deal, and maintaining a consistent, aesthetically pleasing feed has started to define the value of one’s personal brand. This brings up an important question: Is this elaborate performance of identity construction good for us? Especially when the said identity is defined by social media trends, algorithms and consumerism. After all, we are surrendering our memories, personality and relationships to the Internet’s surveillance. Teenagers may not see it as something harmful because, as Ria points out, adolescence is a time of growth when people tend to crave attention the most. And social media has a way of exacerbating the demand for attention by easily catering to those needs.

To explore this idea of identity construction, Chopra delves into the impact of competitive behaviour, shallow relationship standards reinforced by trends, conformity to surveillance through lasting digital footprints, the psyche behind hyper-consumerist behaviour, the internet’s impact on pop culture and more.

By delving into Gen Z’s online behaviour, Ria Chopra asks an important question: how do we reclaim agency in a digital world that thrives on our passivity? She believes the answer lies in revisiting the internet’s roots and finding ways to replace unintentional algorithmic overdose with the excitement of intentional discovery. Only when we filter out algorithms from our lives, do we construct an identity from authentic experiences, independent perspectives and critical thinking. A comprehensively researched and compiled book with intriguing personal insights from Ria Chopra, NEVER LOGGED OUT, is one of the best guides for Gen Z to navigate their relationship with social media and personal branding in an ever-evolving internet landscape.