Looking back to when I was a child, I often experienced some form of verbal "violence," and one of the types was being called a "bookworm."
Even now, I still have many relatives who joke about it (I assume they are really joking). Every time I come home, especially when I was in college, whenever I meet a neighbor on the way, they would laugh and say, "The college student is back."
I don't know if others have had this kind of experience, but if they haven't, it's hard to understand this feeling. The terms "college student" and "bookworm" here are not neutral words, but a kind of sarcastic ridicule that makes you feel uncomfortable, as if you are no longer in the same position as them.
I still can't figure out why this behavior exists.
If the views of the previous generation on reading are puzzling, then the mocking attitude of peers towards reading is even more difficult for me to accept. Take myself as an example, because I enjoy reading, I often have one or two books around me, and in casual conversations, I occasionally talk about the books I'm reading, with the purpose of sharing interesting knowledge. It is because of this that I am sometimes misunderstood as "pretentious" or "snobbish"... Reading, in my opinion, is a way to relax, just like taking a walk. And the way I feel about reading is as ordinary as eating and sleeping, so why does it become a "pretentious" behavior when it comes to others?
Similarly, some public figures are criticized and accused of pretending to be bookworms because they share their reading lists. I am puzzled, how can such a good thing as reading, and sharing books as a good opportunity for communication, offend some people? The hostility is a bit too heavy.
As a result, on some social platforms, people who read books are hesitant to "build an image" and share their books, and the books they occasionally share rarely receive discussion and interaction. The act of reading is put on a high shelf. I often wonder, when will discussing books become as casual as discussing meals, so that the reading atmosphere in society can take a step forward?
Perhaps it will take some time, after all, it took more than ten years for athletes at the Olympics to go from being cursed by the audience for their failures to receiving applause and encouragement. Let's take it slow.