As college students, we have dedicated this time in our lives to the pursuit of education. We’re here to think intellectually. However, current trends focusing on the aesthetic of intellectualism may be undermining the importance of being educated.
“Literary Chic,” a 2026 style trend pairing preppy with a “bookish aesthetic,” isn’t the first to turn intellect into an accessory. Aesthetics like “dark” and “light” academia romanticize and accessorize classical art, literature and the pursuit of knowledge. They try to elevate fundamental activities, undermining the basic importance of being an educated society.
Professors and researchers are noticing a trend in college students that shows they’re reading less in recent years. A 2022 study showed that approximately 49% of adults reported reading at least one book in the past year, a 6% decline from 10 years earlier. On top of that, Alix Earle, a 25-year-old influencer popular among younger generations, told Interview Magazine that she’s never read a book besides Dr. Seuss.
The Literary Chic aesthetic emphasizes basic activities like reading, most likely because doing so is on the decline. As students, being an intellect shouldn’t feel novel, but something we inherently practice.
Suzanne Scott, associate professor of media studies in the Department of Radio-Television-Film, said that the trends themselves aren’t harmful, but like all things on social media, anything can be performative or fabricated.
“Could (posting a book) be for self-branding or personal gain? Absolutely. Is it always? No,” Scott said. “May they just be putting a book in their bag to ‘perform’ intellectualism? Yes. Could they be reading that book and actually doing the work of an intellectual? Also yes.”
Joe Cutbirth, associate professor of instruction for the Department of Communication Studies, said that there is a difference between intellectualism as an identity and practice, and that the environment in which intellectual work takes place has changed dramatically, blurring the lines between the two.
“Social media is really good at displaying identity,” Cutbirth said. “Intellectual life, however, is mostly a practice (that) is slow, private, difficult and not particularly photogenic. … Students live in an information environment that constantly competes for their attention, and it rewards speed, reaction and presentation. Serious intellectual work really demands the opposite: time, concentration, uncertainty and reflection.”
Scott said that as a professor, she hasn’t noticed a decline in intellectualism in her students, but does mention the risk technologies like artificial intelligence pose to intellectual capabilities.
“I do think that we’re in a cultural moment where, unfortunately, many of those skill sets are just being devalued across the board,” Scott said. “It’s less about this generation’s intellectual capacity or ability, and more the systemic ways that the emergence of things like AI or the emergence of short-form video content (that) has shifted how we think about how we train our brains.”
Abigail Ingram, a UT faculty member, expanded on why it’s so important that we as students are actually practicing intellectualism.
“It’s important to think about the deep questions,” Ingram said. “What does it mean to be human? What are our obligations to society? I think that if we’re not reading, at least in this generation, maybe others as well, we are doing ourselves a disservice.”
You’re not a poser for engaging in these aesthetics, as long as you actually “practice what you post,” and truly engage in intellectual thought. But as students, remember that the ideas these trends embody are the exact things you came to college to do.
Valdez is a journalism junior from Weatherford, Texas.
