We all know that technology can be difficult to portray in art (e.g. how filmmakers hate showing texting in movies). Social media is a huge thing in our lives, but do you think it’s possible to translate that into good literature, especially since almost all of social media consists of passive consumption?

I think it is, though the danger is then that a storyline gets consumed with the social media drama of the day that will badly age the novel in record time. But I recently read a couple of books—Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom and I’m A Fan by Sheena Patel—that used social media well to delve deeper into a wider societal issue, namely women and the pursuit of beauty and status. I especially loved I’m A Fan because it did not hold back on exploring deeply uncomfortable issues on how a minority’s social ambition is often based on both resentment and coveting of white people. I wrote about these books on my Substack, Salieri Redemption, if people are interested.