Literature and Social Media both serve different functions in society and both are critical in their formats. In today’s world where social media has become extremely important and relevant for individuals, Literature which was once the flag bearer of entertainment and information still stands strong in hardcore readers’ minds.

To understand how literature can be made more impactful than social media, we first have to understand, how social media works and why it occupies people’s minds strongly. Social media holds the audience mind psychologically to keep them hooked into a space (app) for long periods of time. With the individual creators who are mostly everyday people, create relevant content and the accessibility of these hooks people’s minds. The accessibility to “relevant” content  anytime, anywhere, people have nowhere to go to. Besides, the decline in audience’s attention span is also a key factor to note when leveraging literature over social media.

Now coming to how can Literature have an upper hand in that, people will first have to shift their focus from regular content to literature. It can be challenging and time consuming too, because literature is deep, informative and depending on the category it could also be challenging. Non-fiction works like “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari and “The Sixth Extinction” by Elizabeth Kolbert, encourage readers for critical thinking. Literary works such as “1984” by George Orwell or “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley use nuanced storytelling to explore dystopian futures and critique societal trends. These narratives provide insightful commentary on human behavior and social structures, offering readers thought-provoking content that can inspire change.

Book clubs and literary societies, both online and offline, create communities centered around reading and discussing literature. These communities can cultivate a shared culture of critical thinking and thoughtful dialogue, offering a counterbalance to the often rapid and polarized exchanges on social media.

We can further enlarge the group by promoting reading from an early age and also combining literature with other media forms such as, podcasts, interactive websites, anime, films, etc.