*Beware: this is a long post.*
In January of 2015, I created this blog. I live in an impoverished area with an underfunded school district. My family lives below the poverty line. Growing up, my motivations to get good grades and standardized test scores was to make sure that the schools I attended did not get closed (because a school in my district that fell below a particular threshold ran the risk of getting closed) and to make sure I could provide for my family in the future. When I found out there was a community of people here on Tumblr that enjoyed studying and learning for the sake of knowledge, I was curious & excited. I joined the studyblr community because I saw a group of people who were dedicated to learning and who were always striving to better themselves and others.
However, I have recently become quite disillusioned with certain parts of the culture this community has established. For many months, while I was on hiatus, I debated within myself about leaving altogether. I have since decided against doing that but if I am to continue here, I must address a few concerns I have about the studyblr community:
THE âIVY LEAGUE OR BUSTâ IDEOLOGY: not all studyblrs ascribe to this philosophy (in fact, many studyblr donât do a lot of the things I address in this post) but it is one I have seen go rampantly unchecked within the community. Honey, high school is already stressful without the ridiculous stress of trying to make sure you get into one of 8 colleges (when there are hundreds of colleges in the U.S. alone) and for what? Prestige? âBetter opportunitiesâ? My love, you make what you want out of college; college doesnât make what it can out of you. Ivy Leagues can be great if they are the right environment for you. This kind of ideology is not something that should be promoted in any way
ABLEISM: I must start off by saying that the studyblr community is absolutely amazing when it comes to addressing the obstacles that differently abled people face in their studies, especially when it comes to mental illness. However, making posts for coping with chronic illnesses, mental illnesses, and disabilities is only the tip of the iceberg of what we can do to make this a truly inclusive space for everyone. I suffer from several mental illnesses, including depression and anxiety, and I have often had to log off Tumblr when I am already in the middle of a panic attack and I see posts about being productive every day or posts asking whether IÂ âhave done anything today to accomplish my goalsâ. I have seen posts where people include pushing through negative feelings and discomfort during study sessions as a study tip â when sometimes, these negative feelings are indicative of larger issues that may or may not have to do with studying that might need to be addressed nonetheless.
STUDYSPO / âPRETTY PICTURESâ: This is a topic that has been addressed in the community ad nauseam, and I donât really have too much to add. I have nothing against âstudyspoâ posts; if you say you need pretty notes to study and aesthetic images to be motivated, I promise to take you at your word.Â
But I absolutely hate two particular things regarding these kinds of posts:
1) the fact that some of these posts literally add nothing to our community: The best kind of studyspo, in my opinion, are the ones with descriptions of a personâs day or of the supplies in the photo. When I see studyspo with no caption or a mere link to someoneâs blog, I know that this is just a gimmick for followers.
2) the fact that these posts have essentially become synonymous with the studyblr community: We all (should) know that studying is not a glitzy process - it is riddled with frustrations, disappointments, and failures. The most important thing we as studyblrs do is support each other through tough times. But for many people, studyspo is what they noticed first about our community â in fact, that may have been what drew them in. I think we are much more than that. The âstudyspo cultureâ has become so bad that some people feel like the easiest way to get popular in our community is to steal other peopleâs pictures and post them as their own. Iâm not defending these people at all â itâs despicable behavior & I have another post coming about that alone â but the fact is if unique and effective study tips were as popular as many of these studyspo posts, people would be stealing those instead of pictures.Â
(The classism and ableism perpetuated by a lot of these posts are also important to me as well, but weâve discussed those things at length and I have nothing more to add to what has already been said.)Â
ACKNOWLEDGING CRITICISM & DISSENTING OPINIONS: Talking about studyspo, the way I have seen many studyblrs address the issue has me very concerned. Many posts seem to take criticisms about âstudyspo cultureâ as personal attacks or brush them off as mere âstudyblr dramaâ. All community have rifts; we do not have to be happy, go-lucky group of friends. I promise you, we can have debates and differing opinions and we will be just fine. But ignoring people who donât agree with what we have accepted as our status quo or belittling their views only makes our rifts larger and further alienates people who already donât feel like they belong. I donât want to be a part of a community with a sort of hive mind; I want my communities to be diverse in every aspect including in our opinions.Â
Look, I know it looks like I just have a million criticisms. This whole post may even come off as condescending (my particular brand of neurodivergence doesnât allow me to really notice how I sound to others, sorry). But I love yâall and I just want our community to be equally conducive to learning for all of us. I want us to address the ways we fail each other as members of this community and take measures to make this a more inclusive community for all of us. I want us to have real conversations about these things. I want people to see us as a community of real people who are passionate about learning not just a bunch of pretty note creators, Apple laptop operators, and white desk organizers.
(quick s/o to @academiclesbian for inspiring this whole post in the first place â follow her, sheâs a genius â and @hexaneandheels for encouraging me to post this â youâre missing out on some quality content if youâre not following her)