By: Maya Barillas Mohan, Staff Writer
You may have heard of StudyTok. It’s a niche community with guides on creating effective flashcards, instructions for prettier handwriting, and all-nighter study marathon timelapses. University life has long been romanticized online. Education is largely a path to a better future, but inspirational study content can turn TikTok into a theatre for classism and self-hate.
These videos are revered for their aesthetic, though they tend to centre social privilege under the guise of elite work ethics. The neatly staged videos suggest an irrefutable correlation between discipline and rewarding outcomes. Instead of encouraging peers, StudyTok becomes another place for the privileged to flaunt and attribute their success to themselves entirely. TikTok has multiple other toxic “sides” focused on the embellishment of capitalistic values: makeup and clothing hauls, unhealthy fitness motivation, tradewife content, and others. StudyTok is far from an exception on the social media platform.
The most viewed StudyTok videos feel like they facilitate classism. The videos are often set to clean, neatly staged backgrounds with multiple monitors and the latest technology. The most popular videos are made by content creators that can afford these setups, and can take the time away from their responsibilities to make them. The amount of time that can be spent creating studying videos depends on not having other duties, like having a job or being a caregiver.
“The videos do not acknowledge what privilege exists behind the scenes, and invite the viewer to blame themselves for the discrepancy between what they live and what they see.”
Many of these performances of sustained focus on TikTok invite viewers to comment on their forms of “toxic study motivation.” The replies correlate endless hours of studying with financial security. A user comments, “If you want to buy things without looking at the price, work without looking at the time.” It’s not classist to desire financial stability, but a lot of StudyTok posts suggest that worse outcomes are related to a lack of work ethic. For example, with more than 300,000 likes, an edit shows multiple scenes of financial precarity with the caption, “Fine. Then don’t study.” StudyTok videos commonly portray success within the capitalist system as a result of individual efforts alone, not society. The videos do not acknowledge what privilege exists behind the scenes, and invite the viewer to blame themselves for the discrepancy between what they live and what they see.
In reality, working hard does not ensure success; although sometimes it is a factor. Tuition is increasingly unaffordable, for one thing, and social media sets unrealistic expectations. StudyTok coalesces these conditions to make the viewer believe they can study their way out of a difficult socioeconomic situation. StudyTok leans into the idea that poverty only occurs if you don’t work hard enough. Filled with praise of long-term rewards, StudyTok ignores how systemic obstacles force people of lower socioeconomic status to exist in a state of “permanent now,” as sociologist Elliot Berkman calls it. Not everyone has the luxury to work for a better tomorrow; some must prioritize immediate basic needs. It’s easy to watch a video and think studying is the ticket to privilege. In some ways, it can be; but these videos facilitate dissonance between the resources the creator often has and the life conditions of the viewer.
StudyTok content frequently has comment sections filled with long winded expressions of despair that viewers’ lives don’t resemble the videos. I don’t relate to the comments that self-flagellate about being unproductive failures. StudyTok seems to romanticize a subculture where you should be ashamed to take breaks. I don’t think spending time away from my computer or textbooks is wasted if I spend it with my friends. StudyTok tends to push a narrative of isolation, even though campuses are literally designed to be walkable, social environments. The videos on StudyTok argue that you shouldn’t build connections with your classmates. The sentiment to compete with your peers is an unhealthy one to nurture.
I’ve had my share of caffeinated all-nighters. Adrenaline-induced motivation feels good, and it feels even better to achieve the results you want. All-nighters are unhealthy, but for me, they were at least tests of my potential. StudyTok is problematic because it pushes the goalpost increasingly further away, somehow sacrificing both health and learning. In some cases, creators promote AI tools to lighten their 24/7 workloads. You can’t buy more time or motivation to read dense textbooks, but StudyTok will sell a shortcut. AI is cheating, as many syllabi say. Even if certain educators do not recognize it as such, AI remains unethical. It offloads the labour of learning and lets a machine handle the privilege instead. Moreover, the access to several AI tools requires payment — another classist barrier to inhuman levels of productivity.
StudyTok’s toxic romanticization of productivity is exactly what it wanted to become: an individualistic, time-sucking system. It is depressing to think that online spaces focused around academic performance glamorize the unhealthy, possibly counterproductive desire to get ahead. School should not be an environment for classism or self-hate. Approach campus life with an open mind, and approach StudyTok with caution. The videos are made in the image of privilege, and there is only a kernel of truth in their message.
