"Name: Disgustingly educated. Age: About 18 months. Appearance: Gross. Ah, gross from the Latin word grossus, meaning dense, bulky and unrefined. Oh God, not you too. What absolutely rubbish behaviour this is. You make me sick. Because I happen to know things? No, because you go around rubbing it in everyone's faces. You know what you are? At a push, based on context, I'd wager that I'm disgustingly educated."
"Exactly! Everyone's at it, you know. I've had enough. Enough of education? No, because it's not school or uni that makes you disgustingly educated. You get it from shudder wanting to improve yourself. An example, please. In 2024, corners of Reddit started to fill up with guides on how to become disgustingly educated. Some were lists of improving books, nonfiction essays or old films. So far so good. But now it's all over the place."
"Even TikTok is full of people telling users to read specific books if they want to boost their knowledge of Greek mythology or extinction cycles or emotional intelligence. What's wrong with that? Because it's just reading books, isn't it? It's something that people have managed to do for thousands of years without making a fuss, and now it's being rebranded by TikTokers as a sign of extreme cleverness. Well, yes, but those old-timey people didn't have phones. Oh, I see."
Social-media users adopt the label 'disgustingly educated' to signify intensive self-directed learning and an austere appearance. Curated guides on platforms such as Reddit and TikTok recommend specific books, essays and films to rapidly boost topical knowledge. The trend reframes ordinary reading and self-improvement rituals as markers of exceptional intelligence and improved impulse control achieved by going offline. The performative element centers on visible demonstration of learning habits for social approval. Historical norms involved private study without exhibition, but modern smartphones enable public signaling. The trend risks encouraging pseudointellectualism by valuing the appearance of knowledge over substantive understanding.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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