Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
-
-
4.3 • 42 Ratings
-
-
- £3.99
-
- £3.99
Publisher Description
Social media is supposed to bring us together - but it is tearing us apart.
'A blisteringly good, urgent, essential read' Zadie Smith
The evidence suggests that social media is making us sadder, angrier, less empathetic, more fearful, more isolated and more tribal.
Jaron Lanier is the world-famous Silicon Valley scientist-pioneer who first alerted us to the dangers of social media. In this witty and urgent manifesto he explains why its toxic effects are at the heart of its design, and, in ten simple arguments, why liberating yourself from its hold will transform your life and the world for the better.
WITH A NEW AFTERWORD BY THE AUTHOR
‘Informed, heartfelt and often entertaining ... a timely reminder that even if we can’t bring ourselves to leave social media altogether, we should always think critically about how it works’ Sunday Times
‘Indispensable. Everyone who wants to understand the digital world, its pitfalls and possibilities should read this book – now’ Matthew d’Ancona, author of Post-Truth
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Virtual reality pioneer Lanier (Dawn of the New Everything: Encounters with Reality and Virtual Reality) tediously reiterates well-known pitfalls of social media, arguing that the major platforms are manipulating users' thoughts, goading their inner trolls, tearing society apart, and just generally making everyone unhappy. Lanier, a Silicon Valley insider, spells out his arguments against social media in 10 breezy chapters with titles like "You Are Losing Your Free Will" and "Social Media Is Making Politics Impossible." His underlying argument takes aim at the business models behind popular platforms like Facebook and Google that enable third-party actors such as advertisers to pay to modify users' behavior using personalized, continuously adjusted stimuli. Unfortunately, his short treatise is overridden with shallow political commentary (as when he refers to Trump as a victim of Twitter) and scant analysis of critical issues (he's quick to dismiss the role of social media in the #MeToo movement, Black Lives Matter, and the Arab Spring uprisings). Baseless generalizations and vague platitudes undermine the author's case, which is particularly unfortunate given his experience and expertise in the world he skewers.
Customer Reviews
all well and good, but.....
The things the author is missing here, I think, is this: people are stupid. Only stupid people read "news" on FB,(I don't read ANYTHING on it: I read BBC News). You don't have to be a "cat", you just have to not be stupid. The author is way too compassionate about "people". Well, "people" most often means "rabble", and if in doubt, check what the best philosophers wrote in regard to that, from Seneca to Schopenhauer to Bertrand Russell. Lastly, the author offers platitudes.... he's an "optimist" and he calls reality "pessimism" just because it is dark. But truth never cared for labels. "Philosophy will show you the real side of life, which is ugly.".. All in all, a good book, but still weak, compared to the frank and brutal, but real, opinion of real philosophers. The questions asked in this book are not questions for the rabble,but for real philosophers, and the author is not a philosopher. Nothing wrong about that, but it is a very important distinction. In my opinion, only real philosophers have the guts to see things as they are, and to make no excuses for them. It's still a good book, and worth reading. Just too sweet and goody-goody for my taste.