Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Author: Jaron Lanier

Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Published: 2018-05-29

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1250196698

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AS SEEN IN THE NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY THE SOCIAL DILEMMA A WIRED "ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK" A FINANCIAL TIMES BEST BOOK "THE CONSCIENCE OF SILICON VALLEY"- GQ “Profound . . . Lanier shows the tactical value of appealing to the conscience of the individual. In the face of his earnest argument, I felt a piercing shame about my own presence on Facebook. I heeded his plea and deleted my account.” - Franklin Foer, The New York Times Book Review “Mixes prophetic wisdom with a simple practicality . . . Essential reading.” - The New York Times (Summer Reading Preview) You might have trouble imagining life without your social media accounts, but virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier insists that we’re better off without them. In Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, Lanier, who participates in no social media, offers powerful and personal reasons for all of us to leave these dangerous online platforms. Lanier’s reasons for freeing ourselves from social media’s poisonous grip include its tendency to bring out the worst in us, to make politics terrifying, to trick us with illusions of popularity and success, to twist our relationship with the truth, to disconnect us from other people even as we are more “connected” than ever, to rob us of our free will with relentless targeted ads. How can we remain autonomous in a world where we are under continual surveillance and are constantly being prodded by algorithms run by some of the richest corporations in history that have no way of making money other than being paid to manipulate our behavior? How could the benefits of social media possibly outweigh the catastrophic losses to our personal dignity, happiness, and freedom? Lanier remains a tech optimist, so while demonstrating the evil that rules social media business models today, he also envisions a humanistic setting for social networking that can direct us toward a richer and fuller way of living and connecting with our world.

Dawn of the New Everything
Dawn of the New Everything

Author: Jaron Lanier

Publisher: Henry Holt

Published: 2017-11-21

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1627794093

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The Microsoft interdisciplinary scientist largely credited with popularizing virtual reality reflects on his lifelong relationship with technology, showing VR's ability to illuminate and amplify our understanding of our species and how the brain and body connect to the world. By the author of You Are Not a Gadget. --Publisher.

You Are Not a Gadget
You Are Not a Gadget

Author: Jaron Lanier

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2010-01-12

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 0307593142

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A NATIONAL BESTSELLER A programmer, musician, and father of virtual reality technology, Jaron Lanier was a pioneer in digital media, and among the first to predict the revolutionary changes it would bring to our commerce and culture. Now, with the Web influencing virtually every aspect of our lives, he offers this provocative critique of how digital design is shaping society, for better and for worse. Informed by Lanier’s experience and expertise as a computer scientist, You Are Not a Gadget discusses the technical and cultural problems that have unwittingly risen from programming choices—such as the nature of user identity—that were “locked-in” at the birth of digital media and considers what a future based on current design philosophies will bring. With the proliferation of social networks, cloud-based data storage systems, and Web 2.0 designs that elevate the “wisdom” of mobs and computer algorithms over the intelligence and wisdom of individuals, his message has never been more urgent.

Antisocial Media
Antisocial Media

Author: Siva Vaidhyanathan

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018-05-15

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0190841184

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A fully updated paperback edition that includes coverage of the key developments of the past two years, including the political controversies that swirled around Facebook with increasing intensity in the Trump era. If you wanted to build a machine that would distribute propaganda to millions of people, distract them from important issues, energize hatred and bigotry, erode social trust, undermine respectable journalism, foster doubts about science, and engage in massive surveillance all at once, you would make something a lot like Facebook. Of course, none of that was part of the plan. In this fully updated paperback edition of Antisocial Media, including a new chapter on the increasing recognition of--and reaction against--Facebook's power in the last couple of years, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging. It's an account of the hubris of good intentions, a missionary spirit, and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it's an indictment of how "social media" has fostered the deterioration of democratic culture around the world, from facilitating Russian meddling in support of Trump's election to the exploitation of the platform by murderous authoritarians in Burma and the Philippines. Both authoritative and trenchant, Antisocial Media shows how Facebook's mission went so wrong.

Who Owns the Future?
Who Owns the Future?

Author: Jaron Lanier

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-03-04

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 1451654979

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Evaluates the negative impact of digital network technologies on the economy and particularly the middle class, citing challenges to employment and personal wealth while exploring the potential of a new information economy.

The Psychology of Social Media
The Psychology of Social Media

Author: Ciarán Mc Mahon

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-25

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 1351692437

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Are we really being ourselves on social media? Can we benefit from connecting with people we barely know online? Why do some people overshare on social networking sites? The Psychology of Social Media explores how so much of our everyday lives is played out online, and how this can impact our identity, wellbeing and relationships. It looks at how our online profiles, connections, status updates and sharing of photographs can be a way to express ourselves and form connections, but also highlights the pitfalls of social media including privacy issues. From FOMO to fraping, and from subtweeting to selfies, The Psychology of Social Media shows how social media has developed a whole new world of communication, and for better or worse is likely to continue to be an essential part of how we understand our selves.

Don't Watch This
Don't Watch This

Author: Michael Rosenblum

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-10-06

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 1510758763

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An unfiltered look at the addictive properties of social media, TV, and movies on our culture, with strategies to help you reclaim control over your life. Today, the average person spends an astonishing eight hours a day watching TV or videos online. Watching social media stories, movies, and TV is now our number one activity, outpacing everything else that we do, including sleep. This habit has an incredibly powerful influence on our lives – from what we think to what we buy to whom we elect. Media are more than entertainment; they are a drug. This media addiction wreaks havoc on our mental health, causing increased stress, depression, and anxiety, and ruining personal relationships. It also drives us deeper and deeper into debt. In Don’t Watch This, former TV producer and Ivy League professor Michael Rosenblum reveals the hidden psychology driving us to media addiction. He describes why solving the problem is not as simple as swearing off our devices, but about learning how to use media for good. Rosenblum reveals the key to getting the best out of technology, without letting it get the best of you. Inside, you’ll learn: How to take control of the media How to use your phone’s camera to spread stories worth telling How having a former reality TV star in the Oval Office has changed the scope of media Why posting selfies on Instagram isn’t going to change the world, and what you can post instead Enlightening and empowering, Don’t Watch This provides actionable, revolutionary techniques and insight to control your media addiction—helping you live the life you really want.

Breaking the Social Media Prism
Breaking the Social Media Prism

Author: Chris Bail

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2022-09-27

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 0691246491

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A revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online—and how we might yet defeat political tribalism on social media In an era of increasing social isolation, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are among the most important tools we have to understand each other. We use social media as a mirror to decipher our place in society but, as Chris Bail explains, it functions more like a prism that distorts our identities, empowers status-seeking extremists, and renders moderates all but invisible. Breaking the Social Media Prism challenges common myths about echo chambers, foreign misinformation campaigns, and radicalizing algorithms, revealing that the solution to political tribalism lies deep inside ourselves. Drawing on innovative online experiments and in-depth interviews with social media users from across the political spectrum, this book explains why stepping outside of our echo chambers can make us more polarized, not less. Bail takes you inside the minds of online extremists through vivid narratives that trace their lives on the platforms and off—detailing how they dominate public discourse at the expense of the moderate majority. Wherever you stand on the spectrum of user behavior and political opinion, he offers fresh solutions to counter political tribalism from the bottom up and the top down. He introduces new apps and bots to help readers avoid misperceptions and engage in better conversations with the other side. Finally, he explores what the virtual public square might look like if we could hit "reset" and redesign social media from scratch through a first-of-its-kind experiment on a new social media platform built for scientific research. Providing data-driven recommendations for strengthening our social media connections, Breaking the Social Media Prism shows how to combat online polarization without deleting our accounts.

Experience Nature Unplugged
Experience Nature Unplugged

Author: Sebastian Slovin

Publisher:

Published: 2021-02-21

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 9781736393802

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You hold in your hands a beacon of light in our overly distracted digital world. Sebastian Slovin and Sonya Mohamed are co-founders of the wellness education organization Nature Unplugged. Since 2012, they have worked with thousands of clients - families, working professionals, educators and students - through workshops, coaching, and retreats, to help them cultivate wellness in the digital age. In their newest book, Experience Nature Unplugged: A Guide to Wellness in the Digital Age, they not only detail the problem - why we are so obsessed with our screens and devices - but more importantly, focus on how to find solutions that work. Breaking free from the clutches of technology overuse isn't just a nice idea; it's something that is absolutely achievable. These pages hold the same ideas, research, methods and tools that have consistently worked for Nature Unplugged clients, and they are now available to you. This book is for anyone looking to navigate today's noisy digital world with more intention. It's a step-by-step journey toward wellness and balance in the digital age.

Infinite Detail
Infinite Detail

Author: Tim Maughan

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 0374718601

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A LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL! The Guardian's Pick for Best Science Fiction Book of the Year! A timely and uncanny portrait of a world in the wake of fake news, diminished privacy, and a total shutdown of the Internet BEFORE: In Bristol’s center lies the Croft, a digital no-man’s-land cut off from the surveillance, Big Data dependence, and corporate-sponsored, globally hegemonic aspirations that have overrun the rest of the world. Ten years in, it’s become a center of creative counterculture. But it’s fraying at the edges, radicalizing from inside. How will it fare when its chief architect, Rushdi Mannan, takes off to meet his boyfriend in New York City—now the apotheosis of the new techno-utopian global metropolis? AFTER: An act of anonymous cyberterrorism has permanently switched off the Internet. Global trade, travel, and communication have collapsed. The luxuries that characterized modern life are scarce. In the Croft, Mary—who has visions of people presumed dead—is sought out by grieving families seeking connections to lost ones. But does Mary have a gift or is she just hustling to stay alive? Like Grids, who runs the Croft’s black market like personal turf. Or like Tyrone, who hoards music (culled from cassettes, the only medium to survive the crash) and tattered sneakers like treasure. The world of Infinite Detail is a small step shy of our own: utterly dependent on technology, constantly brokering autonomy and privacy for comfort and convenience. With Infinite Detail, Tim Maughan makes the hitherto-unimaginable come true: the End of the Internet, the End of the World as We Know It.