Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Author: Jaron Lanier
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
ISBN: 1250196698
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
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

Author: Jaron Lanier
Publisher: Henry Holt
ISBN: 1627794093
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Book Description
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

Author: Jaron Lanier
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307593142
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Book Description
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

Author: Siva Vaidhyanathan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190841184
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 337

Book Description
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?

Author: Jaron Lanier
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451654979
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Book Description
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.

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Author: Jaron Lanier
Publisher: Henry Holt
ISBN: 125019668X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 160

Book Description
"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"--

The Psychology of Social Media

Author: Ciarán Mc Mahon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351692437
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 116

Book Description
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.

Breaking the Social Media Prism

Author: Chris Bail
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691246491
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Book Description
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.

Social Warming

Author: Charles Arthur
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1786079984
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 484

Book Description
‘Witty, rigorous, and as urgent as a fire alarm’ Dorian Lynskey ‘Cooly prosecutorial’ Guardian Nobody meant for this to happen. Facebook didn’t mean to facilitate a genocide. Twitter didn’t want to be used to harass women. YouTube never planned to radicalise young men. But with billions of users, these platforms need only tweak their algorithms to generate more ‘engagement’. In so doing, they bring unrest to previously settled communities and erode our relationships. Social warming has happened gradually – as a by-product of our preposterously convenient digital existence. But the gradual deterioration of our attitudes and behaviour on- and offline – this vicious cycle of anger and outrage – is real. And it can be corrected. Here’s how.

Don't Watch This

Author: Michael Rosenblum
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510758763
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Book Description
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.