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.

Experience Nature Unplugged

Author: Sebastian Slovin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781736393802
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
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.

Why Social Media is Ruining Your Life

Author: Katherine Ormerod
Publisher: Cassell
ISBN: 1788401107
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
Do you ever obsess about your body? Do you lie awake at night, fretting about the state of your career? Does everyone else's life seem better than yours? Does it feel as if you'll never be good enough? Why Social Media is Ruining Your Life tackles head on the pressure cooker of comparison and unreachable levels of perfection that social media has created in our modern world. In this book, Katherine Ormerod meets the experts involved in curating, building and combating the most addictive digital force humankind has ever created. From global influencers - who collectively have over 10 million followers - to clinical psychologists, plastic surgeons and professors, Katherine uncovers how our relationship with social media has rewired our behavioural patterns, destroyed our confidence and shattered our attention spans. Why Social Media is Ruining Your Life is a rallying cry that will provide you with the knowledge, tactics and weaponry you need to find a more healthy way to consume social media and reclaim your happiness. Reviews for Why Social Media is Ruining Your Life: 'This book is a call to arms from the eye of the storm' - Emma Gannon, author of The Multi-Hyphen Method 'Enter Ormerod's vital manual, which will help you navigate social media and turn it not into a weapon, but a useful tool' - Pandora Sykes

Which Side of History?

Author: James P. Steyer
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 179720517X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 349

Book Description
"A valuable primer on this moment where humans are deciding how much power over their lives they give to monopolies and algorithms." —DAVE EGGERS, bestselling author of The Circle Which Side of History? offers a collection of bold essays on how technology is affecting democracy, society, and our future. Featuring prominent national voices such as Sacha Baron Cohen, Marc Benioff, Ellen Pao, Ken Auletta, Chelsea Clinton, Tim Wu, Khaled Hosseini, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Jaron Lanier, Willow Bay, Sal Khan, Sherry Turkle, Shoshana Zuboff, Vivek Murthy, Geoffrey Canada, and many more. The essays focus on the extraordinary impact of technology on our privacy, kids and families, race and gender roles, democracy, climate change, and mental health. This groundbreaking book challenges opinion leaders and the broader public to take action to improve technology's effects on our lives. • Featuring notable journalists, engineers, entrepreneurs, novelists, activists, filmmakers, business leaders, scholars, and researchers, including: Thomas Friedman, Kara Swisher, Michelle Alexander, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Jenna Wortham, Cameron Kasky, Howard Gardner, and Tristan Harris. • Explores the ethical behavior of Big Tech, or the lack thereof. • Offers roadmaps for constructive change and thought-provoking perspectives. With the rise of cyberbullying and hate speech online, issues around climate change and technology, and the "move fast and break things" mentality of tech culture, Which Side of History? will urge readers to draw the line. • This book will help shape the conversations we have around technology in our society and our future for years to come. • A smart book for anyone who approaches tech and the future with a healthy skepticism • Edited by James P. Steyer, the CEO and founder of Common Sense Media. • Add it to the shelf with books like Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr, and The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff.

Dawn of the New Everything

Author: Jaron Lanier
Publisher: Arrow
ISBN: 9781784701536
Category : Virtual reality
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
The father of virtual reality explains its dazzling possibilities by reflecting on his own lifelong relationship with technology. Bridging the gap between tech mania and the experience of being inside the human body, Jaron Lanier has written a three-pronged adventure into 'virtual reality', by exposing its ability to illuminate and amplify our understanding of our species.

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.

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.