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.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Introduction, with cats 1
ARGUMENT ONE
YOU ARE LOSING YOUR FREE WILL
Welcome to the cage that goes everywhere with you 5
The mad scientist turns out to care about the dog in the cage 8
Carrot and shtick 10
The allure of mystery 12
Heaven and hell are made of other people 16
Bit as bait 19
Addiction, meet network effect 21
Addiction and free will are opposites 23
ARGUMENT TWO
QUITTING SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE MOST FINELY TARGETED WAY TO RESIST THE INSANITY OF OUR TIMES
The BUMMER machine 25
The parts that make up the BUMMER machine 29
The problem is limited, so we can contain it 37
ARGUMENT THREE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING YOU INTO AN ASSHOLE
Sooty snow 39
Meeting my inner troll 41
The mysterious nature of asshole amplification technology 44
The most masterful master switch 49
Go to where you are kindest 51
ARGUMENT FOUR
SOCIAL MEDIA IS UNDERMINING TRUTH
Everybody knows 53
When people are fake, everything becomes fake 55
BUMMER kills 59
ARGUMENT FIVE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING WHAT YOU SAY MEANINGLESS
Meaning ajar 65
Pod people 69
ARGUMENT SIX
SOCIAL MEDIA IS DESTROYING YOUR CAPACITY FOR EMPATHY
Digitally imposed social numbness 76
The lost theory in your brain 79
ARGUMENT SEVEN
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING YOU UNHAPPY
Why do so many famous tweets end with the word "sad"? 81
The wrong end of the BUMMER 85
High castle 90
ARGUMENT EIGHT
SOCIAL MEDIA DOESN'T WANT YOU TO HAVE ECONOMIC DIGNITY
Double BUMMER 93
Baby BUMMER 94
Conflicted BUMMER 97
BUMMER blinders 98
Better than BUMMER 99
The corp perspective 103
The user perspective 104
ARGUMENT NINE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING POLITICS IMPOSSIBLE
Arc burn 107
Arab Spring 110
Gamergate 113
LGBTQ 114
Neither left nor right, but down 115
Black Lives Matter 117
If only this game were already over 123
ARGUMENT TEN
SOCIAL MEDIA HATES YOUR SOUL
I met a metaphysical metaphor 125
The first four principles of BUMMER spirituality 126
BUMMER faith 132
BUMMER heaven 134
Existence without BUMMER 136
BUMMER anti-magic 137
CONCLUSION: CATS HAVE NINE LIVES
Thank-yous 145
About the Author 147
