Hardcover, 208 pages
Published Dec. 31, 2017 by Hoffmann und Campe Verlag.
Jaron Lanier, Tech-Guru und Vordenker des Internets, liefert zehn bestechende Gründe, warum wir mit Social Media Schluss machen müssen. Facebook, Google & Co. überwachen uns, manipulieren unser Verhalten, machen Politik unmöglich und uns zu ekligen, rechthaberischen Menschen. Social Media ist ein allgegenwärtiger Käfig geworden, dem wir nicht entfliehen können. Lanier hat ein aufrüttelndes Buch geschrieben, das seine Erkenntnisse als Insider des Silicon Valleys wiedergibt und dazu anregt, das eigenen Verhalten in den sozialen Netzwerken zu überdenken. Wenn wir den Kampf mit dem Wahnsinn unserer Zeit nicht verlieren wollen, bleibt uns nur eine Möglichkeit: Löschen wir all unsere Accounts!
This book encouraged me to quit all social media ruled by big tech companies. I couldn't decide whether to remove my Twitter until I met this book, but the decision definately improved my QOL.
I read this because I was asked to write something to coincide with a re-broadcast online of a talk Lanier did about the book in 2018.
While I think Lanier does an OK job of outlining some of what's fucked about social media, this book suffers from the same delusion of Zuboff's surveillance capitalism: treating what social media does as an anomaly to capitalism, rather than a logical extension/stage of it. Lanier's pretty libertarian so it makes sense that his theory of change and his arguments for quitting social media are so "you, the reader" focused rather than collective imperatives. But much like "quitting" capitalism, quitting social media is something that requires either tremendous sacrifice or privilege to do as an individual and only really means an individual feels OK without necessarily contributing to anyone else's well-being.
In terms of readability it's not very jargon-y and relatively self-aware, but there …
I read this because I was asked to write something to coincide with a re-broadcast online of a talk Lanier did about the book in 2018.
While I think Lanier does an OK job of outlining some of what's fucked about social media, this book suffers from the same delusion of Zuboff's surveillance capitalism: treating what social media does as an anomaly to capitalism, rather than a logical extension/stage of it. Lanier's pretty libertarian so it makes sense that his theory of change and his arguments for quitting social media are so "you, the reader" focused rather than collective imperatives. But much like "quitting" capitalism, quitting social media is something that requires either tremendous sacrifice or privilege to do as an individual and only really means an individual feels OK without necessarily contributing to anyone else's well-being.
In terms of readability it's not very jargon-y and relatively self-aware, but there is definitely a low-key "I'm actually the smartest boy in the room" vibe to the entire book despite some very sweeping generalizations and mostly personal experience based arguments. I'd also second Mouse's point in their review about the weak citations (how is anyone referencing the Stanford Prison Experiment as a legitimate study?).
