Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

128 pages

English language

Published Aug. 13, 2018 by Holt & Company, Henry.

ISBN:
978-1-250-19669-9
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4 stars (24 reviews)

Jaron Lanier, the world-famous Silicon Valley scientist-pioneer who first alerted us to the dangers of social media, explains why its toxic effects are at the heart of its design, and explains in ten simple arguments why liberating yourself from its hold will transform your life and the world for the better.

In Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now Jaron Lanier draws on his insider's expertise to explain precisely how social media works and why its cruel and dangerous effects are at the heart of its current business model and design. As well as offering ten simple arguments for liberating yourself from its addictive hold, his witty and urgent manifesto outlines a vision for an alternative that provides all the benefits of social media without the harm. nicer person in the process.

7 editions

Review of 'Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Ich finde einiges hier wirklich hilfreich, anderes finde ich falsch und manches absurd.

Absurd ist v.a. die Vorstellung, wer nicht für Hillary gewählt hat, hat das deshalb getan, weil man von 'russian bots' beeinflusst wurde.

Was ich eher hilfreich finde, ist wie das Zusammenspiel von Hochs und Tiefs, das Soziale Medien gefühlsmäßig auslösen, Teil des Grunds sind, weshalb wir ihnen gegenüber eine Art Abhängigkeit entwickeln. Wenn man einen Tag wartet und keine Belohnungs-Likes bekommen hat, versucht man vielleicht noch eher, etwas Interessanteres zu schreiben statt wegzugehen. Man 'bleibt hängen''. Algorithmen steuern dem einen 'glitchy feedback' bei, der absolut random versucht, Leute zu einer response zu animieren - indem es sie zum Beispiel mit im Feed eingespielten posts traurig macht (weil dieser post bei ähnlich kategorisierten usern Ähnliches bewirkte). Es war nicht immer klar, welche Plattform da was anwendet - zB Facebook hat sich durchaus damit gerühmt, dass sie ihre user …

if you find-replace "social media" with "capitalism" in this book it's almost got a point

1 star

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 …

Disappointing and poorly defended

1 star

This was such a frustrating read because I agree with so many of the problems he identifies with social media, but I found his reasoning deeply flawed.

To the extent that this is a diatribe about how unpleasant social media is in his personal experience, I was mostly onboard, but the difference, I think, between a rant and a book is rigor.

His citations were mostly news articles and wikipedia entries, and he relies heavily on a superficial understanding of popular, flawed studies like the Stanford Prison Experiment. He makes bold, sweeping, and imprecise statements about the a number of things, particularly the nature of addiction and how addicts behave, without any backup or indication that he is speaking in any way besides entirely off the cuff.

I was disappointed as well in how stuck his reasoning is within the frame of capitalism and tech solutionism.

Review of 'Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Makkelijk te lezen boek met kritiek over social media. Veel herhalingen wel, maar dat is niet storend. Ook al is Lanier een techneut, zijn argumenten zijn voornamelijk a-technisch. Van sociaal-psychologisch (je verliest gevoel voor empathie in de social-media-omgeving) tot sociaal-economisch (op sites die flexwerk aanbieden moet je verschrikkelijk je best doen om een goede reputatie op te bouwen, waarna je voor een schijntje aan het werk gezet wordt).

Het geeft een goed beeld van de mogelijke kritiek die je kunt hebben op social media, maar geeft als enige en juiste alternatief: dumpen die accounts. Ik vraag me af of dat wel een realistisch standpunt is. En als je dan niet meedoet aan social media, zorg dan dat je in ieder geval een nette website hebt.

Subjects

  • Social media
  • Internet, social aspects

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