Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

As the internet becomes part of everyone's life in every country around the world, this book is potentially the foundation for understanding what is happening with social media, our brains, the companies that run social media, our society, and truly the impact of it all. A great read, a quick read, and potentially a game changer/ perspective enlightener for anyone willing to open their mind. I bought this book and read it in 2018, promptly deleted all my social media (*), and have steered clear ever since.* I will admit, I am a glutton for Google products, and also YouTube.. I suppose I'm not innocent in any way, shape or form, is it possible to any of us could avoid social media? C'est la vie!

Most people can feel there is something wrong with social media, but they don't quite know what it is. In this potent book, Jaron Lanier pulls back the curtain and exposes the dark side of social media. These 10 arguments are well researched and written in an approachable way. Having done courses myself on the importance of Digital Detox (un-plug.io) - appreciate many new insights here. I'll be recommending this book! I hope you enjoy it, even if you don't delete you social media accounts. One thing I feel is missing from this book is the counter-arguments many people have. If you tell someone to delete their account they have at least 3 arguments to keep it. Most common ones are: 1. I use it to connect with my friends via FB messenger. 2. I can find out about people who are a problem in my life by looking at their posts and avoid them. 3. I'm all alone, how would I connect with people and know what is going on without it? There are many more objections. So while this book offers 10 solid arguments, it doesn't overcome the objections most users have. If Lanier addressed them directly and destroyed them with healthier alternatives, I feel more people would actually delete their accounts. Nonetheless, it's a solid book - highly recommended.Update: This book offers some of the authors political views that demonstrate obvious cognitive bias - and, in my opinion, hurt the integrity of the book. Of course, it's his right to share anything he likes, but for me, those side-comments weakened it. I'll still give it 5 stars as I think the book needs to be read and wish him all the best.

Deliberate and targeted manipulation of social media members is a fact that Lanier understands implicitly from his vantage as an early developer and supporter of open internet access for all without fees. Eventually someone had to pay operating costs -- and so it is that advertising now provides the needed revenue to support social media platforms. Covert data collection on the part of the social media giants to increase their advertising revenues has become the new norm and is a huge source of revenue for them and their business partners. Lanier takes his concerns into print in this slim little volume and puts forth the idea that deleting social media accounts is the only way to rebalance the system. It is a widely held theory – i.e., that disengagement will ultimately lead to re-evaluation and self-correction.Lanier's focus is on actively reclaiming public space without the intrusions of advertisers and policy promoters such as partisan officials or influence-seeking third parties. Incursion into private lives is abhorrent and unavoidable as long as the public Internet remains vulnerable to hyper-commercialization. The science around oversight of these issues is still developing and the vision for the future is largely immature and continues onward to full mass entrapment as I write this.Taking the offensive by withdrawing from social media is one possible solution (maybe the only practical solution for the average individual) and is the main focus of Lanier’s book. His viewpoints are often solid and grounded in the reality of modern social mores, discussing,for example, the inevitable choices that arise in remaining bound to the pack vs retaining independence, flexibility, and unbiased curiosity in face of the loss of social approval . Unfortunately pack mentality often destabilizes self-worth, opening one to shaming, rivalries, trolling, and victimhood on social platforms like Facebook.I suggest reading the book first and then deciding if it pertains to your situation. If you are addicted to social media and easily influenced to move with the herd mentality, then you may wish to wake up and begin to make more conscious social choices.

A book I could not put down. I read it in two days and marked up with jotted notes and underlines. Jaron Lanier has done society a great favor by exposing the insidious nature of these tools most of us feel locked into due to the network effect.As one of the early internet tech pioneers and father of virtual reality, he is more than qualified to lay out the 10 arguments against BUMMER networks (Behaviors of Users Modified, and Made into an Empire for Rent).I found the book so fascinating and compelling that I plan to keep it for reading again and referencing now and then.Every one of his arguments matched my experience using these tools over the last decade: Facebook, Twitter, instagram, anything google. I knew something was wrong beyond what the popular articles had been saying, but I could never quite put my finger on it. There were a lot of “aha” moments.He was ultimately preaching to the choir with me though, as I deleted most of my accounts last year - and I miss none of them.Most of my friends and family are still attached to the hip with BUMMER networks, like a big fundamentalist church I once belonged to. Maybe having left such churches gave me the understanding that you might leave and everyone still in the cult will look at you like you’re a lost sheep such a thing. But those of us who have left realize the freedom and joy of being a “cat” is a much better life. I have friends who still invite me back to “church” to see their pictures on Facebook. Thanks but no thanks. Life is much better on this side.

Creo que muchas personas, este libro apenas en unas pocas páginas te convence de casi que tirar el celular, es magistral

This is the type of book that leaves you feeling refreshed, optimistic, and motivated. Jaron Lanier writes beautifully and engagingly - I will continue to talk about and recommend this book to anyone who will listen! I am hopeful that people who have read this book (or are aware of the arguments Lanier presents) are able to spread awareness enough to eventually drive the change we need.

This is one of the most important books written in the 21st century. Finding out how social media companies manipulate the weaknesses in human psychology and get you hooked on their technology is both jaw dropping and scary. This book should be handed out in every school. Succinct and to the point, you will discover the pitfalls of social media and why you really should limit its use or delete it altogether. Eye opening….

best book

Tutto perfetto