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Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now | Jaron Lanier
A timely call-to-arms from a Silicon Valley pioneer. You might have trouble imagining life without your social media accounts, but virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier insists that were 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. Laniers reasons for freeing ourselves from social medias 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.
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JenniferEgnor
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Pickpick

This book presents some ideas worth considering. Social media was created for connection but it has grown into something else and there is no stopping it. Algorithms are everywhere and not only decide things for you, but build different kinds of walls around you (disinformation, economic walls, loss of physical, emotional connection—to name a few). You have to decide for yourself what you want to do with it. It causes harm but there is also⬇️

JenniferEgnor good to be found in it. Can we outsmart the algorithm? Shown: I asked AI to create an image of a brain eating social media, and a social media happy meal. The first image I find very disturbing but accurate. The second one is honest as well because what‘s on the plate looks desirable…yet, we must pay careful attention to what we consume. There is truth to the saying ‘You are what you eat‘. 2mo
JenniferEgnor Watch this documentary on Netflix, the author is featured there. https://www.netflix.com/us/title/81254224?s=i&trkid=258593161&vlang=en&clip=8156... 2mo
17 likes2 comments
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eeclayton
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Pickpick

I'd heard Lanier talk about the topic before so most of his arguments weren't completely new to me. Even so, it was great to be given more details, and I liked his casual, no-bullshit style.
Also, a shoutout to the translator, Agnes Harasztos, for having done a marvellous job.

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eeclayton
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Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks Beautiful ❤️ 🏔 3y
Eggs Stunning photo 🏔👏🏻💙 3y
17 likes2 comments
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CampbellTaraL
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Pickpick

Content and take-home message: 5/5
Delivery method: 3/5

Glib, and I hate the acronym used to describe the key point, but lofty analysis does not reach the audience that needs to read this the most. People are crushed, isolated, and too many lack hope for the future. Lanier makes the important info accessible, and gives actionable steps for a way out of the darkness.

I imagine he's a great conversationalist.

25 likes2 stack adds
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Buechersuechtling
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And I really struggled with those 6 features of BUMMER because Lanier here and there only refers to their letters.

Then I kept turning back to recall the right entry.

No big deal deal for itself but for me it was disturbing. It stopped my reading flow.

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Buechersuechtling
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This might be one reason why I did not get to be friended with that book. It‘s that acronym Lanier introduced: “Behaviours of Users Modified, and Made into Empire for Rent. BUMMER.” (p. 39)
It works in English but if you read this book in a foreign language you‘re always trying to remember what he‘s talking about. Additionally why does he do this when he reveals there are only 2 companies, he‘s talking about❓

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Buechersuechtling
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Mehso-so

🤔 Well … I feel I _should_ find this eye-opening and brilliant – and in the beginning I was really hooked because Lanier knows how to explain this in a way that even I understand. But somewhere in the middle I spaced out. There was few new information. It seemed, it‘s all a different aspect of the same thing. To be constantly aware of this is important, but I‘d welcomed it to be important on 70 pages less. 😉

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Buechersuechtling
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“It‘s not possible to determine how different what someone else gets to see, is from what I imagine he sees. The lack of transparency of our time is all the more serious because it is impossible to see how opaque it is. I remember well the time when we trusted that the Internet would create a transparent society. In fact, the opposite is true now.” (p. 104)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ The shocking thing is: I do you know this well but in every day life I forget.

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Buechersuechtling
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“But when you post something on social media, it‘s actually not talking at all. The context with what you say is added afterwards for the purposes and profit of others.” (p. 85)

⬆️⬆️⬆️ I‘m sure he‘s right, but the first thing I thought was, that it‘s added by other _users_ and not first and foremost by those who earn their money with it.

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Buechersuechtling
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Have you ever felt like sometimes you don‘t understand the world❓Well, I kind of do now, because my Internet library told me that this book was only readable on my desktop computer, and now, I just tried to download it on my e-book-reader just for fun. And it worked‼️ Why again did they say it‘s only to be read on screen❓

I better don‘t think about it and instead plunge back into it; will now be much more comfortable to read.

Deifio Is this a funny book? Or is the author really into data security? 3y
Buechersuechtling @Deifio The latter. It isn‘t funny at all. If you ask me, he puts spotlights on certain mechanics we all kind of know but most of the time don‘t realise. It‘s a serious book that reads fluently – although I slowly begin to have issues with the writing style. 3y
10 likes2 comments
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Buechersuechtling
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“No one can seriously expect to make money on social networks. Simple users can only gain false power and imagined prosperity, but no real power and no real prosperity. That‘s why psycho games become dominant. When there‘s nothing to achieve but attention, people tend to become assholes because the biggest asshole gets the most attention.” (p. 39)

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Buechersuechtling
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“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.”
?? https://bit.ly/3j885iH

Although it might be a bit awkward to read this on my desktop-computer because it can‘t be transferred to my e-book-reader, this one wins over ?? „Stern 111“ because it‘s shorter, 208 pages versus 528 pages.

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SheReadsAndWrites
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Mehso-so

This isn't totally book related, but I watched this yesterday and am still processing it all. (And the author of the tagged book is interviewed.)
I knew some of the info that's given in the documentary but some I didn't and it was fascinating. It's something I hope we really start discussing as human beings. The film is something (in my opinion) that needs to be seen.
As far as the book, it was fine. Just nothing super new or mind-blowing.

TheBookHippie They are watching it as part of seminars here in middle and high school 3y
30 likes2 comments
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tata_buug
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So, what's a girl to do?

#booksinquarantine

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saltwaterlit
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Pickpick

Took a walk today, finishing up this audiobook. I‘m pretty convinced that I‘ll be off social media in 2020, although I will make an exception for Litsy (for now). This book does a great job of explaining what is wrong with the social media in the big picture (disinformation, surveillance, and behavior manipulation), not just the small picture that we‘re all aware of (it‘s a time waster that makes us sad).

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DebbieVincent
Pickpick

Essential for the future of humanity. Facebook etc destroy human empathy & turn us into partisan arseholes. There is no insistence to delete, even though the arguments are sophisticated & undeniable. Social media are human behaviour modification tools, addictive & impact real flesh relationships. Read & delete or read & don't. Your choice. It could have been longer and better written.
#tenargumentsfordeletingyoursocialmediaaccountsrightnow
#lanier

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dariazeoli
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Litsy doesn‘t count, right? 🤔

Bookcation74 Deleting Facebook was one of my best decisions so far this year! 5y
Texreader I couldn‘t live without Litsy! 5y
Molly_the_mezzo I don‘t use anything but Litsy, which I don‘t think counts! 5y
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Crazeedi I am ready to delete everything but litsy! 5y
Megabooks Nope! 5y
Megabooks @Bookcation74 I did 4ish years ago, and I don‘t miss it at all! 5y
kspenmoll Never!!!! We need Litsy - it‘s people!!!‘❤️ 5y
53 likes2 stack adds7 comments
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suvata
Panpan

It may have been a quick listen but I really didn‘t enjoy it that much. It was just so-so. I have no intention of quitting social media, so I guess his arguments didn‘t convince me.

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suvata
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Well, this sounds interesting and the audio is only about four hours long. May as well see if I can learn something from this.

LauraJ Just don‘t delete THIS social media account! 5y
suvata @LauraJ Not a chance. I probably won‘t be deleting any of them. LOL 5y
LauraJ @suvata Good! We like you here. 5y
suvata @LauraJ Awww, shucks! 😊 5y
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Simona
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Panpan

I agree with all of these arguments, and I don‘t have any doubts that the author knows exactly what he is talking about ... but this book is written very poorly, in the manner of instant self-help manuals, and because of that he is very unconvincing. Unfortunately, I can‘t take seriously the author, who in his work warns me from notorious advertisements and algorithms on social media and at the same time use his book for self-promotion ...

Cinfhen I think you just made the BEST argument 👊🏼🙌🏻💋 5y
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alisiakae I don‘t think I‘ve seen any good reviews of this one. 5y
Simona @4thhouseontheleft I‘m always trying to avoid the reviews of books that I intend to read ... for this book, this was the wrong tactic. 🤷‍♀️ 5y
Simona @Cinfhen I was quite pissed off with this book 😠 5y
Riveted_Reader_Melissa Funny, as someone who has deleted some social media at times, none of these were in my top 10 reasons for doing it. 🤷‍♀️ 5y
Simona @Riveted_Reader_Melissa I‘m using Litsy and Goodreads and I‘m perfectly fine if some machines detect my reading habits ... 5y
58 likes9 comments
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sophierayton
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Mehso-so

Say BUMMER one more time...!!!
Aside from being annoyed by that acronym, I enjoyed this book. I'm not as worried as the author seems to think I should be, but it's made me consider my social media use.

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Krisjericho
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Mehso-so

This is a really short book, but it took me forever to read it. It is really badly written. But the points he makes are thought-provoking, to say the least. BUT THERE ARE SO MANY MADE-UP ACRONYMS. And they are terrible. I also laughed because of his critiques of social media and his title, which is essentially click bait. There is some good info here, but it should have been a Buzzfeed article.

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Emilymdxn
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Panpan

I wanted to find this book fascinating and challenging but it felt superficial, and apart from a few interesting points I was really disappointed. Not so much by the core message as the overly pop science writing - I don‘t need that many new acronyms and bits of very italic emphasis. Maybe it was just a disappointment after Naomi Klein, and it did have some good points, but it didn‘t convince me of anything and I was open to being convinced.

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Emilymdxn
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I hope this will be interesting. I‘m interested in learning more about the pitfalls of social media, and how to use it responsibly, but I don‘t see myself deleting all or any of my social media. I hope this book can be useful in teaching me new ways to think about stuff and keep myself as independent as I‘d like to be, without just shouting at me to delete stuff I find useful. Let‘s see.

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dariazeoli
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I haven‘t read this book (yet), but I did delete Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram from my phone and tablet at the end of June. It was nice to tune out for several weeks.

I‘m slowly breaking my social media sabbatical - I reinstalled Twitter yesterday, but only on my iPad. You can follow me there if you‘d like. I‘ll try to tweet more about books 📚

MatchlessMarie It‘s nice to take a break every once in a while. Last July I deleted everything except Goodreads and Litsy and it was a great month. 6y
Trashcanman Facebook, Twitter, Instagram free for years and I am never going back (never had some of those lol). Only social media is Litsy and goodreads. 6y
CouronneDhiver I‘m with George on this one ☝🏽 Only Litsy for me. @Trashcanman 6y
kyraleseberg That is so great, I need to do that too! I use Twitter for book blogging purposes but I'm so ready to remove all other social media from my life (except Litsy of course)! I think it'd change my life in a really positive way. 6y
53 likes4 comments
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UrsulaMonarch
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Pickpick

I thought this book was pretty poorly written and I disagreed with a fair amount of it. I also can't stop thinking about it.

(Continued below)

UrsulaMonarch My experience with social media hasn't been the negative morass that Lanier generally (but not always) describes. Additionally, I don't agree that thinking and acting in a pack rather than solitarily is always so bad - to me, it seems like it could be a description of civilization. However, once I started reading the book as a prescription of how OTHER people should use social media, I found it more understandable (and hypocritical). 6y
UrsulaMonarch The bad writing was an annoyance (can anyone say what BUMMER stands for?), but I did appreciate the bite-sized summaries throughout. The book definitely seemed to be written to be accessible and memorable, even if it only occasionally achieved those goals. 6y
UrsulaMonarch BUT the book was helpful for thinking about current events, elections, and movements. After reading it, I felt like I should have been thinking about repercussions from social media earlier. I would say better late than never, but who knows. 6y
See All 6 Comments
Laura317 I guess it depends on how social media is used. I‘ve seen good and bad in it, but then all I really use it for is recipes and cat videos. What do I know? 🤷🏻‍♀️ 6y
UrsulaMonarch @Laura317 I totally agree - I feel like I use it for things that make me happy (too)! But I think we have to make an effort to engage in actively positive places - like Litsy! ☺️ 6y
Karkar I can see how it can be bad. I used to love Facebook where I could catch up with old friends or family. But now I cannot go on it without getting angry. 6y
36 likes6 comments
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iamtoddseal
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Pickpick

At times, it feels like he‘s right and nothing can change it. And it feels like Lanier‘s claims have become even more true (QAnon, Russian meddling, “what you‘re seeing and what you‘re reading is not what‘s happening,” etc.). But he provides enough light that you want to do something, even in a world dominated by social-media-pushed news and feeds created to manipulate your behavior. Of course, there‘s always the obvious.

Delete your accounts.

1 like1 stack add
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iamtoddseal
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“it is not easy to accept that one has been tricked. .... a civil rights attorney told that same reporter, ‘If someone is organizing an event that benefits accountability and justice, I don‘t really care what their motives are or who they are.‘”

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raj987
Pickpick

While this book may come off as another listicle enumerating social media pitfalls, “10 Arguments..” provides both technological and philosophical reasons to do away with social media accounts. I couldn‘t put it down and finished it in 2 days.

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nikirtehsuxlol
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Think I‘m gonna like this book 😎