A WIRED All-Time Favorite Book
A Financial Times Best Book of 2018
"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."
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The New York Times (Summer Reading Preview)
"The title says it all . . . Lanier advocates untethering from social media, which fosters addiction and anomie and generally makes us feel worse and more fearful about each other and the world . . . The experiment could be a useful one, though it will darken the hearts of the dark lords–a winning argument all its own." –
Kirkus Reviews "
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now is not anti-tech or even anti-phone. It is one of the most optimistic books about the Internet I've ever read because it dares to hope for better. Profoundly skeptical of the business model that undergirds social media, Lanier demonstrates the ways in which our social media accounts make us not consumer but product, our every connection monitored by unseen third parties who harvest our data, monetize our communication, and curate and manipulate our behavior. Another online life is possible, but first we have to destroy the one we're trapped in. The great news is you don't have to take to the streets–you don't even have to leave your room. You can do it all by pressing one little key . . . A blisteringly good, urgent, essential read." –Zadie Smith, author of
Feel Free