Ten Arguments For Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

’A blisteringly good, urgent, essential read’ - ZADIE SMITH

　　Jaron Lanier, the world-famous Silicon Valley scientist-pioneer and ’high-tech genius’ (Sunday Times) 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.

　　Social media is making us sadder, angrier, less empathetic, more fearful, more isolated and more tribal. In recent months it has become horribly clear that social media is not bringing us together – it is tearing us apart. 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 – by deploying constant surveillance and subconscious manipulation of its users – 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. 

　　So, if you want a happier life, a more just and peaceful world, or merely the chance to think for yourself without being monitored and influenced by the richest corporations in history, then the best thing you can do, for now, is delete your social media accounts – right now. You will almost certainly become a calmer and possibly a nicer person in the process.

Review

　　“Mixes prophetic wisdom with a simple practicality . . . Essential reading.”―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

　　“Jaron Lanier’s writing on technology and its cultural significance is indispensable and he has surpassed himself in this book on social media. Everyone who wants to understand the digital world, its pitfalls and possibilities should read this book – now＂ ―Matthew d’Ancona, author of Post-Truth

　　“Everybody should read this book, immediately. It is a witty and fiercely intelligent attack on the ethics and business model of big tech and a romping read to boot. Lanier is a modern day Luther, calling for a digital reformation and nailing his theses to the door＂ ―Tom Hodgkinson, The Idler

　　“A short, snappy, impassioned takedown of the surveillance capitalism operated by the giant Silicon Valley corporations＂―Financial Times

　　Everything is here, from status anxiety, to wage degradation, to the death of context … This is Lanier at his best, taking the language of the internet and turning it back on itself (Hugo Rifkind, The Times)

　　An eloquence that is hard to argue against … The system deployed by the social media giants, he says, is nothing short of a weapon of mass social destruction, and his conviction is based on his insider knowledge … Every time you log on, you are adding to a fire that is burning your house down. So delete your accounts (Danny Fortson, Sunday Times)