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.
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