Description
Book SynopsisAntisocial Media, is the path-breaking initial step toward understanding how social media is quickly undermining not only centuries of democratic progress, but civil society itself.
Trade ReviewSiva Vaidhyanathan's Antisocial Media ... is the best tech-sceptic book of the year, by an academic who writes like a human. Even better, Vaidhyanathan's insights into the destructive power of Facebook are truly global, taking in Modi's India and Duterte's Philippines. * Helen Lewis, Books of the Year 2018, New Statesman *
Vaidhyanathan writes with conviction and a deep sense of history. His research is sharp and diverse. * Jinoy Jose P, The Hindu Business Line *
An excellent critique * John Naughton, The Observer *
What distinguishes Vaidhyanathan's book from others is not only the depth of his research, but the fact that Facebook in placed into a larger social, historical and political context, thus delivering a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the company over the past years. * Felix Simon, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung *
This thoroughly researched and persuasively argued account of social media's noxious effects on the very fabric of society is the first study of its kind: a trenchant analysis of Facebook's unwholesome side effects. It needed saying, and it's supremely well said. * Juanita Coulson, The Lady *
[an] elegant new book * Des Freedman, openDemocracy *
The book is of great value to both students of media-related disciplines and to the general public. Written in a commendably accessible style and largely free of academic jargon, it is likely to appeal to (and benefit) anyone willing to better understand the world in which we are deeply immersed a social-mediatised world. * LSE Review of Books *
Table of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1: The Pleasure MachineChapter 2: The Surveillance MachineChapter 3: The Attention MachineChapter 4: The Benevolence MachineChapter 5: The Protest MachineChapter 6: The Politics MachineChapter 7: The Disinformation MachineConclusion: The Nonsense MachineAcknowledgements
