mountainwhoflys's review
3.0
I mostly enjoyed this book. I feel like the end chapter did not tie everything up well. Part of it was a political call to action and part of it seemed to raise many often pointed at boogeymen. I agree with the idea that a newer way or different approach to regulation will help change the technology landscape but the end just makes the book fall flat
plastik_child's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.25
A very thorough picture of the relationship between tech and morality and politics. Some moments come off as very dry but this was still a pretty damn enjoyable read, only real biting complaint is the biases the author bring in, while I don't entirely disagree, can lead to some grating points. Far from ruins the book though, a lot of fun pulling it apart in my class too so that may be blinding some other comments lol. Not bad!
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia, Violence, Suicide, and Hate crime
kamomo's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book well enough, but I don't think it offered a significantly different perspective from many others already written on this topic.
wowair's review
informative
fast-paced
3.25
An ok overview and light read if this is your first time looking into the 'ills of social media'/ do not have any clue about what is happening in tech.
For someone who works in the industry/ has followed the topic for the past few years even if sparringly, I would use my time in a different way - perhaps on a denser book that goes into much more depth about the topics it proposes. Overall, this does nothing but bring together and summarize a bunch of articles that have been written/talks that have been given in the past few years.
Given the authors' experience, I was excited about the book (have been waiting for a copy at the library for the past 6 months!!), hoping it would delve into philosophy/social science side, but it was not the case... at all. I expected to find some of it repetitive, but not the whole thing, and I probably would have been better served using this time to do my own research (the definitions and comparisons the book provides are simply too basic).
For someone who works in the industry/ has followed the topic for the past few years even if sparringly, I would use my time in a different way - perhaps on a denser book that goes into much more depth about the topics it proposes. Overall, this does nothing but bring together and summarize a bunch of articles that have been written/talks that have been given in the past few years.
Given the authors' experience, I was excited about the book (have been waiting for a copy at the library for the past 6 months!!), hoping it would delve into philosophy/social science side, but it was not the case... at all. I expected to find some of it repetitive, but not the whole thing, and I probably would have been better served using this time to do my own research (the definitions and comparisons the book provides are simply too basic).
adamweiss71's review
4.0
Loved the first 80% of this book, which provides an excellent overview of the ways that social media and big tech are problematic, but the last 20% outlining solutions to these problems left me a bit sad and itching for more from the authors (who are prominent experts on the topic).