Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

Introduction, with cats 1

ARGUMENT ONE
YOU ARE LOSING YOUR FREE WILL

Welcome to the cage that goes everywhere with you 5
The mad scientist turns out to care about the dog in the cage 8
Carrot and shtick 10
The allure of mystery 12
Heaven and hell are made of other people 16
Bit as bait 19
Addiction, meet network effect 21
Addiction and free will are opposites 23

ARGUMENT TWO
QUITTING SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE MOST FINELY TARGETED WAY TO RESIST THE INSANITY OF OUR TIMES

The BUMMER machine 25
The parts that make up the BUMMER machine 29
The problem is limited, so we can contain it 37

ARGUMENT THREE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING YOU INTO AN ASSHOLE

Sooty snow 39
Meeting my inner troll 41
The mysterious nature of asshole amplification technology 44
The most masterful master switch 49
Go to where you are kindest 51

ARGUMENT FOUR
SOCIAL MEDIA IS UNDERMINING TRUTH

Everybody knows 53
When people are fake, everything becomes fake 55
BUMMER kills 59

ARGUMENT FIVE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING WHAT YOU SAY MEANINGLESS

Meaning ajar 65
Pod people 69

ARGUMENT SIX
SOCIAL MEDIA IS DESTROYING YOUR CAPACITY FOR EMPATHY

Digitally imposed social numbness 76
The lost theory in your brain 79

ARGUMENT SEVEN
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING YOU UNHAPPY

Why do so many famous tweets end with the word ¿sad¿? 81
The wrong end of the BUMMER 85
High castle 90

ARGUMENT EIGHT
SOCIAL MEDIA DOESN¿T WANT YOU TO HAVE ECONOMIC DIGNITY

Double BUMMER 93
Baby BUMMER 94
Conflicted BUMMER 97
BUMMER blinders 98
Better than BUMMER 99
The corp perspective 103
The user perspective 104

ARGUMENT NINE
SOCIAL MEDIA IS MAKING POLITICS IMPOSSIBLE

Arc burn 107
Arab Spring 110
Gamergate 113
LGBTQ 114
Neither left nor right, but down 115
Black Lives Matter 117
If only this game were already over 123

ARGUMENT TEN
SOCIAL MEDIA HATES YOUR SOUL

I met a metaphysical metaphor 125
The first four principles of BUMMER spirituality 126
BUMMER faith

Jaron Lanier is a scientist, musician, and writer best known for his work in virtual reality and his advocacy of humanism and sustainable economics in a digital context. His 1980s start-up VPL Research created the first commercial VR products and introduced avatars, multi-person virtual world experiences, and prototypes of major VR applications such as surgical simulation. His books Who Owns the Future? and You Are Not a Gadget were international bestsellers, and Dawn of the New Everything was named a 2017 best book of the year by The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and Vox.