It may sound odd coming from the computer scientist who helped to create virtual reality, but the title says it all. Jaron Lanier believes strongly that we should delete our social media accounts immediately. His problem isn’t with technology, but with the companies he dubs “BUMMER,” a machine with six moving parts (loc 387):

1. Attention acquisition leading to ***hole supremacy
2. Butting into everyone’s lives
3. Cramming content down people’s throats
4. Directing people’s behaviors in the sneakiest way possible
5. Earning money from letting the worst ***holes secretly screw with everyone else
6. Fake mobs and Faker society

These companies are primarily Google and Meta (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram), along with some minor players like Twitter (now X). They make money from scraping your personal data and keeping your attention on their ads.

While all ten arguments have merit, the first one is especially noteworthy: “You are losing your free will” (loc 58). Due to the nature of algorithmically generated feeds and advertisements, BUMMER companies intentionally modify people’s behaviour which undermines free will.

Now everyone who is on social media is getting individualized, continuously adjusted stimuli, without a break, so long as they use their smartphones. What might once have been called advertising must now be understood as continuous behavior modification on a titanic scale. (loc. 78)

Lanier is blunt and salty. His arguments hold merit and deserve some careful thought—perhaps even action.

Lanier, Jaron. Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now. E-book ed., New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2018. EPUB.