"With a new afterword"--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction, with cats -- You are losing your free will -- Quitting social media is the most finely targeted way to resist the insanity of our times -- Social media is making you into an asshole -- Social media is undermining truth -- Social media is making what you say meaningless -- Social media is destroying your capacity for empathy -- Social media is making you unhappy -- Social media doesn't want you to have economic dignity -- Social media is making politics impossible -- Social media hates your soul -- Conclusion: Cats have nine lives.

Lanier offers powerful and personal reasons for all of us to leave the dangers of online platforms behind. He has seen their tendency to bring out the worst in us, to make politics terrifying, to trick us with illusions of popularity and success, to twist our relationship with the truth, to disconnect us from other people. And he asks: How could the benefits of social media possibly outweigh the catastrophic losses to our personal dignity, happiness, and freedom? -- adapted from jacket.