Virtual Selves Real Persons

This book looks at how to define persons and selves and the ways in which different disciplines have dealt with this topic.

The new radically social habit of tracking our behaviours and preferences is booming. From Facebook timelines to Google Navigator to Twitter, we generate enormous amounts of online data about our activities: where we go, what we do, how we feel. In The Virtual Self, journalist Nora Young examines this growing phenomenon of self-tracking - why it's compulsive, its attractions and benefits, the dangers surrounding privacy and information control, and moreover, what it means for our sense of self. Fascinating and entertaining, and offering unique insights into our emerging technological culture, The Virtual Self takes the personal, psychological reality of everything from smart phones to social networking and teases out the increasing impact of the virtual information we all produce on the real world around us.

Social networking has grown into a staple of modern society, but its continued evolution is becoming increasingly detrimental to our lives. Shifts in communication and privacy are affecting us more than we realize or understand. Terms of Service crystalizes this current moment in technology and contemplates its implications: the identity-validating pleasures and perils of online visibility; our newly adopted view of daily life through the lens of what is share-worthy; and the surveillance state operated by social media platforms—Facebook, Google, Twitter, and others—to mine our personal data for advertising revenue, an invasion of our lives that is as pervasive as government spying. Jacob Silverman calls for social media users to take back ownership of their digital selves from the Silicon Valley corporations who claim to know what's best for them. Integrating politics, sociology, national security, pop culture, and technology, he reveals the surprising conformity at the heart of Internet culture—explaining how social media companies engineer their products to encourage shallow engagement and discourage dissent. Reflecting on the collapsed barriers between our private and public lives, Silverman brings into focus the inner conflict we feel when deciding what to share and what to "like," and explains how we can take the steps we need to free ourselves from its grip.

"This book provides insights to better enhance the understanding of technology's widespread intertwinement with human identity within an advancing technological society"--Provided by publisher.

The host of CBC Radio's Spark explores the very real impact of the virtual information we generate about ourselves -- on our own lives, our communities, and our government. We generate enormous amounts of online data about our habits: where we go, what we do, and how we feel. Some of that is stuff we choose to report; some of it is the offhand data trails we leave behind. The Virtual Self looks at the debates and challenges around virtual data-sharing -- from Facebook status updates to Google Navigator -- and its potential for building more responsive communities and governments. Nora argues that if we wrestle now with issues like privacy and data control, we can harness the power of that data. The host of CBC Radio's Spark, Nora Young has fascinating information at her disposal, unique insights into the intersection of the virtual and real worlds, and a wonderful voice for making all of these clear to a general audience. Accessible and entertaining, The Virtual Self takes that personal, psychological reality of everything from email to status updates and teases out the increasingly bigger impacts on the real world around us of the virtual information we all generate.

The new radically social habit of tracking our behaviours and preferences is booming. From Facebook timelines to Google Navigator to Twitter, we generate enormous amounts of online data about our activities: where we go, what we do, how we feel. In The Virtual Self, journalist Nora Young examines this growing phenomenon of self-tracking - why it's compulsive, its attractions and benefits, the dangers surrounding privacy and information control, and moreover, what it means for our sense of self. Fascinating and entertaining, and offering unique insights into our emerging technological culture, The Virtual Self takes the personal, psychological reality of everything from smart phones to social networking and teases out the increasing impact of the virtual information we all produce on the real world around us.

As impressions grow that privacy is under increasing threat, the sphere of private life has needed to reassert itself, yet efforts to this end are beset with numerous difficulties, including the ways in which the private sphere has for centuries been understood and misunderstood. While Public/Private takes up a broadly liberal perspective, it endeavors to reach beyond an audience of liberal theorists to include other political orientations and philosophical traditions. Fairfield examines the ethical-political significance as well as the policy implications of a right to privacy. Discussing the different applications of privacy laws, technology, property, relationships, Fairfield writes in a style accessible to specialists and students alike.