Tag Archives: Internet

The Chaos of Now

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The Chaos of Now by Erin Lange

Book of the Week: 18 November 2018

Cover design by Faber. Illustration @Shutterstock

A return to fiction this week, but still concerning the online world. The Chaos of Now is about coding, friendship, families and online bullying.

When a student at Haver High School resorts to suicide in a shocking way it affects the lives of everyone in the community. Much to the annoyance of keen coders Eli and Zach, surveillance and internet regulations are ramped up as a result of Jordan’s death which was partly a result of online bullying. Eli’s dad reckons he spends far too much time on his computer anyway and should be trying to build a relationship with his girlfriend Misty who has come to live with them. Eli has other ideas. He misses his mum, who died some years ago, and wants to work for a big company like Google rather than going to university.

One day, someone leaves a message in binary code on the mirror in the school toilets which leads hims to the basement of a house in a nearby neighbourhood. Seth, an older student, and Mouse, a nervy boy who he only knows slightly, want him to help enter a national coding competition and created a website that will take revenge on all those who drove their friend Jordan to take his own life in such a horribly public way. Eli is tempted but wary of breaking the rules. Can he trust Seth and Mouse or should he listen to his long-time friend Zach and get out while he still can?

Due to strong language throughout and some challenging issues, this may be more suitable for older readers.

Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

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Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier

Book of the Week: 11 November 2018

Cover photograph: Getty Images

This week we have a factual book with an intriguing title. Jaron Lanier is employed by Microsoft and worked in the field of virtual reality in the 1980s, so has the knowledge and authority to write about the digital world. Whilst not being against use of the internet, he believes that companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter have created huge problems that they are only recently starting to acknowledge and attempting to solve. What worries him most is that tech companies have created a culture of surveillance and manipulation that we are willingly participating in. His arguments assert, amongst other things, that social media is undermining truth, destroying your capacity for empathy, making politics impossible and making you unhappier. Many of us will be familiar with these ideas (often, ironically, from using social media sites) and there are books that explore the subject in greater depth, but if you want a short and snappy summary then this provides an outline and an introduction.

Jaron Lanier claims to have no social media accounts but will his book make you want to delete yours?

Little Brother

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Little Brother
by Cory Doctorow
Book of the Week: 8 February 2015
littlebrotheruk

Marcus Yallow, a 17 year-old San Franciscan high school student and hacker, is used to getting into trouble because he ‘goes through school firewalls like wet kleenex’. Then, on the day of an attack on the Oakland Bay Bridge, he and his friends are detained on suspicion of being terrorists and his definition of being in trouble ramps up several notches. Marcus is eventually released but is so angry and shaken at the way in which his civil rights have been violated that he starts a teenage rebellion against the Department of Homeland Security.

This is a powerful polemic about the rights of citizens, government surveillance and the power of the internet with a very interesting bibliography about hacking and freedom of information. Some readers may find this controversial or irresponsible and some aspects of the plot make it a book more suitable for older readers.
The author has a website which allows anyone to read the book for free.
The Common Sense Media website has a guide for parents or for anyone who wants to check out the suitability of games, books and films.It has an entry for ‘Little Brother’. However, it is American and British media and material from other countries is under-represented.
Common Sense Media
If you enjoy books like ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by George Orwell or ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley, you may enjoy ‘Little Brother’ and its follow-up, ‘Homeland’.