For some time now, Silicon Valley has been obsessing over the next billion users. As mobile telephony becomes accessible along with cheap data—Jio, for instance, offers the cheapest data in the world—what kind of new markets will emerge in the global south, and how to parse the tech-consumption of the world’s poor to both enable them and profit off them.
The title How to Break up with Your Phone reminded me of an essay I had read many decades ago while in school. On ‘Not Answering the Telephone’ was a witty essay by William Plomer in which he expresses his dislike of owning a phone and discusses the inconveniences in having a telephone of one’s own. But the likeness ends there.
Against All Odds: The IT Story of India is written by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan together with N Dayasindhu and Krishnan Narayanan who have also been associated with Infosys in the past. Dayasindhu and Narayanan also run Itihaasa which is a non-profit funded by Gopalakrishnan and others to record oral histories of the people associated with the IT industry.
The internet has taken over unexpectedly and unwelcomed by many, but it’s here to stay. The pandemic has demonstrated how easy it is to access entertainment online, even when the world is shut down. However, the advertising industry seems stuck in a one-size-fits-all approach. While every brand has its appeal, they need to understand that every creator has their own appeal too. In the creator-verse, makers have created their own parallel universe of content, from everyday observational comedy to political satire to pranks.
Chris Bail’s Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing is an attempt at understanding and breaking the social media echo chamber. Bail is a Professor of Sociology, Public Policy, and Data Science at Duke University, where he directs the Polarization Lab. At the lab the team endevaours to diagnose the problems with social media platforms using scientific research and builds new technology to reverse the course. Over the years, the team has collected hundreds of millions of data points that describe the behaviour of thousands of social media users over multiple years.
Sinan Aral in his book delves into the complex relationship between humans and social media. He describes the communication ecosystem created by social media as the ‘Hype machine’ and examines its potential for both promise and peril. Aral provides an ‘insider perspective’ and offers insights on the inner workings of social media, while also addressing its impact on decision-making, choices, and society.