Unwired Gaining control over addictive technologies

Seton Hall University law professor Bernstein skewers the tech industry for endangering minors, invading privacy, and engineering products that "manipulate our deepest human vulnerabilities" in her damning debut. Citing research on how certain features--such as Snapstreaks, Tinder swipes, and infinite scroll--lure users into spending more time online, Bernstein relates horror stories of kids who became addicted to their screens and is candid about her own struggle, as a mother of three, to limit screen time. "My son was not a heavy screen user. Still, many screens and different screen activities dominated his everyday life," she writes. The author provides recaps of legal battles against the tobacco and processed foods industries, and outlines how similar strategies could be used against tech giants, possibly in class action lawsuits (like those filed against Facebook in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal). Bernstein isn't short on solutions to curb overuse: she insists that "education policy about integration of technology into the classroom" be given more consideration, that tech companies implement digital warning labels, and that new products be developed with consumer well-being in mind (such as a phone for children that "incorporates some smartphone functions like Google Maps, but does not provide access to social networks and games"). This trenchant clarion call rings loud and clear. (Mar.)

A respected legal academic takes aim at the tech giants that are promoting isolation, division, and addiction. Bernstein is a professor specializing in the laws around privacy and technology, but she notes that the motivation for this book was her experiences as a "mother of three children who grew up in the era of smartphones, screens, and social media." Online technology, she writes, has metastasized from a public good into a problem threatening to unravel American society. She nominates 2007 as a turning point, when smartphones became ubiquitous and Facebook pushed aside its competitors. For a long time, the author believed that tech abuse was a personal problem (as well as a problem for parents), but as she dug into the research, she realized that tech companies were deliberately fostering addiction to boost their profits. She sees parallels between social media companies and cigarette manufacturers. Both knew that their products were addictive and harmful, but they suppressed evidence of that. Equally, some of the actions taken to combat big tobacco, from class-action suits to regulations requiring warning labels, could be applied to big tech. This has already begun, notes the author, and momentum is building. The tech companies, for their part, argue that the level of use of social media is an individual choice and to restrict it runs against notions of freedom and liberty. Bernstein replies that the tobacco firms used to make the same argument, but eventually the dangers posed by their products became too obvious to ignore. She makes clear that her goal is not to ban social media but to see it used in a balanced, honest, and responsible way, and she presents several workable policy options. But it will be arduous. "The tech industry is unlikely to submit to change without a fight," writes Bernstein. "But knowing all we know now, neither should we." Mixing expertise and passion, the author sets an agenda to rein in the tech behemoths that have run rampant for years. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.