Tech: Alfred Hermida’s Tell Everyone is clear eyed about contemporary culture but blind to its own contradictions
Originally published in the Globe and Mail. Read the full text here.
To tweet is human. That's what Alfred Hermida tells us in his new book, Tell Everyone: Why We Share and Why It Matters, about the origins and implications of our social media obsession. "People are not hooked on YouTube, Twitter or Facebook but on each other," he writes. "Tools and services come and go; what is constant is our human urge to share." Hermida makes sweeping arguments like this throughout his book, and, although he doesn't prove them, he delivers fascinating insights along the way. Tell Everyone can be wonderfully clear eyed about contemporary culture but blind to its own contradictions.
That's a shame, because Hermida is the kind of person you'd hope would write a study on tech. He has a background in television, radio, and web journalism – most notably with the BBC – and he's now a University of British Columbia journalism and media studies professor. His lucid, energetic prose demonstrates his reportorial instincts, and he's totally at ease with scholarly sources. Unfortunately, he sometimes lapses into teacherly rhetoric, which seems pitched at that dozy undergrad at the back of the classroom. "The press is presumed to report events accurately and without bias," he explains, "but media coverage tends to mirror prevailing attitudes in society." Fair point, but you already knew that, right? You probably also knew that camera phones are ubiquitous and that, in 2012, America's incumbent president, Barack Obama, ran against a fellow named Mitt Romney.
This is an excerpt. Read the full text here.