Virtually you : the dangerous powers of the e-personality

Author / Creator

Aboujaoude, Elias, 1971-

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Summary

Aboujaoude delves beyond such stories to explore die subtle behavioral changes that occur in nearly every online user. With the Web influencing all facets of contemporary life, the line between the...

Aboujaoude delves beyond such stories to explore die subtle behavioral changes that occur in nearly every online user. With the Web influencing all facets of contemporary life, the line between the virtual and the real is disappearing, leaving behind a void with uncertain rules and little or no restraint, and an alienated state of being that Aboujaoude calls "virtualism." With innumerable bits of information immediately accessible online, we've become used to effortless knowledge. Offline, however, we become impatient, entitled, unfocused, and impulse-driven. Skimming articles and Wikipedia entries, we lose the ability to read and think critically; the "illusion of knowledge" replaces actual mastery. We rack up Facebook "friends" and, in the process, become uncomfortable interacting in person. Because of the perceived ease of finding significant others on tailored dating sites, we neglect working on our relationship problems. And we do it all at the expense of our privacy, disseminating along the way valuable personal information, the loss of which Aboujaoude likens to a hemorrhaging of personality. --Book Jacket.

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