Logging Off: The Human Cost of Our Digital World

We live in a digital world. In the 30 years since we've been online, we've created connections, crossed boundaries and discovered new worlds. We have done things generations before us could never have imagined. But at what cost? Growing up as a Gen Z, Adele spent endless hours as a teenager on social media, shaping her view of herself and the world. As a freelance journalist, she has used her social media platforms and digital technology to develop a career in an unfamiliar and competitive industry, benefitting from the opportunities that these spaces can offer. But after losing her sister to online harms, she realised that our current digital world is failing us. We are an anxious and discontent generation. Our lived realities and our online vulnerabilities are inextricably linked, and this means big business for social media tycoons who want us to stay scrolling at any cost. As Big Tech barons make their billions, capitalising on our emotions, instincts, insecurities and desires, everyday people are losing out. From workers being fired by algorithms, to online forums dedicated to revenge porn and encouraging suicide, to censorship of marginalised voices and the turbulent impacts of AI, Logging Off reveals that our digital world is currently fuelling crises that only empathy, agency and humanity can resolve. This book is a call for a radical reclamation of our digital world, for a more humane future that empowers us all. Born out of Walton's own harrowing personal story, Logging Off takes a passionate and persuasive look at the emotional and psychological damage that social media and the online world can wreak.