Too Much Magic: Pulling the Plug on the Cult of Tech: Secrets They Won't Tell You About Your Digital Life - Softcover

Benlevi, Jason

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1936790106 ISBN 13: 9781936790104

Publisher: Contrarian Books, 2011

Synopsis

TOO MUCH MAGIC defines what being digital actually means to the average person and cautions about a rising concentration of power that has now overtaken both the personal computing revolution and the previously open culture of the Internet.TOO MUCH MAGIC points out our inherent love/hate relationship with technology and emerging digital culture. For instance: Why will people stand in line overnight to buy the newest tech gadget while at same time every film about the future from Metropolis to Blade Runner to Avatar shows a dystopia powered by technology.The book explores a contrarian view that neither promotes nor disparages technology, but rather explores the forces at work behind the models of technology that are being offered.Our choices are being defined and marketed by a group of smart, yet self-serving interests the author has branded The Cult of Tech. TOO MUCH MAGIC explains how The Cult of Tech has invaded every aspect of daily life through clever marketing - and is distorting the way we live, play and communicate. The author, Jason Benlevi, is a Silicon Valley marketing communications guru who explains how we got to where we are today and how we can shift course to preserve our humanity, creativity and freedoms, all of which could vanish through deceptive acts of digital magic.There are three main sections of the book. The first section explains for any reader how and why digital culture has come into existence. The tone is conversational, approachable and at times humorous.The middle and largest section of the book looks at the seven aspects of life that have been altered by digital tech. These include entertainment culture, mobile communications, electronic gaming, digital image manipulations, privacy rights, digital democracy and lastly, the fast changing world of social media. TOO MUCH MAGIC offers specific examples that are clear and demonstrative to any reader.The closing section is prescriptive and offers advice on how we break the cycle of gadget addiction and technology anxiety by concentrating on the things that we do best as human beings.Overall the book has rich and well-researched content, yet the tone is casual and entertaining enough for all readers.

About this title

About the Author

Jason Benlevi has spent the past decades as a marketing communications guru working with the leading technology companies in Silicon Valley and beyond. As a creative director, speechwriter and scriptwriter for companies including Apple, Microsoft, Sun, HP, Sony, Sega and Cisco he has helped to sell the dream of the digital life. He has been a key member of the creative teams that launched iconic products for Apple, Java, Windows 98 and XP, Sega Genesis and the Sony Playstation.

From the Inside Flap

An Irreverent Slice of This Digital Life? "Five Stars!" - San Francisco Book Review "An insider's perceptive look at how digital technology is consuming the consumer......An entertaining, insightful book that a digitally dependent reader won't soon forget." What have you gotten yourself into? Your kids have never known life without a computer. They expect to be entertained everywhere, all the time. Your phone does things you still can't figure out. Everyone is tracking what you buy. People line up to get the newest gadget, yet every movie about the future portrays a tech world-gone-wrong. Yes - something is wrong with this picture.The problem is not technology itself, but rather those who decide its course. Too Much Magic is the story of high-rolling venture capitalists, media moguls and marketeers using digital magic to distract us, invade our privacy, corrupt democracy, distort our human values, and sell us things we don't need.What does it cost us personally? While one generation harbors anxiety about technology, the next generation is incapable of doing anything without it, tethered to its wireless and social networks - rendered clueless at performing simple tasks, like dating, without going online.Authored by Silicon Valley marketing-communications guru Jason Benlevi, Too Much Magic slices through all aspects of our accelerating digital lifestyle, explaining how it is changing us and who really benefits. Here's a clue without knowing the tricks, it probably won't be you.

Edition details

• Publisher: Contrarian Books
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1936790106
• ISBN 13: 9781936790104
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 379