Debates for the Digital Age

Book excerpt: By evaluating the Internet's impact on key cultural issues of the day, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the seismic technological and cultural shifts the Internet has created in contemporary society. Books about Internet culture usually focus on the people, places, sites, and memes that constitute the "cutting-edge" at the time the book is written. That approach, alas, renders such volumes quickly obsolete. This provocative work, on the other hand, focuses on overarching themes that will remain relevant for the long term. The insights it shares will highlight the tremendous impact of the Internet on modern civilization—and individual lives—well after specific players and sites have fallen out of favor. Content is presented in two volumes. The first emphasizes the positive impact of Internet culture—for example, 24-hour access to information, music, books, merchandise, employment opportunities, and even romance. The second discusses the Internet's darker consequences, such as a demand for instant news that often pushes journalists to prioritize being first over being right, online scams, and invasions of privacy that can affect anyone who banks, shops, pays bills, or posts online. Readers of the set will clearly understand how the Internet has revolutionized communications and redefined human interaction, coming away with a unique appreciation of the realities of today's digital world—for better and for worse.