The ultimate history of our relationship with technology and how it has shaped our world today, from smartphones to AI
We already know how much of our data is collected and used to profile and target us. The real question is why, knowing all this, do we keep going back for more?
3rd July 2025
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
The ultimate history of our relationship with technology and how it has shaped our world today, from smartphones to AI
We already know how much of our data is collected and used to profile and target us. The real question is why, knowing all this, do we keep going back for more?
Description
We already know how much of our data is collected and used to profile and target us. The real question is why, knowing all this, do we keep going back for more?
“Great book” – Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works
“Essential reading” – Pete Etchells, author of Unlocked
“An urgent must-read” – Tiffany Jenkins, author and broadcaster, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s A History of Secrecy
Technology has delivered a world that we expect to revolve around us, our needs and preferences, and our unique personalities. We willingly hand over intimate information about ourselves in return for a world that’s easier to navigate.
We live in the Personalised Century, where we view ourselves in terms of what rather than who we are – the objects of others’ recognition, rather than the subjects and authors of our own lives. Is this a sign of our shrinking sense of self?
Interrogating the historical currents that have brought us here, Harkness envisages a messier, riskier and less comfortable world than the one into which we’re sliding. Challenging readers to look at what’s missing from their personalised menus, Technology is not the Problem encourages us to look afresh at the familiar: not just the technology we use every day, how we relate to the world and those around us.
Critic Reviews
“Great book: a very bold and insightful attempt to grapple with the strangely unexpected social confusion we are experiencing in the 21st Century!”
- Matt Ridley, author of How Innovation Works
“Absolutely captivating … Equal parts illuminating and empowering, [this] is essential reading”
- Pete Etchells, author of Unlocked
“An urgent, must-read for anyone striving for a nuanced analysis of the complex relationship between technology and society [and] ultimately seeking liberation.”
- Tiffany Jenkins, author and broadcaster, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s A History of Secrecy
About the Author
Timandra Harkness is a broadcaster, statistician, mathematician and who came to science through comedy. Her BBC documentaries include Data, Data Everywhere and Personality Politics, and she is a regular on Radio 4. Timandra also regularly writes about data, algorithms and our relationship with technology for publications including The Sunday Times, Guardian,Evening Standard and Wired.
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3rd July 2025
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