Slow Computing: Why We Need Balanced Digital Lives

Description

Digital technologies should be making life easier. And to a large degree they do, transforming everyday tasks of work, consumption, communication, travel and play. But they are also accelerating and fragmenting our lives affecting our well-being and exposing us to extensive data extraction and profiling that helps determine our life chances. Is it then possible to experience the joy and benefits of computing, but to do so in a way that asserts individual and collective autonomy over our time and data? Drawing on the ideas of the 'slow movement', Slow Computing sets out numerous practical and political means to take back control and counter the more pernicious effects of living digital lives. 'We urgently need strategies for reclaiming control over our digital lives. Slow Computing offers exactly that. A powerful manifesto for a kinder, calmer, and fairer digital future.' - Mark Graham, Oxford University 'Two world-class digital scholars explain brilliantly why and how we, as individuals and as society, need to slow down our digital pace.' - Liesbet van Zoonen, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Rob Kitchin is a Professor in the Maynooth University Social Sciences Institute, Ireland. He is author/editor of a number of books about technology and society, and is a recipient of the Royal Irish Academy's Gold Medal for the Social Sciences. Alistair Fraser is a Lecturer in Geography in Maynooth University, Ireland. His research engages diverse themes, including rural change, food, music, and digital life.

"Clearly identif[ies] the issues and gets [its] teeth into solutions, ideas, and concepts in terms of how we need to be more sentient around these issues. There are lots of good suggestions to follow and we strongly recommend you engage with them." Irish Tech News