Big Tech: Between Fear and Wonder: How Google, Amazon, Meta Are Changing Our Lives

An ordinary morning: the alarm on the phone, the maps app that knows the fastest route, the package already on its way. Behind that convenience stand a handful of companies that shape our daily lives like no businesses before them. This book tells how Google, Amazon, and Meta became what they are: from the garages of Silicon Valley and the business of data to the new closeness between tech billionaires and political power. It shows how algorithms steer our attention, what Cambridge Analytica and leaked internal studies reveal about the platforms' darker side, why Europe has grown so digitally dependent, and how the EU is pushing back with new laws. But it does not stop at the warning. The same technology connects families across continents, opens knowledge to everyone, gives people a voice they never had before, and already saves lives with artificial intelligence. Whoever sees only the danger misses half the story. Critical, fair, and clearly written, "Big Tech: Between Fear and Wonder" draws an honest balance: no panic, no boosterism, just a clear-eyed look at both sides. With a dedicated chapter on the bright side of technology, a careful chapter on young people and social media, and a constructive closing on rules, alternatives, and digital agency. A book for anyone who wants to understand how Big Tech has changed our lives, and what each of us can do about it. This book is for information only and does not constitute legal, financial, or other professional advice.

Pagina's: 137, Paperback, Independently published