Over the Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women And Girls How We Can Take it Back

This essential and authoritative examination of social media is a rallying cry for women to recognize and reject the ways social media is being weaponized against them—and instead wield it to empower themselves. Many women and girls feel that social media has become too influential over our daily lives–everyone’s trying to unplug, from low-tech weekends to Instagram hiatuses and screen time alerts. But disconnecting from the influence of social media is more complicated than deleting an app or restricting access. In Over the Influence, communication professor and CNN Opinion contributor Kara Alaimo demonstrates how social media affects every aspect of our lives—from our relationships and our parenting to our physical and mental wellbeing. Over the Influence is the perfect book for women and girls concerned about the discomfort, abuse, and disconnection they’re feeling from social media. Alaimo shows why you’re likely to get fewer followers if you’re a woman. She demonstrates how fake news and dating app scams are crafted to prey on women’s deepest vulnerabilities. She reveals why so much of the content we find in our feeds is specifically designed to hold us back. But we can change this, and reclaim the Internet to empower ourselves. Alaimo offers up brilliant advice for how to get over the influence—how to handle our daughters’ use of social media, use social networks to bolster our careers, and protect ourselves from sextortionists, catfishers and trolls. Over the Influence calls on women to recognize and reject the subtle (and not-so-subtle) sexism and misogyny we find online, reject misinformation, and use our social platforms for positive change.