The Extinction of Experience
Reclaiming Our Humanity in a Digital WorldSelect a format:
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Summary
Drawing on decades of research, The Extinction of Experience is a philosophical defence of what makes us human – and a powerful, urgent call to reclaim ourselves in a digital world.
'Fascinating and timely' OLIVER BURKEMAN
'An extremely important book' JONATHAN HAIDT
'Essential reading in a dislocated world' KATHERINE MAY
Human experiences are disappearing.
Social media, gaming and dating apps have usurped in-person interaction; handwriting is no longer prioritised in schools; and emotion is sooner expressed through likes and emojis than face-to-face conversations. With headphones in and eyes trained on our phones, even boredom has been obliterated. But, as Christine Rosen expertly shows, when we embrace this mediated life and conform to the demands of the machine, we risk becoming more machine-like ourselves.
There is another way. For too long we’ve accepted the idea that change always means better. But rapidly developing technology isn’t neutral – it’s ambivalent, and capable of enormous harm. To improve our well-being, help future generations flourish and recover our shared humanity, we must become more mindful users of technology and more discerning of how it uses us.
From TikTok challenges and algorithms to surveillance devices and conspiracy culture, The Extinction of Experience reveals the human crisis of our digital age – and urges us to return to the real world, while we still can.
'Christine Rosen is one of America's best writers and thinkers' Washington Examiner
'Fascinating and timely' OLIVER BURKEMAN
'An extremely important book' JONATHAN HAIDT
'Essential reading in a dislocated world' KATHERINE MAY
Human experiences are disappearing.
Social media, gaming and dating apps have usurped in-person interaction; handwriting is no longer prioritised in schools; and emotion is sooner expressed through likes and emojis than face-to-face conversations. With headphones in and eyes trained on our phones, even boredom has been obliterated. But, as Christine Rosen expertly shows, when we embrace this mediated life and conform to the demands of the machine, we risk becoming more machine-like ourselves.
There is another way. For too long we’ve accepted the idea that change always means better. But rapidly developing technology isn’t neutral – it’s ambivalent, and capable of enormous harm. To improve our well-being, help future generations flourish and recover our shared humanity, we must become more mindful users of technology and more discerning of how it uses us.
From TikTok challenges and algorithms to surveillance devices and conspiracy culture, The Extinction of Experience reveals the human crisis of our digital age – and urges us to return to the real world, while we still can.
'Christine Rosen is one of America's best writers and thinkers' Washington Examiner
Reviews
Technology is having pervasive effects on us all, effects which are hard to put into words. Christine Rosen finds the words I've longed for. The Extinction of Experience is an extremely important book, and its message all the more urgent as AI threatens to make everything effortless, frictionless, and disembodied
Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation