Kara Alaimo

Over the Influence

This essential book is a rallying cry for women to recognize and reject the ways social media is being weaponized against us -- and instead wield it to empower ourselves. Many women and girls are trying to unplug, from low-tech weekends to Instagram hiatuses and screen time alerts. But disconnecting from the influence of social media is way more complicated than deleting or restricting access to an app. In Over the Influence, Kara Alaimo demonstrates how social media affects every aspect of women's lives -- from our relationships and our parenting to our physical and mental wellbeing. Over the Influence is a book about what it means to live in the world social media has wrought - whether you're constantly connected or have deleted your accounts forever. Alaimo shows why you're likely to get fewer followers if you're a woman. She explains how fake news is crafted to prey on women's vulnerabilities. And 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. Alaimo offers up brilliant advice for how to get over the influence -- how to handle our daughters' use of social media, use apps to find the romantic partners we're looking for and bolster our careers, and protect ourselves from sextortionists, catfishers and trolls. Over the Influence calls on women to recognize and call out the subtle (and not-so-subtle) sexism, misogyny and misinformation we find online and use our platforms to empower ourselves and other women.