A guide to navigating modern media and staying sane in a world that does not turn off.

Navigating the onslaught of media is overwhelming, to say the least. We are so used to living in a media-saturated world that we are numb to the onslaught of news, images, and posts that batter us daily. As we scroll on our devices, many of us are anxious, sleep deprived, disheartened, and afraid.

In this reassuring guide we learn to understand and combat what media does to our minds. It looks at the many peculiarities of modern media: its obsession with scandal, its emphasis on novelty, its capacity to fuel envy and self-hatred, its ever shorter attention span, its obsession with fame, and its proliferation across platforms and mediums.

The goal of the book is to free readers from the media’s tentacles in order to reach a calmer, more generous, and imaginative state of mind. Modern media is, too often, an illness; this is a cure.

• MEDIA AND MENTAL HEALTH: considers the link between media and mental illness and looks at how we can reduce our media intake to relieve anxiety and stress.
• CRITICAL EYE: helps us to think more critically about the media and the messages we are receiving through the news and online.
• “USEFUL PESSIMISM”: and other chapters, including “This is not the whole world,” “Think like a tragedian”, and “Know who you are.”