Networked

March 26, 2012
Rather than encouraging isolation, the authors propose, the Internet enables people to connect with each other to a far greater extent than before, Rainie, director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, and Wellman, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto, draw on anecdotes as well as an exhaustive array of surveys about people’s use of smartphones, social networks, and the Web in an attempt to prove that “people are not hooked on gadgets—they are hooked on each other.” The authors optimistically argue that the proliferation of online social networking “provides opportunities for people to thrive if they know how to maneuver in it”; they also give examples of people in crisis who benefited from online networks. While some of the authors’ conclusions might surprise technophobes—such as that people see friends more these days than in the past—the book unfortunately brims with studies that prove the obvious; at this point, it’s hardly news that people rely on their phones, search the Web for information about their co-workers, or turn to the Internet for financial information.

June 15, 2012

Rainie (director, Internet & American Life Project, Pew Research Ctr.) and Wellman (S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, Univ. of Toronto) are well suited to explore the inherent interconnectedness of modern-day digital society. They examine a shift toward what they call "networked individualism," in which a new system of social operation is at work connecting people in deeper and different ways. Rainie and Wellman argue that, rather than eroding traditional social connections, information and communication technologies, such as mobile connectivity, texting, and Facebook, are strengthening them in new ways. Using a combination of personal stories, qualitative and quantitative sociological studies, and the extensive data sets of the Pew Research Center, they present a compelling look at how society is shifting from being group- to network-oriented in arenas including relationships, family, and work, as well as information creation and dissemination. They offer a refreshingly positive exploration of our increasingly online world. VERDICT Recommended for social science buffs and those interested in the impact of virtual life on our collective reality.--Candice A. Kail, Columbia Univ. Libs., New York

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