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Virtually You

The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality

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About this listen

A penetrating examination of the insidious effects of the Internet on our personalities - online and off.

Whether sharing photos or following financial markets, many of us spend a shocking amount of time online. While the Internet can enhance well-being, Elias Aboujaoude has spent years treating patients whose lives have been profoundly disturbed by it. Part of the danger lies in how the Internet allows us to act with exaggerated confidence, sexiness, and charisma. This new self, which Aboujaoude dubs our "e-personality", manifests itself in every curt email we send, Facebook "friend" we make, and "buy now" button we click. Too potent to be confined online, however, e-personality traits seep offline, too, making us impatient, unfocused, and urge-driven, even after we log off.

Virtually You uses examples from Aboujaoude's personal and professional experience to highlight this new phenomenon. The first scrutiny of the virtual world's transformative power on our psychology, Virtually You shows us how real life is being reconfigured in the image of a chat room, and how our identity increasingly resembles that of our avatar.

©2011 Elias Aboujaoude, MD (P)2011 Audible, Inc. History & Culture Mental Health Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences Technology & Society Technology Health

Critic reviews

"Instantly engaging and eminently accessible, Aboujaoude offers an enlightening and cautionary exploration of an increasingly intrusive aspect of modern society." (Booklist)
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This is a really interesting book from someone who has clearly thought a lot about the subject. It's just a shame it appears to be narrated by a robot. Seriously, when I first started playing it, I thought they had used a computer and synthesised words, which I suppose would fit with the topic.

Great book, lost a star for narration

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