DOMINIC PETTMAN is Chair of Liberal Studies, New School for Social Research, and Professor of Culture and Media, Eugene Lang College. He has held previous positions at the University of Melbourne, the University of Geneva, and the University of Amsterdam. He is the author or co-author of a large number of publications on technology and society.

"The social media of 'Web 2.0' distract us to death, yet they also demand and absorb all our attention. They make us all interchangeable with one another, yet they also divide us into tiny groups that never meet or interact. In Infinite Distraction, Dominic Pettman takes the measure of these odd paradoxes and cuts the Gordian knot of perplexity in which they leave us."Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University "Infinite Distraction offers a critical analysis that is itself attentive to the various nuances of how a new kind of selfhood is being synchronized in screen-based networking. This provocative text is written with flair; it functions as a necessary manual to understand the massive grey zone somewhere between the preprogrammed and the accidental." Jussi Parikka, University of Southampton

• AcknowledgmentsPreface: There is Nothing Outside the TextingChapter 1: Hypermodulation (or the Digital Mood-Ring)Chapter 2: The Will-to-SynchronizeChapter 3: Slaves to the AlgorithmChapter 4: NSFW: The Fappening, and Other Erotic DistractionsConclusion: Chasing the UnicornNotes Bibliography

DOMINIC PETTMAN is Chair of Liberal Studies, New School for Social Research, and Professor of Culture and Media, Eugene Lang College. He has held previous positions at the University of Melbourne, the University of Geneva, and the University of Amsterdam. He is the author or co-author of a large number of publications on technology and society.

"The social media of 'Web 2.0' distract us to death, yet they also demand and absorb all our attention. They make us all interchangeable with one another, yet they also divide us into tiny groups that never meet or interact. In Infinite Distraction, Dominic Pettman takes the measure of these odd paradoxes and cuts the Gordian knot of perplexity in which they leave us."Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University "Infinite Distraction offers a critical analysis that is itself attentive to the various nuances of how a new kind of selfhood is being synchronized in screen-based networking. This provocative text is written with flair; it functions as a necessary manual to understand the massive grey zone somewhere between the preprogrammed and the accidental." Jussi Parikka, University of Southampton

• AcknowledgmentsPreface: There is Nothing Outside the TextingChapter 1: Hypermodulation (or the Digital Mood-Ring)Chapter 2: The Will-to-SynchronizeChapter 3: Slaves to the AlgorithmChapter 4: NSFW: The Fappening, and Other Erotic DistractionsConclusion: Chasing the UnicornNotes Bibliography

DOMINIC PETTMAN is Chair of Liberal Studies, New School for Social Research, and Professor of Culture and Media, Eugene Lang College. He has held previous positions at the University of Melbourne, the University of Geneva, and the University of Amsterdam. He is the author or co-author of a large number of publications on technology and society.

"The social media of 'Web 2.0' distract us to death, yet they also demand and absorb all our attention. They make us all interchangeable with one another, yet they also divide us into tiny groups that never meet or interact. In Infinite Distraction, Dominic Pettman takes the measure of these odd paradoxes and cuts the Gordian knot of perplexity in which they leave us."Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University "Infinite Distraction offers a critical analysis that is itself attentive to the various nuances of how a new kind of selfhood is being synchronized in screen-based networking. This provocative text is written with flair; it functions as a necessary manual to understand the massive grey zone somewhere between the preprogrammed and the accidental." Jussi Parikka, University of Southampton

• AcknowledgmentsPreface: There is Nothing Outside the TextingChapter 1: Hypermodulation (or the Digital Mood-Ring)Chapter 2: The Will-to-SynchronizeChapter 3: Slaves to the AlgorithmChapter 4: NSFW: The Fappening, and Other Erotic DistractionsConclusion: Chasing the UnicornNotes Bibliography