The Internet Trap - Five Costs of Living Online

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. From the publisher - - Whether we are checking emails, following friends on Facebook and Twitter, catching up on gossip from TMZ, planning holidays on TripAdvisor, arranging dates on Match.com, watching videos on Youtube, or simply browsing for deals on Amazon, the internet pervades our professional and personal environments. The internet has revolutionized our lives, but at what cost? In The Internet Trap, Ashesh Mukherjee uses the latest research in consumer psychology to highlight five hidden costs of living online: too many temptations, too much information, too much customization, too many comparisons, and too little privacy. The book uses everyday examples to explain these costs including how surfing the internet anonymously can encourage bad behavior, using social media can make us envious and unhappy, and doing online research can devalue the product finally chosen. The book also provides actionable solutions to minimize these costs.

Oh, the fact that I am writing this review is laughingly funny - I spend so many hours a day reading books here on #netgalley then reviewing them it is crazy. I always laugh at the millennials I see at my library as they always have phones in their back pocket and they are always beeping with notifications. But I am just as bad - I think "I need a recipe for pad thai as I am craving it" and three hours later on Instagram, I realize that dinner time is long gone. But I am selective -- I have 16 facebook friends and they are all my real friends - the ones that I would wipe the hard drive for and help them bury the bodies. I keep my Instagram down to following less than 50 people as I spend the day re-tweeting florist's photos of zinnias, ranunculus, and roses.

I think I need to apply the author's principles to my own life!

This book is an excellent resource for bewildered parents, kids who are being bullied by anonymous web-lurkers and people who just want to step back from social media. The authors writes in a very convincing manner that this is possible --- if we could just set down our devices to read the book!

A solid four stars.