Description
They say that you're using only ten percent of your brain. They say the corner office is a position of power. They say you can earn thousands of dollars a week in your spare time. They say that knowing your audience is more important than whatever it is you're selling.
Who, exactly, are "they"? And why do we listen to them?
Douglas Rushkoff argues that we each have our own "theys"-bosses, pundits, authorities, both real and imaginary-whom we allow to shape our lives and manage our futures. Like parents, they can make us feel safe. They do our thinking for us. We don't have to worry about our next move. It has already been decided on our behalf, and in our best interests. Or so we hope.
Unfortunately, not everyone to whom we surrender this control has our interests at heart. What's more, Rushkoff says, as much as we try to resist them, they are always finding new and improved ways to manipulate us.
Whether it's a floor plan at a shopping mall designed to make us lose our bearings, a television ad that anticipates our reaction to advertising, or a tiny spy program planted in our computers by an Internet merchant, the world has become a battlefield of subtle persuasion. As soon as we think we've become familiar with their methods, these influence professionals work to move us into strange and unfamiliar territory, leading us like prey into a trap. We are caught in an arms race, and with the rise of automated marketing in the last decade, the race has spun out of control.
ISBN:9781573221153
