The Internet Trap: How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy

Abstract

Hindman, an assistant professor of media and public affairs at George Washington University, has written a fascinating book that attempts to upend the common understanding of the internet as a force that provides a level playing field and economic opportunity that is only a click away. In eight chapters, using data-driven research, he shows how very large companies have captured the attention economy, and the danger this poses to news organizations, a key component of our democratic life and values. His book joins several other recent volumes that attempt to show the ways that the attention economy is shaping our lives and work. These include C. C.Bueno, The Attention Economy: Labour, Time and Power in Cognitive Capitalism, 2016; J. G. Webster, The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences Take Shape in a Digital Age, 2016; J. Williams, Stand out of our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy Paperback, 2018, and T. Wu, The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads, 2016.