{"product_id":"the-story-of-your-life-how-social-media-shapes-the-way-we-experience-everything","title":"The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eKathryn Jezer-Morton\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the biweekly \"Brooding\" column at \n\u003ci\u003eThe Cut\u003c\/i\u003e, in which she explores topics surrounding modern family life. She has written about domestic life and digital culture for \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Nation\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eJezebel\u003c\/i\u003e, among many other publications. She holds a PhD in sociology from Concordia University and lives with her family in Montreal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003ci\u003eThe Story of Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A thought-provoking analysis on what exactly we're doing with all our many hours of screen time--namely, how and why we share, consume, and experience life through social media. Through rigorous research and interviews with ordinary people, culture journalist Kathryn Jezer-Morton tracks the evolution of our social-media habits and probes the impulse that keeps them alive. The desire to document our lives is innately human, but what happens when the scaffolding of life itself is built solely to be documented online?\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Harper's Bazaar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Kathryn Jezer-Morton is invaluable: one of our greatest chroniclers of the norms of American domestic life, one of our most astute interpreters of performance and gloss. \n\u003ci\u003eThe Story of Your Life \u003c\/i\u003eis an essential study of the ordinary use of social media--it's poignant and easygoing and never preachy, and crucially, it's focused on people who exist outside over-dissected coastal norms. Jezer-Morton is utterly free of defensive postures and self-righteousness, averse to the cynicism about others and false innocence about the self that defines so much of the internet--yet she's always a sharp, generous critic of these very things. This book is a classic in the critical project of relating surface to structure, and a milestone work on what's lost when our narrative imagination is disciplined into a rigid, optimized, phone-shaped norm.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e-- \n\u003cb\u003eJia Tolentino, \u003ci\u003eNew York Times \u003c\/i\u003ebestselling author of \u003ci\u003eTrick Mirror\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Whenever I want to think more carefully about something in my online world that annoys or fascinates me, I go to Kathryn Jezer-Morton. She's a trenchant analyst who's also a nuance queen--and \n\u003ci\u003eThe Story of Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e is Jezer-Morton operating at the height of her (tremendous) powers.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e-- \n\u003cb\u003eAnne Helen Petersen, author of \u003ci\u003eCan't Even \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eOut of Office \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"An unexpectedly moving look at how algorithmic social platforms shape not just our tastes but our capacity to discern and process our own experiences, and imagine the boundaries of our possible futures. \n\u003ci\u003e The Story of Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e manages to both alarm and reassure, exposing social media's power over us while reminding us that storytelling--the medium humans have always relied on for survival--is endlessly resilient.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e--Kyle Chayka, author of\u003ci\u003e The Longing for Less \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eFilterworld \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A shrewd analysis of how social media has restricted the stories people tell about themselves and others. . . . The author balances her account with humor . . . she offers incisive critiques, most notably about the hidden economic power at work; these 'tales of resilience and triumph, ' she explains, function to hide increasing economic disparity: 'We are telling these stories as proof that we can thrive in an economic order that has largely left ordinary people behind.' It's a thought-provoking interrogation of what goes unposted and why.\" \n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cbr\u003e--Publishers Weekly \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Smart, sharply observed analysis . . . This fascinating portrait of social media is essential for understanding how tech companies shape how we share, talk about, and make sense of our own lives. A lively, irreverent journey.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Kirkus Reviews \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Jezer-Morton smartly combines the personal with the political in this analysis of social media--part memoir, part ethnography, and part speculation . . . A compelling, accessible synthesis of philosophy and personal narrative, exploring how users conform to social media's logic, which encourages the flattening of nuance, whimsy, and the understanding of a good life.\" \n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e--Library Journal\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eAn eye-opening look at how social media shapes the stories we tell and the lives we lead\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOver the past two decades, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have revolutionized how we document and share our lives. We once archived our experiences in photo albums, and now we capture our most significant moments in reels and photo dumps. Whether we prefer to admit it or not, social media is where our history lives now. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \n\u003ci\u003eThe Story of Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e, journalist and \n\u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e magazine columnist Kathryn Jezer-Morton examines how these algorithm-driven platforms not only change the way we share information but also shape the content itself. What stories do we choose to tell, and how do these choices reflect and shape our evolving identities? \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThrough rigorous research and intimate interviews with everyday people, Jezer-Morton explores how the platforms on which we have told our life stories for the past twenty years have determined what those stories have come to look and sound like. Today our attention spans are short, and our stories reflect that, with spectacle and exaggeration playing ever-larger roles in our accounts of everyday life. By examining how we share, talk, and post about our milestones, vacations, homes, relationships, hardships, politics, and more, Jezer-Morton shows just how pervasive and influential our social media platforms have become in how we view ourselves and what we consider to be a life well lived. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSmart, funny, and sharply observant, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Story of Your Life\u003c\/i\u003e delivers an original and revealing look at our lives online and off and offers us a fresh perspective on the ways social media shapes the very arcs of our lives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 pg. 106 (EAN 9780593834114, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/25\/2026 (EAN 9780593834114, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eBooklist\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 (EAN 9780593834114, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Viking","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496206303510,"sku":"9780593834114","price":36.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9780593834114.jpg?v=1783057529","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-story-of-your-life-how-social-media-shapes-the-way-we-experience-everything","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}