Soon enough, nobody will remember life before the Internet. What does this unavoidable fact mean?
For future generations, it won’t mean anything very obvious. They will be so immersed in online life that questions about the Internet’s basic purpose or meaning will vanish.
In his book, The End of Absence: Reclaiming What We’ve Lost in a World of Constant Connection, Michael Harris places our situation in a rich historical context and helps us remember which parts of that earlier world we don’t want to lose forever. He urges us to look up—even briefly—from our screens.