Author: Jaime Woo
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0991870204
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
What if an app gave X-ray vision to see the people around you, through the steel and brick and sometimes their clothes? What if you could communicate with them as if through telepathy so that no one else knew? Welcome to Grindr, which uses the Gps capabilities on smartphones to help its five million users discover users nearby to meet. Meet Grindr illuminates the new world of meeting online, exploring its ups and downs. How is Grindr more addictive than slot machines? Why are users like jars of jam? What if Grindr is actually a game, and should it be more of a team sport? Meet Grindr uncovers surprising answers and explores where design subtly influences users, how users could make better connections, and why Grindr has changed the way people connect.
Meet Grindr
Author: Jaime Woo
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0991870204
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
What if an app gave X-ray vision to see the people around you, through the steel and brick and sometimes their clothes? What if you could communicate with them as if through telepathy so that no one else knew? Welcome to Grindr, which uses the Gps capabilities on smartphones to help its five million users discover users nearby to meet. Meet Grindr illuminates the new world of meeting online, exploring its ups and downs. How is Grindr more addictive than slot machines? Why are users like jars of jam? What if Grindr is actually a game, and should it be more of a team sport? Meet Grindr uncovers surprising answers and explores where design subtly influences users, how users could make better connections, and why Grindr has changed the way people connect.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0991870204
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 136
Book Description
What if an app gave X-ray vision to see the people around you, through the steel and brick and sometimes their clothes? What if you could communicate with them as if through telepathy so that no one else knew? Welcome to Grindr, which uses the Gps capabilities on smartphones to help its five million users discover users nearby to meet. Meet Grindr illuminates the new world of meeting online, exploring its ups and downs. How is Grindr more addictive than slot machines? Why are users like jars of jam? What if Grindr is actually a game, and should it be more of a team sport? Meet Grindr uncovers surprising answers and explores where design subtly influences users, how users could make better connections, and why Grindr has changed the way people connect.
Hola Papi
Author: John Paul Brammer
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982141522
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
LGBTQ advice columnist John Paul Brammer writes a “wise and charming” (David Sedaris) memoir-in-essays chronicling his journey from a queer, mixed-race kid in America’s heartland to becoming the “Chicano Carrie Bradshaw” of his generation. “A master class of tone and tenderness.” —The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “Should be required reading.” —Los Angeles Times The first time someone called John Paul (JP) Brammer “Papi” was on the gay hookup app Grindr. At first, it was flattering; JP took this as white-guy speak for “hey, handsome.” But then it happened again and again…and again, leaving JP wondering: Who the hell is Papi? Soon, this racialized moniker became the inspiration for his now wildly popular advice column “¡Hola Papi!,” launching his career as the Cheryl Strayed for young queer people everywhere—and some straight people too. JP had his doubts at first—what advice could he really offer while he himself stumbled through his early twenties? Sometimes the best advice comes from looking within, which is what JP does in his column and book—and readers have flocked to him for honest, heartfelt wisdom, and more than a few laughs. In this hilarious, tenderhearted book, JP shares his story of growing up biracial and in the closet in America’s heartland, while attempting to answer some of life’s most challenging questions: How do I let go of the past? How do I become the person I want to be? Is there such a thing as being too gay? Should I hook up with my grade school bully now that he’s out of the closet? Questions we’ve all asked ourselves, surely. ¡Hola Papi! is “a warm, witty compendium of hard-won life lessons,” (Harper’s Bazaar) for anyone—gay, straight, and everything in between—who has ever taken stock of their unique place in the world.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982141522
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 224
Book Description
LGBTQ advice columnist John Paul Brammer writes a “wise and charming” (David Sedaris) memoir-in-essays chronicling his journey from a queer, mixed-race kid in America’s heartland to becoming the “Chicano Carrie Bradshaw” of his generation. “A master class of tone and tenderness.” —The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “Should be required reading.” —Los Angeles Times The first time someone called John Paul (JP) Brammer “Papi” was on the gay hookup app Grindr. At first, it was flattering; JP took this as white-guy speak for “hey, handsome.” But then it happened again and again…and again, leaving JP wondering: Who the hell is Papi? Soon, this racialized moniker became the inspiration for his now wildly popular advice column “¡Hola Papi!,” launching his career as the Cheryl Strayed for young queer people everywhere—and some straight people too. JP had his doubts at first—what advice could he really offer while he himself stumbled through his early twenties? Sometimes the best advice comes from looking within, which is what JP does in his column and book—and readers have flocked to him for honest, heartfelt wisdom, and more than a few laughs. In this hilarious, tenderhearted book, JP shares his story of growing up biracial and in the closet in America’s heartland, while attempting to answer some of life’s most challenging questions: How do I let go of the past? How do I become the person I want to be? Is there such a thing as being too gay? Should I hook up with my grade school bully now that he’s out of the closet? Questions we’ve all asked ourselves, surely. ¡Hola Papi! is “a warm, witty compendium of hard-won life lessons,” (Harper’s Bazaar) for anyone—gay, straight, and everything in between—who has ever taken stock of their unique place in the world.
The Radicality of Love
Author: Srećko Horvat
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 074569117X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
What would happen if we could stroll through the revolutionary history of the 20th century and, without any fear of the possible responses, ask the main protagonists - from Lenin to Che Guevara, from Alexandra Kollontai to Ulrike Meinhof - seemingly naïve questions about love? Although all important political and social changes of the 20th century included heated debates on the role of love, it seems that in the 21st century of new technologies of the self (Grindr, Tinder, online dating, etc.) we are faced with a hyperinflation of sex, not love. By going back to the sexual revolution of the October Revolution and its subsequent repression, to Che's dilemma between love and revolutionary commitment and to the period of '68 (from communes to terrorism) and its commodification in late capitalism, the Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat gives a possible answer to the question of why it is that the most radical revolutionaries like Lenin or Che were scared of the radicality of love. What is so radical about a seemingly conservative notion of love and why is it anything but conservative? This short book is a modest contribution to the current upheavals around the world - from Tahrir to Taksim, from Occupy Wall Street to Hong Kong, from Athens to Sarajevo - in which the question of love is curiously, surprisingly, absent.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 074569117X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
What would happen if we could stroll through the revolutionary history of the 20th century and, without any fear of the possible responses, ask the main protagonists - from Lenin to Che Guevara, from Alexandra Kollontai to Ulrike Meinhof - seemingly naïve questions about love? Although all important political and social changes of the 20th century included heated debates on the role of love, it seems that in the 21st century of new technologies of the self (Grindr, Tinder, online dating, etc.) we are faced with a hyperinflation of sex, not love. By going back to the sexual revolution of the October Revolution and its subsequent repression, to Che's dilemma between love and revolutionary commitment and to the period of '68 (from communes to terrorism) and its commodification in late capitalism, the Croatian philosopher Srecko Horvat gives a possible answer to the question of why it is that the most radical revolutionaries like Lenin or Che were scared of the radicality of love. What is so radical about a seemingly conservative notion of love and why is it anything but conservative? This short book is a modest contribution to the current upheavals around the world - from Tahrir to Taksim, from Occupy Wall Street to Hong Kong, from Athens to Sarajevo - in which the question of love is curiously, surprisingly, absent.
Grindr Survivr
Author: Andrew Londyn
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781545139561
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
What would Grindr be like if it offered opportunities to actually connect with people rather than just react according to our base instincts? This book about Grindr aims to do just that. For far too long, gay men moan and complain about gay dating apps, and yet they feel powerless to do anything about it. Grindr and "app culture" have radically transformed how members of the gay community interact with each other, and while finding "dates" has become easier, it seems as if finding anything of substance has become near impossible. We're just surviving apps like Grindr, rather than using them to live fully in the moment. Well, it's time to stop complaining and do something about it. Grindr Survivr is a book designed to give readers a guide on how to find happiness in the new age of dating apps. It gives readers a thorough understanding of how Grindr is changing the gay scene, and by extension, how such apps have changed each of us as individuals. Often, we aren't even aware of how deeply we've been changed by these apps, but we can't expect a different result until we look at ourselves, our behavior patterns and our community and resolve to transform all of them. Grindr Survivr is divided into three parts. The first part discusses exactly why and how Grindr has changed the gay community, and how such apps make us both super picky and very cynical. The second part, which is probably the most important, discusses the "Gay Commandments" that every gay man should live by if Grindr users want to find relationships of substance (or even merely stop suffering and worrying about what happens online). The Gay Commandments aren't preachy at all, but rather they are a call to interject a moral baseline into online behavior - but all the while the book gives honest and humorous anecdotes from his own personal dating experience. The author's not afraid to reveal his own failings in order to help readers learn from his mistakes. The Gay Commandments also include numerous "action points" that are that are designed to give readers new insights and new results (rather than just stating an overwhelming problem and not giving you anything to do about it). Readers will laugh and see themselves in the author's unique and wry perspectives on gay dating. The final part of the book contains basic tips, guidelines and recommendations for online behavior and first dates. It contains help in spotting fake profiles and contains a veritable list of do's and don't's for early dating. It's what you might expect in a regular dating book, but in Grindr Survivr, it's merely the third part of three. Whether people want to admit it or not, dating apps are here to stay. They are changing everyone who uses them, so it's time for a group of committed individuals band together and decide to push for new conversations and ways of behaving that will dramatically alter how the gay men interact with each other. There aren't enough thought leaders out there pushing to transform how people treat each other on apps, and so this book is designed to help users start a dialog to change this, while empowering them to take new actions that make them more content and satisfied with their online dating experiences. They can stop surviving apps and start using them to thrive.
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781545139561
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 246
Book Description
What would Grindr be like if it offered opportunities to actually connect with people rather than just react according to our base instincts? This book about Grindr aims to do just that. For far too long, gay men moan and complain about gay dating apps, and yet they feel powerless to do anything about it. Grindr and "app culture" have radically transformed how members of the gay community interact with each other, and while finding "dates" has become easier, it seems as if finding anything of substance has become near impossible. We're just surviving apps like Grindr, rather than using them to live fully in the moment. Well, it's time to stop complaining and do something about it. Grindr Survivr is a book designed to give readers a guide on how to find happiness in the new age of dating apps. It gives readers a thorough understanding of how Grindr is changing the gay scene, and by extension, how such apps have changed each of us as individuals. Often, we aren't even aware of how deeply we've been changed by these apps, but we can't expect a different result until we look at ourselves, our behavior patterns and our community and resolve to transform all of them. Grindr Survivr is divided into three parts. The first part discusses exactly why and how Grindr has changed the gay community, and how such apps make us both super picky and very cynical. The second part, which is probably the most important, discusses the "Gay Commandments" that every gay man should live by if Grindr users want to find relationships of substance (or even merely stop suffering and worrying about what happens online). The Gay Commandments aren't preachy at all, but rather they are a call to interject a moral baseline into online behavior - but all the while the book gives honest and humorous anecdotes from his own personal dating experience. The author's not afraid to reveal his own failings in order to help readers learn from his mistakes. The Gay Commandments also include numerous "action points" that are that are designed to give readers new insights and new results (rather than just stating an overwhelming problem and not giving you anything to do about it). Readers will laugh and see themselves in the author's unique and wry perspectives on gay dating. The final part of the book contains basic tips, guidelines and recommendations for online behavior and first dates. It contains help in spotting fake profiles and contains a veritable list of do's and don't's for early dating. It's what you might expect in a regular dating book, but in Grindr Survivr, it's merely the third part of three. Whether people want to admit it or not, dating apps are here to stay. They are changing everyone who uses them, so it's time for a group of committed individuals band together and decide to push for new conversations and ways of behaving that will dramatically alter how the gay men interact with each other. There aren't enough thought leaders out there pushing to transform how people treat each other on apps, and so this book is designed to help users start a dialog to change this, while empowering them to take new actions that make them more content and satisfied with their online dating experiences. They can stop surviving apps and start using them to thrive.
Sex, Time and Place
Author: Simon Avery
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147423495X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315
Book Description
Sex, Time and Place extensively widens the scope of what we might mean by 'queer London studies'. Incorporating multidisciplinary perspectives – including social history, cultural geography, visual culture, literary representation, ethnography and social studies – this collection asks new questions, widens debates and opens new subject terrain. Featuring essays from an international range of established scholars and emergent voices, the collection is a timely contribution to this growing field. Its essays cover topics such as activist and radical communities and groups, AIDS and the city, art and literature, digital archives and technology, drag and performativity, lesbian Londons, notions of bohemianism and deviancy, sex reform and research and queer Black history. Going further than the existing literature on Queer London which focuses principally on the experiences of white gay men in a limited time frame, Sex, Time and Place reflects the current state of this growing and important field of study. It will be of great value to scholars, students and general readers who have an interest in queer history, London studies, cultural geography, visual cultures and literary criticism.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 147423495X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315
Book Description
Sex, Time and Place extensively widens the scope of what we might mean by 'queer London studies'. Incorporating multidisciplinary perspectives – including social history, cultural geography, visual culture, literary representation, ethnography and social studies – this collection asks new questions, widens debates and opens new subject terrain. Featuring essays from an international range of established scholars and emergent voices, the collection is a timely contribution to this growing field. Its essays cover topics such as activist and radical communities and groups, AIDS and the city, art and literature, digital archives and technology, drag and performativity, lesbian Londons, notions of bohemianism and deviancy, sex reform and research and queer Black history. Going further than the existing literature on Queer London which focuses principally on the experiences of white gay men in a limited time frame, Sex, Time and Place reflects the current state of this growing and important field of study. It will be of great value to scholars, students and general readers who have an interest in queer history, London studies, cultural geography, visual cultures and literary criticism.
Cruel Optimism
Author: Lauren Berlant
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
ISBN: 9780822351115
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of the good life—with its promises of upward mobility, job security, political and social equality, and durable intimacy—despite evidence that liberal-capitalist societies can no longer be counted on to provide opportunities for individuals to make their lives “add up to something.” Arguing that the historical present is perceived affectively before it is understood in any other way, Berlant traces affective and aesthetic responses to the dramas of adjustment that unfold amid talk of precarity, contingency, and crisis. She suggests that our stretched-out present is characterized by new modes of temporality, and she explains why trauma theory—with its focus on reactions to the exceptional event that shatters the ordinary—is not useful for understanding the ways that people adjust over time, once crisis itself has become ordinary. Cruel Optimism is a remarkable affective history of the present.
Publisher: Duke University Press Books
ISBN: 9780822351115
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Book Description
A relation of cruel optimism exists when something you desire is actually an obstacle to your flourishing. Offering bold new ways of conceiving the present, Lauren Berlant describes the cruel optimism that has prevailed since the 1980s, as the social-democratic promise of the postwar period in the United States and Europe has retracted. People have remained attached to unachievable fantasies of the good life—with its promises of upward mobility, job security, political and social equality, and durable intimacy—despite evidence that liberal-capitalist societies can no longer be counted on to provide opportunities for individuals to make their lives “add up to something.” Arguing that the historical present is perceived affectively before it is understood in any other way, Berlant traces affective and aesthetic responses to the dramas of adjustment that unfold amid talk of precarity, contingency, and crisis. She suggests that our stretched-out present is characterized by new modes of temporality, and she explains why trauma theory—with its focus on reactions to the exceptional event that shatters the ordinary—is not useful for understanding the ways that people adjust over time, once crisis itself has become ordinary. Cruel Optimism is a remarkable affective history of the present.
The Grindr Serial Killer
Author: Alan R Warren
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
In today's world where meeting people for the purpose of having sex with a simple click on your phone, a new type of gay sex called 'Party N Play' or 'Chemsex' has become all the rage in the mainstream. Several young gay men were being found dead, appearing to have overdosed on the favorite sex drugs used at these chemsex parties, in a city church yard in east London. Was this what the metro police claimed it was, "a sex drug overdose," or was there something more going on here?It would soon be discovered that a popular 41-year-old, Stephen Port, who had appeared on 'Celebrity Chef UK' would be arrested and charged with four of the young men's murders by overdosing them with GBH, 'The Date Rape Drug, ' enough to kill the men, and then raping them and leaving their bodies out in a church yard.Since the conviction of Celebrity Chef UK, Stephen Port, the police are now reviewing 58 other mysterious deaths by overdose where the body was found dead in the same area of London. There are now 17 police officers under investigation for not investigating the crimes because of their homophobia.Included are several of the personal letters convicted serial killer Stephen Port sent to his friend and pen pal Cody Lachey which reveals what he claims happened to each of the victims and what really happened in these Chemsex parties. You will also find out some of Port's personal details that you wouldn't expect to hear.
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 104
Book Description
In today's world where meeting people for the purpose of having sex with a simple click on your phone, a new type of gay sex called 'Party N Play' or 'Chemsex' has become all the rage in the mainstream. Several young gay men were being found dead, appearing to have overdosed on the favorite sex drugs used at these chemsex parties, in a city church yard in east London. Was this what the metro police claimed it was, "a sex drug overdose," or was there something more going on here?It would soon be discovered that a popular 41-year-old, Stephen Port, who had appeared on 'Celebrity Chef UK' would be arrested and charged with four of the young men's murders by overdosing them with GBH, 'The Date Rape Drug, ' enough to kill the men, and then raping them and leaving their bodies out in a church yard.Since the conviction of Celebrity Chef UK, Stephen Port, the police are now reviewing 58 other mysterious deaths by overdose where the body was found dead in the same area of London. There are now 17 police officers under investigation for not investigating the crimes because of their homophobia.Included are several of the personal letters convicted serial killer Stephen Port sent to his friend and pen pal Cody Lachey which reveals what he claims happened to each of the victims and what really happened in these Chemsex parties. You will also find out some of Port's personal details that you wouldn't expect to hear.
Spatial Cultures
Author: Sam Griffiths
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317051548
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 390
Book Description
What is the relationship between how cities work and what cities mean? Spatial Cultures: Towards a New Social Morphology of Cities Past and Present announces an innovative research agenda for urban studies in which themes and methods from urban history, social theory and built environment research are brought into dialogue across disciplinary and chronological boundaries. The collection confronts the recurrent epistemological impasse that arises between research focussing on the description of material built environments and that which is concerned primarily with the people who inhabit, govern and write about cities past and present. A reluctance to engage substantively with this issue has been detrimental to scholarly efforts to understand the urban built environment as a meaningful agent of human social experience. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary urban case studies, as well as a selection of theoretical and methodological reflections, the contributions to this volume seek to historically, geographically and architecturally contextualize diverse spatial practices including movement, encounter, play, procession and neighbourhood. The aim is to challenge their tacit treatment as universal categories in much writing on cities and to propose alternative research possibilities with implications as much for urban design thinking as for history and the social sciences.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317051548
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 390
Book Description
What is the relationship between how cities work and what cities mean? Spatial Cultures: Towards a New Social Morphology of Cities Past and Present announces an innovative research agenda for urban studies in which themes and methods from urban history, social theory and built environment research are brought into dialogue across disciplinary and chronological boundaries. The collection confronts the recurrent epistemological impasse that arises between research focussing on the description of material built environments and that which is concerned primarily with the people who inhabit, govern and write about cities past and present. A reluctance to engage substantively with this issue has been detrimental to scholarly efforts to understand the urban built environment as a meaningful agent of human social experience. Drawing on a wide range of historical and contemporary urban case studies, as well as a selection of theoretical and methodological reflections, the contributions to this volume seek to historically, geographically and architecturally contextualize diverse spatial practices including movement, encounter, play, procession and neighbourhood. The aim is to challenge their tacit treatment as universal categories in much writing on cities and to propose alternative research possibilities with implications as much for urban design thinking as for history and the social sciences.
Love, Inc.
Author: Laurie Essig
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520295013
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
The notion of “happily ever after” has been ingrained in many of us since childhood—meet someone, date, have the big white wedding, and enjoy your well-deserved future. But why do we buy into this idea? Is love really all we need? Author Laurie Essig invites us to flip this concept of romance on its head and see it for what it really is—an ideology that we desperately cling to as a way to cope with the fact that we believe we cannot control or affect the societal, economic, and political structures around us. From climate change to nuclear war, white nationalism to the worship of wealth and conspicuous consumption—as the future becomes seemingly less secure, Americans turn away from the public sphere and find shelter in the private. Essig argues that when we do this, we allow romance to blind us to the real work that needs to be done—building global movements that inspire a change in government policies to address economic and social inequality.
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0520295013
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 254
Book Description
The notion of “happily ever after” has been ingrained in many of us since childhood—meet someone, date, have the big white wedding, and enjoy your well-deserved future. But why do we buy into this idea? Is love really all we need? Author Laurie Essig invites us to flip this concept of romance on its head and see it for what it really is—an ideology that we desperately cling to as a way to cope with the fact that we believe we cannot control or affect the societal, economic, and political structures around us. From climate change to nuclear war, white nationalism to the worship of wealth and conspicuous consumption—as the future becomes seemingly less secure, Americans turn away from the public sphere and find shelter in the private. Essig argues that when we do this, we allow romance to blind us to the real work that needs to be done—building global movements that inspire a change in government policies to address economic and social inequality.
Left to Our Own Devices
Author: Margaret E. Morris
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026255206X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
Unexpected ways that individuals adapt technology to reclaim what matters to them, from working through conflict with smart lights to celebrating gender transition with selfies. We have been warned about the psychological perils of technology: distraction, difficulty empathizing, and loss of the ability (or desire) to carry on a conversation. But our devices and data are woven into our lives. We can't simply reject them. Instead, Margaret Morris argues, we need to adapt technology creatively to our needs and values. In Left to Our Own Devices, Morris offers examples of individuals applying technologies in unexpected ways—uses that go beyond those intended by developers and designers. Morris examines these kinds of personalized life hacks, chronicling the ways that people have adapted technology to strengthen social connection, enhance well-being, and affirm identity. Morris, a clinical psychologist and app creator, shows how people really use technology, drawing on interviews she has conducted as well as computer science and psychology research. She describes how a couple used smart lights to work through conflict; how a woman persuaded herself to eat healthier foods when her photographs of salads garnered “likes” on social media; how a trans woman celebrated her transition with selfies; and how, through augmented reality, a woman changed the way she saw her cancer and herself. These and the many other “off-label” adaptations described by Morris cast technology not just as a temptation that we struggle to resist but as a potential ally as we try to take care of ourselves and others. The stories Morris tells invite us to be more intentional and creative when left to our own devices.
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 026255206X
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 187
Book Description
Unexpected ways that individuals adapt technology to reclaim what matters to them, from working through conflict with smart lights to celebrating gender transition with selfies. We have been warned about the psychological perils of technology: distraction, difficulty empathizing, and loss of the ability (or desire) to carry on a conversation. But our devices and data are woven into our lives. We can't simply reject them. Instead, Margaret Morris argues, we need to adapt technology creatively to our needs and values. In Left to Our Own Devices, Morris offers examples of individuals applying technologies in unexpected ways—uses that go beyond those intended by developers and designers. Morris examines these kinds of personalized life hacks, chronicling the ways that people have adapted technology to strengthen social connection, enhance well-being, and affirm identity. Morris, a clinical psychologist and app creator, shows how people really use technology, drawing on interviews she has conducted as well as computer science and psychology research. She describes how a couple used smart lights to work through conflict; how a woman persuaded herself to eat healthier foods when her photographs of salads garnered “likes” on social media; how a trans woman celebrated her transition with selfies; and how, through augmented reality, a woman changed the way she saw her cancer and herself. These and the many other “off-label” adaptations described by Morris cast technology not just as a temptation that we struggle to resist but as a potential ally as we try to take care of ourselves and others. The stories Morris tells invite us to be more intentional and creative when left to our own devices.