Screen People: How We Entertained Ourselves into a State of Emergency

by Megan Garber

From the popular and award-winning staff writer for The Atlantic, an eye-opening look at how the current media landscape has incentivized us to see our fellow citizens as characters in an ongoing entertainment—and how we can fight back against this phenomenon.

Whether it’s our reality-television-star President or our expertly curated Instagram feeds, the line between fact and fiction—between what’s real and what’s fabricated for entertainment—has never been more blurred. Plot Twist explores what happens when we cede our reality to spectacle. Megan Garber explains how today’s internet-inflected culture conditions us to see one another not as people but as characters in an ongoing show, and how some of our most chronic and harmful social conditions—loneliness, depression, mistrust, misinformation, cynicism—stem from our demand for diversion.

In ten chapters, each themed around an element of stagecraft—from “The Producers,” who edit our reality, to “The Props,” the strangers we turn into objects of our amusement, to “the Haters,” the worshipful Qanon-types who expect the prophecies of their anonymous leader to play out on live television—Garber argues that this comedy of our daily lives is quickly becoming tragedy. And we can’t understand our politics without first understanding our culture.

Like The Anxious Generation but about our media diet, Plot Twist shows why Megan Garber is one of the most respected and widely-read journalists of our day. It is an urgent, page-turning, and dazzling look at how we entertained ourselves into our current predicament, and how we might find our way out of the maze of misinformation and chaos.

Genres: Nonfiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication April 21, 2026

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a well-written and important book that everyone should consider reading today. Even though most of what I read in the book wasn't new to me, it is nonetheless filled with important insights. Garber updates "The medium is the message" to "The medium is the moral," and offers many important examples of how screen-based "infotainment" has tainted our abilities to think and to empathize. Occasionally, some comments felt digressive, but everything comes back eventually to screens and infotainment. This book is a must-read for fans of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death or anyone concerned about the direction American culture is heading. I would have liked it even better if there were more concrete examples of how to move forward in a more positive direction, but that can be found in other books, and Garber's points about language are spot-on. I rate this book 4.5 stars rounded up to 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperOne for the free eARC! I post this review with my honest opinions.

Note: If you are a big fan of Trump, you will probably not enjoy this book's comments on him.

[Natalie K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent book overall! An interesting current and historical look at how our obsession with screens and society has changed us. I could have done without some of the politicized stuff (specifically, about the 2020 election) but overall an interesting book.

Thank you to NetGalley for the free review copy.

[Jed Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought-provoking and helpful in asking important questions about the unintended and problematic consequences of technology.

Decidedly inconsistent and unhelpful when sticking to political talking points in its solutions.

[Jill Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fabulous and insightful read that I found interesting and engaging as well as informative and thoughtful. Garber captures the tensions inherent in the current social media- / screen-obsessed world perfectly and her concerns and fears really resonated with me as a parent of a tween.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my obligation-free review copy.