Technopanic: How Justified Are Our Fears About Digital Media?

by Alberto Acerbi

Smartphones are destroying childhood. Social media are poisoning democracy. Algorithms are radicalising us all. Every week seems to bring a new warning about the damage digital media are causing to our lives. How justified are these warnings? In Technopanic, Alberto Acerbi takes aim at the scare machine. Throughout history, new communication technologies have been seen as threats to reason and public order, but in the end, people have adapted. With wit and a sceptical eye, he shows that many of the claims we hear about misinformation, conspiracy theories, polarisation, and online manipulation outrun the evidence. The book presents a surprising and readable challenge to some of the most powerful assumptions of the digital age.

191 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 25, 2026

About the author

Alberto Acerbi è ricercatore nel Dipartimento di Sociologia e ricerca sociale dell’Università di Trento. Si interessa di evoluzione culturale e antropologia cognitiva. Ha pubblicato per Oxford University Press Cultural evolution in the digital age (2020) e per il Mulino Tecnopanico. Media digitali, tra ragionevoli cautele e paure ingiustificate (2025).