The Joy of Being Online All the F*cking Time: The Art of Losing Your Mind

by Jennifer McCartney

From the author of The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place , comes a defense of screen time. We’re inundated with advice on how to cut back on our screen time, and urged instead to embrace nature, human relationships, and being present in the moment. But has anyone actually considered those realities? They sound like a lot of work. In her new book, Jennifer McCartney gives thanks for phones, iPads, laptops, the menu tablets at Chili’s, and all screens everywhere. We can now follow a baby alpaca on a webcam, watch a viral video on TikTok, find an ex on Facebook, measure our pupillary distances, answer any question without engaging our brains―there’s so much to learn, with little to no effort. The Internet practically runs itself! We use it for work, for family, for research. We’re really, really good at being online! And that’s something to celebrate. With her usual balance of pithy wisdom, aptitude tests, and hilarious commentary, McCartney embraces our new reality. After all, as Descartes might have said, “I scroll, therefore I am.” Line art throughout

Genres: Nonfiction, Humor

160 pages, Hardcover

Published November 17, 2020

About the author

Jennifer McCartney is a New York Times bestselling author. She is the author of numerous books including The Little Book of Sloth Philosophy, the novel Afloat; Cocktails for Drinkers; The Joy of Leaving Your Sh*t All Over the Place; and Poetry from Scratch. Her writing has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and appeared in The Atlantic, Vice Magazine, Teen Vogue, Curbed, Globe and Mail, and Publishers Weekly, among other publications. Originally from Hamilton, Ontario, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fun romp! Be forewarned that the title sets the tone for the book, so beware pearl clutchers! Essentially an outrageous and sarcastic argument that we should avoid digital detox and live our best lives online- as much as possible! Children of the 80s and 90s will get an extra dose of pleasure at feeling "seen" in quips throughout the book.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never felt this attacked by a sole book in my life.

Sent by my iPhone.

[Nea Britto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a funny, sarcastic read. Another book by this author that I flew through. And really relevant to the time we’re living in.

[Anna McVicar · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoyed the read, my main complaint is I don’t know how tongue in cheek the author truly is throughout the book.

[Gabrielle Blayden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was enjoyable and really funny. I love the marketing of “anti-self-help”. This is meant to make you feel less guilty for being attached to your phones and screens. As someone who believes there’s no reason to ever return to a corporate office and that TikTok is my most treasured time suck, I felt understood. It reads super quickly, and it’s digestible.

[Corinne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very funny

It was a nice breath of fresh air when most media is designed to tell you what you are doing wrong. Both funny and insightful.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A silly, sarcastic book that we can all use after this pandemic 😜

[Sarah Jane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed a few of the little anecdotes and had a laugh at a bunch of the points made, but this book reads like a boomer trying so hard to be a millennial so they can maintain some kind of relevance and it became grating.

[Cari · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun little book you can read in an hour or so, skewering our increasingly online culture while also having some keen insights. A great selection if you're trying to catch up with your reading challenge! ;-)

[Julia Kerrigan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should've clocked that this was written by a millennial and therefore would be filled with joke after joke that falls painfully flat. But it was $5 and had a funny premise so my judgement was clouded :/ I'm not even including this in my 2023 reads if that tells you anything

[ruby · Rating 3 out of 5]

read at a time when i felt absolutely dismal about my relationship to the internet. left with the reminder that as technology purposefully encroaches in on every nook and cranny of our lives, it's a waste of time to feel bad about enjoying the good parts of the internet.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[Jill Title · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well that was a fun, quippy, satirical little palette cleanser. Update: and according to Goodreads, doesn’t actually count as a book, which is fair.

[✨lee✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

it’s the fact i proclaim that i read a paper book via my phone-

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seriously funny book that is the opposite of the digital minimalism hype. I loved it.

[Teresa Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really didn’t know what to make of this book, so I grabbed my phone and went looking for a podcast or something with the author and…point taken, I guess.

[Teechutha Netcharussaeng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don’t know if I should take the book seriously. Honestly it wasn’t very funny.

[Daniel Oster · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarcastic... and not much else