We live in a world of internet optimism. A world in which search engines can make us smarter, social media can make us more social, and information freedom could one day make us more free. Beyond our rose-tinted glasses, a very different picture has started to emerge. Digital disruption has grown synonymous with job cuts and the decline of industry. Social media has been infiltrated by cynicism and cyberbullying. Crowdsourcing and citizen journalism have given way to groupthink, misinformation and the rise of Fake News. And yet, in the face of all this negative change we continue to offer the internet as our default solution. Instead of questioning, or even attempting to manage, the integration of these technologies into our lives, a combination of optimism and libertarian rhetoric has helped make technology synonymous with the notion of positive change. This blog — along with its paperback counterpart — sets out to question such visions of progress, asking whether the benefits of technology really elevate it beyond the realms of critical scrutiny