OVER THE INFLUENCE | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation
Date and Time
Mar 12, 2024 6:00 pm
Location
450K
450 K St NW, Washington, District of Columbia, 20001
Mar 12, 2024 6:00 pm
450K
In OVER THE INFLUENCE: WHY SOCIAL MEDIA IS TOXIC FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS – AND HOW WE CAN TAKE IT BACK, communication professor and CNN Opinion contributor Dr. Kara Alaimo reveals how social media is affecting every aspect of the lives of women, girls and nonbinary people —from our relationships and our parenting to our physical and mental wellbeing. OVER THE INFLUENCE is a book about what it means to live in the world social media has wrought – whether you’re constantly connected or have deleted your accounts forever. Alaimo shows why you’re likely to get fewer followers if you’re a woman, demonstrates how fake news is crafted to prey on women’s vulnerabilities, and reveals why so much of the content we find in our feeds is specifically designed to hold us back. To sum it up: she explains how social media has made the offline world an uglier place for women.
But we can change this and reclaim the Internet to empower ourselves. Alaimo offers up brilliant advice for how to get over the influence—how to handle our daughters’ use of social media, use dating apps to find who we’re looking for, use social networks to bolster our careers, and protect ourselves from sextortionists, catfishers and trolls. She also explains what we need to demand from lawmakers and tech companies in order to solve these problems. OVER THE INFLUENCE calls on women to recognize and call out the subtle (and not-so-subtle) sexism and misogyny we find online, reject misinformation that is targeted to us because of our gender, and use our social platforms to empower ourselves and other women.
Kara Alaimo is joining us on the Busboys stage to share her research and experiences with tech, social media, and how they feed into the modern day sense of self. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Alaimo will be signing following the program.
This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of OVER THE INFLUENCE will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will NOT be livestreamed.
We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books
Kara Alaimo, PhD is a communication professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where she created the university’s programs in social media. She has been writing for CNN Opinion about the social impact of social media and issues affecting women since 2016 and is author of Over the Influence: Why Social Media is Toxic for Women and Girls – And How We Can Take It Back (Alcove, 2024). A former spokesperson in the Obama administration and communicator at the United Nations, she lives in New Jersey with her family.
Patty Mechael, PhD MHS is a global public health professional and award-winning digital health expert with over 25 years of experience in over 40 countries. She is CEO at HealthEnabled and senior associate faculty at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health at the Center for Global Digital Health Innovation. Her writing and speaking focus on gender, health equity, climate action, and increasing women’s participation and leadership in STEM fields. She is also the award-winning author of the best-selling middle-grade fiction novel, The Antidotes: Pollution Solution. www.patriciamechael.com
