the internet

Have we all become slaves to algorithms?

27 January 2024 9:00 am

Kyle Chayka sees their constant feeds as flattening our lives, but the spread of Americanisation, which began long before the internet, is the real steamroller

Savage aperçus: Fake Accounts, by Lauren Oyler, reviewed

27 February 2021 9:00 am

Lauren Oyler is viral and vicious. A critic with a reputation for pulling no punches, she is known for delivering…

Reality and online life clash: No One is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood, reviewed

20 February 2021 9:00 am

Some writers — Jane Austen, for example — get to funny sideways, using irony and understatement. The American poet and…

Satirising the global society: Only Americans Burn in Hell, by Jarett Kobek, reviewed

4 May 2019 9:00 am

An immortal faery queen from a magical gynocratic island arrives in Los Angeles to track down her missing daughter. This…

Life gets faster — as the Earth slows down

16 April 2016 9:00 am

Modern life is too fast. Everyone is always in a hurry; people skim-read and don’t take the time to eat…

The ZX81

When Britannia ruled the digital waves

27 February 2016 9:00 am

Everyone, we hear these days, must learn to code. Being able to program computers is the only way to be…

A Bright Moon for Fools, by Jasper Gibson - review

17 August 2013 9:00 am

Harry Christmas, the central character of this bitterly funny debut novel, is a middle- aged, overweight alcoholic, with no friends…