Review of Present Shock

Here is the link to my Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/757111747

The text for it is below: 

Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now by Douglas Rushkoff is a case study on the present-day phenomenon of being trapped in and consumed by the present moment. Whereas the twentieth century saw the rise of an obsession with the future (manifested through the development of technologies that allowed us to connect, gather data, and even be in multiple places at once), the twenty-first century saw the paralysis of life in an actualized future. Rushkoff shows that because of trying to preserve the current moment that comprises compressed time, we actually miss out on the moment, resulting in present shock. 

He discusses five different phases of present shock: narrative collapse, digiphrenia, overwinding, fractalnoia, and apocalypto. These stages reveal different steps of present shock that the current population experiences. It seems that the more we try to catch up with the present, the further removed we are from it. Rushkoff says, “If we could only catch up with the wave of information, we feel, we would at last be in the now. This is a false goal.” He goes on to say that our devices have outpaced us. For example, catching up with your Twitter feed is a way to read what is happening at other places in the same moment. However, by catching up, we are reading moments of the past, not the present. In the meantime, our personal present moment has passed. Rushkoff brings up some very interesting points about digital culture.

This diagram that illustrates the stages of present shock

I think the ideas related to present shock are worth exploring, and this book served as a great initial exploration. Like others have said, I think that there are parts of the book that feel disjointed and out of sequence. The end of the book ends with a discussion of apocalypto (showing how humans are anticipating an end to humanity). This felt like the least developed idea, and there was not a wrap up at the end. I found myself looking for solutions for present shock or even ways to cope with it in this part of the book. Though I did find some moments of solution, they were scattered throughout the book. I wish that the end had a little more explanation of how to handle present shock and navigate through the deluge of information and technology without surrendering to the effects of time-compressing tendencies that characterize the digital age.