Screen People: How We Entertained Ourselves into a State of Emergency 'A brilliant, funny, omnivorous excavation' SOPHIE GILBERT, author of GIRL ON GIRL
Megan Garber
Apr 2026 · Wildfire · Narrated by Courtney Patterson
headphones
Audiobook
7 hr 39 min
Unabridged
family_home
Eligible
info
Want a free 46 min sample? Listen anytime, even offline.
Add
About this audiobook
'Incisive'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'A brilliant, funny, omnivorous excavation of how technology and entertainment have warped humanity'
SOPHIE GILBERT, PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST AND AUTHOR OF GIRL ON GIRL
_______
From an award-winning staff writer for the Atlantic, Screen People is an eye-opening look at how the current media landscape conditions us to see everyone as characters in ongoing entertainment - and how we can fight back
Whether it's our expertly curated Instagram feeds or the reality-television-star US President, the line between what's real and what's fabricated for entertainment has never been more blurred. Screen People explores what happens when we cede our reality to spectacle and explains how today's internet-inflected culture incentivises us to see one another as characters in a show, and how some of our most chronic and harmful social conditions - loneliness, depression, mistrust, misinformation and cynicism - stem from our demand for diversion.
In ten chapters, each themed around an element of entertainment Garber argues that this comedy of our daily lives is quickly becoming tragedy. And we can't understand our politics without first understanding our culture.
Screen People shows why Garber is one of the most respected and widely read journalists of our day. This book is an urgent, dazzling look at how we entertained ourselves into our current predicament and shows how we might find our way out of the chaos.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'A brilliant, funny, omnivorous excavation of how technology and entertainment have warped humanity'
SOPHIE GILBERT, PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST AND AUTHOR OF GIRL ON GIRL
_______
From an award-winning staff writer for the Atlantic, Screen People is an eye-opening look at how the current media landscape conditions us to see everyone as characters in ongoing entertainment - and how we can fight back
Whether it's our expertly curated Instagram feeds or the reality-television-star US President, the line between what's real and what's fabricated for entertainment has never been more blurred. Screen People explores what happens when we cede our reality to spectacle and explains how today's internet-inflected culture incentivises us to see one another as characters in a show, and how some of our most chronic and harmful social conditions - loneliness, depression, mistrust, misinformation and cynicism - stem from our demand for diversion.
In ten chapters, each themed around an element of entertainment Garber argues that this comedy of our daily lives is quickly becoming tragedy. And we can't understand our politics without first understanding our culture.
Screen People shows why Garber is one of the most respected and widely read journalists of our day. This book is an urgent, dazzling look at how we entertained ourselves into our current predicament and shows how we might find our way out of the chaos.
'Incisive'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
'A brilliant, funny, omnivorous excavation of how technology and entertainment have warped humanity'
SOPHIE GILBERT, PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST AND AUTHOR OF GIRL ON GIRL
_______
From an award-winning staff writer for the Atlantic, Screen People is an eye-opening look ...
Discover more
About the author
MEGAN GARBER is a staff writer at the Atlantic, where she covers the intersection of politics and entertainment. A 2025 New America / Emerson Collective Fellow and the recipient of a Mirror Award for her writing about the media, Garber is the author of On Misdirection and cohost of the podcast How to Know What's Real. She lives in Washington, DC.
MEGAN GARBER is a staff writer at the Atlantic, where she covers the intersection of politics and entertainment. A 2025 New America / Emerson Collective Fellow and the recipient of a Mirror Award for her writing about the media, Garber is the author of On Misdirection and cohost of the podcast Ho...
Rate this audiobook
Tell us what you think.
Listening information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can read books purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
