Betty's Reviews > I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom

You’re going to hate this book, and then you’re going to like it.

Social media has been so thoroughly discussed, dissected, and shouted about, that when you see a news article or think piece about it, you kind of want to burn your eyes out rather than read another person's opinion. It’s a topic that’s been so thoroughly beaten to death, that no one could POSSIBLY bring anything new to the conversation, let alone in a nuanced AND entertaining way. But somehow, Jason Pargin does this.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical. There were times this book referenced things SO prevalent on the internet, I’d get angry because I had JUST done my bi-monthly deletion of “the apps” to get myself off my phone and into the real world for a few weeks before, inevitably, being drawn back in. And reading this made me feel like I was being drawn back in too soon, on paper, here, in the real world!

There were also a fair amount of conversations between characters in the book that seem to be pulled directly from Pargin’s existing essays or his listicles from his time at Cracked.com. And while interesting, they didn’t always seem natural.

It’s really tricky to write about current technology, let alone provide fictional examples of posts related to what’s happening in real-time AND characters to match. The book even mentions in a tongue-in-cheek, meta moment how weird it is to see the name of a social media platform in a work of fiction, and it’s right.

There were definitely times when I saw an explanation for an internet-ism which made me wonder who exactly the target audience is for this book. Is it Pargin’s peers, fellow Gen Xers who might be less “in the know” than himself about current social media trends and lingo? Is it people from a far-off future who need to be reminded of the platforms that ruled our society as they read in their post-apocalyptic bunkers? Is it me, who just needed to get past the explanations for internet things that to me seem common knowledge, but are more likely a result of my addiction to Reddit? Yes, yes it’s me.

Because Jason Pargin still has something new to bring to the table with I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom. It’s a wildly entertaining book that forces the reader to reevaluate their relationship with social media, which is not an easy task. In fact, I’ll probably be staying off social media for much longer having read it. Not to mention all the TERRORISM, EXPLOSIONS, CHEESE, and ALIENS in it. WOW!!!!

But you’ll have to read it yourself to see because I think the best thing a reviewer could do in the spirit of this book is to start an insane internet rumor about its contents.