I am glad that Alaimo has written a book about the toxic impact of social media on women and girls, but it seemed too much like an academic paper to me. This makes sense since Alaimo is a professor. I was hoping for ways to help my daughter stay safe on social media, but a lot of it was just good common sense and nothing new. I found it somewhat jarring that Alaimo used her friends as sources and examples for the points that she was trying to make.

For me, social media has been an overwhelmingly positive experience. And I told Kara Alaimo as much when she talked to me for her new book, Over the Influence. I am quoted in this book. Yet, I know that for many women and girls, social media has not been the place to find your girl gang, rather a place where you are ganged up on. Alaimo does an excellent job at documenting the dark side of social media. But her mom blogging chapter sells that moment short. And misses midwives in the OB/GYN vs home delivery debate. Over the Influence has recommendations on how to build a better social media site. I hope the team at BlueSky reads Over the Influence to avoid replicating the issues on the bird app. I have issues with some of Alaimo's Dateline-like conclusions. For that this is a 4.5 star review. The issues are real and it's really shitty out here for too many non-hetcis folks. Hoping this book helps us get closer to solving them.

2.5 rounded to 3 ⭐⭐⭐

Over the Influence by Kara Alaimo
Genre ~ Self-Help, Computers/Internet, Adult Non-Fiction
Publication date ~ March 5, 2024
Page Count ~ 336

I was hopeful that Over the Influence by Kara Alaimo would provide much needed guidance on the topic of social media influence on women and girls and provide education for risk management of our vulnerable female youth. What I found however, was myself losing interest several times and having difficulty picking it back up. Maybe I expected too much? Like some light bulb moments and insider tips? While the author has an extensive background and broad knowledge of the subject matter, the delivery was a miss for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley and Alcove Press for the eARC. All opinions expressed are authentically my own.

Wow, I learned so much from this book! Influencer culture is such a hot topic right now, and it was fascinating to see the author deconstruct the notion while examining the feminine/mother aspect of it. This type of non-fiction is always worth the read. Alaimo did an excellent job of discussing the culture!

This book attracted me as social media stands as a crucial topic, more now than ever. "Over the Influence" is evidently well-researched but it resembles a dissertation than a traditional non-fiction book. It relies on statistics and quotations to support its points but there were moments when it felt like an information overload, lacked fluidity and came across as condescending as some of the information could just be looked upon as common sense. This book was a miss for me, I had bigger hopes that this would be the book to help those who need to step away from social media.

A really thought-provoking look at our social media world and the many ways (some obvious, many more not-so-obvious) it is a harmful influence on women and girls. The author covers just about every aspect of the ways social media informs our lives, and interviews real people for their experiences. This will be of particular interest to parents, caregivers and educators -- anyone who advocates for and protects girls and young women.

For someone who has been affected by other people's expectations of me, reading this book was a very good insight into social media and the influence it has on young girls. Before the millennium, we did not have such exposure and real time feedback on photos, our opinions or every day in your face look at people- like we do today and I love how the author explored the effects this has on young girls and her call for us to do better.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for the ARC.
This book at times was very informational and other times it just that should be common sense.
The book will help with the challenges we have now and how it will affect our lives.

This is the kind of relevant content that not just women and parents must read., but the whole society itself, for the subject here affects how We live and deal with the challenges of nowaydays, specially when it comes about internet and its impact on our lives. The author has a clear and compelling writing and did a great job on the research for the projetc. Well done!