-Hanson explores the cultural impact in the United States of widespread and growing cell phone and Internet access and use. First providing a sociological profile of who uses these communication technologies and why, she subsequently offers chapters that examine the way some people lose personal control over their use of these technologies, the technologies' uses as avenues of public information exchange, social networking and loss of privacy, developing issues of copyright and intellectual property, and impacts on older technologies such as public telephone booths and traditional media. —Reference & Research Book News

-Hanson provides a concise, readable overview of the impact of cell phones and the Internet on every aspect of our lives, from individual habits and relationships to national and international social and cultural norms. Cell phones and the Internet offer users an illusion of greater control over their lives, but they also lead to expectations and behavior changes that can cause stress and anxiety and threaten or at least alter social and political structures. Others have raised these issues, but Hanson has collected solid data from many sources, which she presents in clear, well-organized chapters spiced with good examples and anecdotes.... Highly recommended. General readers; students, upper-division undergraduates and up; faculty and practitioners. —Choice