Sharing our Lives Online (PDF)

David R. Brake (http://davidbrake.org/) is a communication scholar and pioneering web journalist who has been using and studying the internet for more than a quarter of a century.

“Sharing our lives online: Risks and exposure in social media, by David R. Brake is a comprehensive research-based book, dealing with the risks of sharing and revealing personal information online. … David R. Brake has extracted this book out of his doctoral dissertation, which makes it an interesting example for postdoctoral researchers to publish their research.” (Marziyeh Ebrahimi, Information, Communication & Society, Vol. 21 (12), 2018)





'In the age of social media sharing, David R. Brake presents a nuanced, evidence-based, and highly readable account of the dangers of exposing our lives online, grounded in understandable scientific and scholarly theory. Steering between uncritical enthusiasm at one pole and moral panic at the other - extremes that have characterized much of the public discourse about the effects of social media - Brake shows exactly how, and in what circumstances, sharing aspects of our personal lives online can be risky. Sharing our Lives Online also offers sound advice to individuals and parents who need to know what to do themselves to take advantage of social media without running into the pitfalls of oversharing, and need to know how to talk to their children about risks and cautions.' - Howard Rheingold

'[Sharing our Lives Online] provides a compelling account of the risks of online communication and the ways in which technologies are constructed to lead us to disclose more than we may think. [His research is] delicately woven into a rich discussion of the economic, technical and social factors that encourage self-disclosure [and features] a fascinating glimpse into blogging practice over time... An engaging and illuminating book.' Times Higher Education

'Sharing Our Lives Online is an interesting resource for students and scholars in the fields of digital media and interpersonal communication but also for a non-academic audience interested in the risks of online self-exposure. Not only does it