Journalist Melih Bayram Dede’s book Technology and Life, in which he examines a wide range of topics from social media to artificial intelligence, from fiber internet to the future of algorithms, is now available to readers. The book analyzes the policies of social media companies and their social impacts.
Don’t go where the algorithm takes you
Technology and Life by journalist Melih Bayram Dede has been published by Liz Publishing. In this 126-page work, the author explores the social impacts brought about by the development of technology in our lives. Offering new perspectives on these developments, Dede draws attention to aspects of technology that have not been widely discussed until now.
The book questions the effects of social media companies’ policies on society under chapter headings such as Don’t go where the algorithm takes you, Becoming a victim of perception management while searching for information, and The greed for profit undermines privacy.
The darkroom of the digital world: social media
Topics such as The tendency to troll and Is social media exempt from the rules of etiquette? examine the side effects of individuals’ use of social media. In summary, the author shares the following views:
“With artificial intelligence–powered algorithms, social media companies have become forces that shape the memory of almost all humanity. Through non-transparent algorithm policies, these companies decide what will be highlighted and what will be pushed into the background, mentally transforming the world.
Our future is being determined by the rules of the digital World
Today, the content that appears in our social media timelines shapes our opinions. Context-free posts that appear casually before us gradually influence our judgments about events, issues, and communities—often without us even realizing it.
These platforms, which have become tools for social interaction, life, entertainment, and even work, decide what we will do, how we will do it, and when we will do it, pushing billions of people to act, live, and create content in the ways they determine.”
Who will decide what is ‘truth’?
Highlighting that granting state institutions unlimited powers to remove content under the guise of combating disinformation could have more dangerous consequences, Dede argues:
“In a system where only governments can decide what is true, ‘truth’ may become something that can be bent and twisted. Instead of protecting the public from disinformation, this could turn into a perception management activity aimed at the public. We are therefore faced with an open-ended mechanism.
The solution lies in creating a transparent mechanism that does not hide information from the public. Structures lacking clear authority and boundaries, and far from transparency, may set out claiming to fight disinformation, but end up as tools that strike a blow to the public’s right to information and freedom of expression.”
Who is Melih Bayram Dede?
Born in Gebze in 1970, Dede began his journalism career in 1993. He served as technology editor at Yeni Şafak newspaper from 1995 to 2019, as editor-in-chief of yenisafak.com.tr between 2005 and 2012, and as producer and presenter of the TechnoLogic program on TVNET from 2006 to 2011.
In 2001, he founded and managed the culture, arts, and literature portal Dergibi, which was awarded the “Electronic Publishing Award” by the Turkish Writers’ Union. With his newspaper columns, he received the Turkcell Special Award from the Economy Journalists Association in 2012 and the “IT Writer of the Year Award” from the Telecoms Association in the same year.
A holder of a Permanent Press Card, Dede is a member of the Informatics Media Association and the Kocaeli Journalists Association. Since 2022, he has been writing technology-focused opinion pieces for Diriliş Postası newspaper. He is also the author of another book, Internet, published by İnsan Publishing in 2004.
