I Like, Therefore I Am

Bernardo P. Carvalho & Isabel Meira

For you, there probably isn’t a time before and after the internet.

When you were born, everything was already connected, so it’s hard for you to think of the world working in any other way. However, the internet has made — and is still making — a lot of changes in the world, including on the news.

Enabled by the internet, invisible giants like Google or Facebook appeared. Although they’re not news companies, they transformed the way we have access to information. On social media, the news seem to appear at supersonic speed and views, likes and shares can reach millions. The problem is — so can rumors and lies.

We got used to receiving information and disinformation that reaches us through secret algorithms; to have routines in virtual worlds; to communicate with abbreviations and emojis. We live in a huge bubble of likes and shares.

But do we actually know the rules of this game? What’s the impact of all this on our relationships with the world and on our decisions?

This book believes that it’s important to ask questions and that you can’t find all the answers on Google.

For readers of all ages (ages 12 and up).

Press voices

“5 Stars, Expresso newspaper: There are books which are truly important, because they reflect playfully on things that form part of our life as part of a community, just at the moment when the world is crying out for that reflection. “I like, therefore I exist” is one of those books, and the fact it’s categorised as a book for younger readers doesn’t lessen its importance in any way.” Sara Figueiredo Costa, Expresso newspaper

“In “I like, therefore I exist”, the journalist gently leads younger readers and families towards very relevant issues such as technology companies’ use of personal data, our need – already cited – of confirmation that we are alive, “addiction” to mobile phones, algorithms or how those algorithms enclose us in increasingly small bubbles and polarise society.” Adrián Cordellat, El País newspaper

“Calling to the table the experiences and perspectives on the world of the younger generations, Isabel Meira avoids generational superiority or paternalism and proposes with great clarity that the reader accompany her in her knowledge but above all in her questioning of the world, how we live in it and the relationships (…) that we create with one another.” Sara Figueiredo Costa, Parágrafo magazine