Distorted: Ultra-Processed Feeds, Splintered Worlds and How the Internet Broke Reality

The world is hooked on ultra-processed feeds - engineered diets of outrage, falsehood and distraction that are reshaping how we think and what we believe. And like ultra-processed food, they are making us sick - eroding trust, fuelling tribalism and loosening our grip on truth. Seb Butcher is a technology lawyer and former advisor to some of the world's largest companies.In Distorted, he delivers an eye-opening account of how the modern internet is distorting reality itself.Drawing on behavioural science, technology, politics and culture, Butcher reveals the forces behind this distortion - from our own biases to technology addiction, algorithms, and generative AI - and why we are splintering into increasingly separate, incompatible worlds. Clear-eyed, rigorous and deeply human, Distorted is a call to reclaim reality before it's too late.As we enter a new era shaped by AI and rising socio-political tensions, Butcher urges the reader not only to confront their online habits, but to ask d