Kim Stolz has already proven herself as a model, television personality, Citigroup exec (handling those tricky sales derivatives)--not to mention wife and entrepreneur--but now with her book out this month, Unfriending My Ex: and Other Things I'll Never Do, the power lesbian takes a look at the effects of technology-induced ADD on the individual level, reminding readers of social media's harms and hilarities alike.
"I decided to write Unfriending My Ex because I began to notice that my relationships ,friendships, ego, and life in general were severely affected my use (and misuse) of social media and my smart phone," Stolz explains.
In a confessional style, Stolz humorously compares her seven-day social media detox to Henry David Thoreau's camping in the woods and rehab, while replacing the names of people with 90210 character names to assure their anonymity.
The resulting details that pour out may be relatable for many of her readers--reality TV binge watching, foregoing a trip to the doctor by looking up cancer symptoms on WebMD--while other details reveal a life of privilege, such as attending The Brearley School (blessing her with excellent spelling skills) or buying $349 worth of infomercial elliptical equipment when there's nothing on TV during her social media purge. Some of her readers may not have the means to consume as much technology as Stolz and her peers do--but it makes for breezy reading nonetheless.
Despite lapses into luxury, Stolz hits resounding notes at many points in the book, managing to be hysterical and self-aware. She quotes experts and philosophers, while delving into casual anecdotes.
She writes on page 17: "Wikipedia, of course, is notoriously unreliable. I once checked my own Wikipedia page to find out that I had died the week before. It was a very existential experience. And it marked the only time I modified or wrote anything on my Wikipedia profile--it seemed like bad luck to be dead on the Internet."
