Distorted

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 deeper questions about technological power and human agency. Part diagnosis, part survival guide, Distorted offers a thoughtful and practical path toward rebuilding trust, restoring human connection and finding common ground in an increasingly fractured world — while we still can.