Human Agency in a Digital World: Understand technology and make it work for you

5 Star Review

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Editorial Book Review:

By LD Clarke

A lot of tech books talk about what tech can do. What is it doing to us, and what can we still choose? Human Agency in a Digital World asks that more important question. This book is one of a kind because it says people can still make choices even when computers and algorithms run the system. Marcus doesn't see his readers as people who just read and don't do anything. He sees them as people who can learn by doing.

This book makes me feel clearer and, in a strange way, more powerful. It's nice to have people explain complicated systems without making fun of them, and as the pieces start to fit together, you feel more confident. The main emotion is awareness, not worry about AI or too much technology. Marcus keeps the reader thinking and also encourages them to think about their own lives. You start to see how often your behavior is based on defaults and how small changes in how you understand things can give you back your choices.

At its core, the book explores agency, responsibility, and literacy in a world run by invisible infrastructure. These ideas stretch far beyond technology. They touch on how people make decisions, how power is distributed, and how autonomy survives inside large systems. The themes resonate with anyone who has ever felt shaped by tools they barely understand, whether at work, online, or in everyday life.

Marcus's writing is simple and easy to understand. His writing style is calm, clear, and based on real events. This makes the book easy to read without getting boring. What it does, what it implies, and what it asks people to do are all well put together. When you put together technical ideas with real-life examples, you can easily see patterns. He talks about how algorithms don't make choices for people, but rather follow them. That's the best part.

Several insights linger, particularly his reframing of technology as something negotiated rather than imposed. The idea that understanding is itself a form of agency runs quietly through the book and ties everything together.

At the end, Human Agency in a Digital World leaves a lasting impression as a guide for how to think clearly in a time when speed is more important than understanding. It's important because it gives people control over how technology fits into their lives and reminds us that we can still make choices based on good information.

About the Author 

Marcus Fontoura

Marcus Fontoura is the CTO for Azure Core and a Technical Fellow at Microsoft, where he works on cloud computing infrastructure. He has spent more than 20 years in big tech companies and has been at the forefront of industry-shaping technology innovations, from computational advertising to cloud computing to fintech.