“It used to be that if your automobile broke, the teenager down the street with the wrench could fix it. Now you have to have sophisticated equipment that can deal with microchips. We're entering a world in which the complexity of the devices and the system of interconnecting devices is beyond our capability to easily understand.”

American critic, writer, and teacher

Howard Rheingold is an American critic, writer, and teacher known for his work on the cultural, social, and political effects of modern communication media. He has written extensively about the Internet, mobile telephony, and virtual communities. His work focuses on how new forms of communication change public life and social connection. He is especially associated with examining the wider implications of digital media, from online networks to mobile devices and the communities they help create.