The Bright Side of Going Dark

The Bright Side of Going Dark by Kelly Harms, which was published in 2020, reads like a modern morality tale. Mia Bell is an influencer who lives her life on a social media site called Pictey. When her fiance breaks up with her just days before their wedding, she fakes the event to satisfy her followers and sponsors. Then her mother confronts her with her reliance on social media, and Mia responds by throwing her phone off a cliff. 

Meanwhile, Paige Miller is a techie loner who notices Mia’s absence, hacks into her Pictey account, and begins ghost posting on her feed. Paige is dealing with her own issues, including job stress and her sister Jessica’s mental health crisis, but she convinces herself this will be a good thing somehow. Of course, it all comes to a head when Mia finds out what Paige has been doing.

This was a fun read, although slightly heavy-handed in its message. My favorite part was seeing how Mia adjusted to being offline and made connections in real life.