Edward Benjamin Zitron (born ) is an English technology writer,

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...

, and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

specialist. He is a critic of the technology industry, particularly of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

companies and the 2020s AI boom. He hosts the ''Better Offline'' podcast, and writes the ''Where's Your Ed At'' newsletter.

Career

Zitron began his career as a journalist, writing for a London-based video games magazine. He later worked for ''PC Zone'' until around 2008, during which time he also began working in public relations. He later worked for a New York City-based public relations firm and served as communications director for a company called Hometalk.com. In 2013, he founded the public relations agency EZPR, where he is the CEO. In the following years, he published two books about public relations. He has also been a critic of the PR industry. Zitron began writing a newsletter about the tech industry in 2020, titled ''Where's Your Ed At'', which had more than 50,000 subscribers . Zitron laid out his thesis that technology firms have focused on growth above all else, stifling innovation and harming consumers, in a 2023 newsletter issue titled "The Rot Economy". The post

went viral Viral phenomena or viral sensations are objects or patterns that are able to replicate themselves or convert other objects into copies of themselves when these objects are exposed to them. Analogous to the way in which viruses propagate, the te ...

. Zitron's "rot economy" theory has been likened to

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born 17 July 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of th ...

's concept of "

enshittification Enshittification, also known as crapification and platform decay, is a pattern in which two-sided online products and services decline in quality over time. Initially, vendors create high-quality offerings to attract users, then they degrade th ...

". In April 2024, a post titled "The Man Who Killed Google Search" sparked outcry about the company after Zitron accused Google CTO Prabhakar Raghavan of "killing" Google's search product by prioritizing profits for Google's advertising business over delivering relevant results. In 2023, Cool Zone Media invited Zitron to create a podcast on their network. The podcast, called ''Better Offline'', focuses on

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

and the tech industry, and particularly on the

AI boom The AI boom is an ongoing period of rapid Progress in artificial intelligence, progress in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) that started in the late 2010s before gaining international prominence in the early 2020s. Examples include lar ...

. Zitron is writing a book about the ossification of major technology companies and the need for startups to challenge them, titled ''Why Everything Stopped Working''.

Views

Alex Kirshner writing for ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' has described Zitron as "one of the most pugnacious critics of

Big Tech Big Tech, also referred to as the Tech Giants or Tech Titans, is a collective term for the largest and most influential technology companies in the world. The label draws a parallel to similar classifications in other industries, such as "Big Oi ...

". Zitron has been described as an "AI skeptic" or "AI critic", and has criticized both technology companies and the media for contributing to what he views as unwarranted hype around

large language model A large language model (LLM) is a language model trained with self-supervised machine learning on a vast amount of text, designed for natural language processing tasks, especially language generation. The largest and most capable LLMs are g ...

s. He has called the 2020s

bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying fundame ...

, and predicts it will pop. In 2021 and 2022, Zitron wrote several articles defending

remote work Remote work (also called telecommuting, telework, work from or at home, WFH as an initialism, hybrid work, and other terms) is the practice of work (human activity), working at or from one's home or Third place, another space rather than from ...

. In an article for ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

'', he argued that executives and middle managers advocating for mandatory in-office work feared remote work would make their jobs obsolete. Speaking to '' Vanity Fair'', he explained, "I believe there is a large chunk of extremely performative work that is having a midlife crisis right now."

Personal life

Edward Benjamin Zitron was born in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

for much of his early life. He attended a private secondary school in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

. He then attended

Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

, Wales, spending one year as an

exchange student A student exchange program is a program in which students from a secondary school (high school) or higher education study abroad at one of their institution's partner institutions. A student exchange program may involve international travel, bu ...

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsyl ...

. He later moved to the United States, and lives in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada. In 2012 he married psychology professor Jillian Knapp; they later divorced. Zitron has

developmental coordination disorder Developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also known as developmental motor coordination disorder, developmental dyspraxia, or simply dyspraxia (from Ancient Greek ''praxis'' 'activity'), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impai ...

and

ADHD Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and emotional dysregulation that are excessive and pervasive, impairing in multiple ...

. He is a fan of the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

Bibliography

* Zitron, Ed (2013). ''This Is How You Pitch: How To Kick Ass In Your First Years of PR''. * Zitron, Ed (2018). ''Fire Your Publicist: The PR and Publicity Secrets That Will Make You and Your Business Famous''.

References

External links

''Where's Your Ed At'' newsletter
21st-century English businesspeople 21st-century English writers Alumni of Aberystwyth University British instructional writers British technology writers English bloggers English chief executives English critics English podcasters English public relations people Living people Newsletter publishers (people) People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder People with developmental coordination disorder Video game critics Writers from Las Vegas Writers from London Writers from New York City Year of birth missing (living people) {{DEFAULTSORT:Zitron, Ed