Real helps you reconnect to yourself in a world of likes and lies.
Join real people from around the world — just like you — shifting their relationship with social media to live with more meaning, connection and aliveness, everyday.
Order your copy of Real now and get a framework to support you to live in alignment with the person you’ve always wanted to be, not who the algorithms tell you you should be.
Real is released globally this September 30.
Social media is the world’s most normalised addiction
The same behaviours we could consider addiction in other contexts — like gambling or drinking alcohol — we often don’t associate with our social media use. But when was the last time you went a day without scrolling?
Take the self-assessment quiz to better understand your level of social media use.
Who are you beneath the filter?
Real blends cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain how social media challenges and disrupts your identity — and how you can reclaim it.
Author Alexis Zahner is a business psychology expert, podcast host and self-confessed tech addict who has spent 15 years inside the very platforms she writes about. Drawing on her own messy, honest journey back to herself, Alexis doesn't lecture. She gives you a practical framework for understanding your online habits and rebuilding a relationship with social media that works for you.
In Real, you’ll:
Discover how dopamine loops and algorithms shape your behaviour and learn how you can interrupt the cycle
Understand how your online identity fragments over time and how to reconnect with your whole self
Set personalised digital boundaries that protect your mental health and wellbeing without cutting you off from the world
Navigate parasocial relationships, comparison culture and illusions of credibility with confidence
Build rituals anchored to your real self, creating lasting change that goes far deeper than a detox
Complete with journaling prompts, self-assessments and reflection exercises, Real is as practical as it is illuminating. For anyone tired of living in the likes, suggested posts, sponsored ads and curated highlights, this book will change how you see your feed.
Most importantly, it will change how you see the real you.
The Real Book Tour!
Be part of the conversation live across Australia this September and October!
Alexis will be bringing Real on the road with a series of live public lectures and book talks. Grab a ticket and come along!
We will also be touring a number of workplaces, high schools and universities, please touch base with the team if you would like to get your organisation involved.
Brisbane Public Lecture
Tuesday 29 September | 6.00pm
Brisbane Brewing Co
SOLD OUT
How Social Media Has Taught Us to Perform Identity, Rather Than Live It
This isn’t a uni lecture. It’s a social, intelligent night out. Come alone or with friends, leave with something to talk about.
NOTE: Working to increase venue capacity, check back here soon for more tickets.
Mackay Book Launch + Lecture
Friday 2 October | 5.30pm
Mackay Surf Club
An exploration of performative behaviour and how, in the prolific era, identity has become a driver of engagement rather than authenticity.
Expect a short pub-style lecture following by a Q&A about the book.
This is an invitation for my local community to join me!
FREE EVENT
Townsville Public Lecture
Thursday 8 October | 5.30pm
James Cook University
How Social Media Has Taught Us to Perform Identity, Rather Than Live It
Join me for a public lecture and book signing at my alma mater James Cook University.
Expect a 45 minute talk + questions.
FREE EVENT
Byron Bay Book Launch + Public Lecture
Friday 30 October | 6.00pm
The Book Room, Byron Bay
What happens when we spend a lifetime under the influence of social media?
Join author Alexis Zahner, as she discusses her journey writing Real, the science and philosophy behind the book and what you can do to live a life on your terms.
After event social details will be given at the launch!
Meet Alexis Zahner
Hi, I’m Alexis, and I’m an addict. Social media to be precise.
I’ve spent the last 15 years of my career working across business psychology, marketing and communications, utilizing the very platforms I’m addicted to — to sell things to you. And despite an intimate knowledge of how persuasive marketing and attention hijacking is architecture to sell, I still succumbed to tech addiction myself. Ironic karma?
As a recovering millennial tech addict, I explore identity, attention and authenticity in a digital world that rewards performance over genuine presence. I’ve written my book Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies from a rare position of proximity: I’ve been shaped by social media in real time, professionally embedded in the industries that fuel it, and academically trained to understand its psychological consequences.
With a Master of Business Psychology and professional background spanning marketing, media, and business psychology, I now help others to understand the influence of social media and technology, and build better, more sustainable, relationships with it — both personally and professionally.
A contributing author to Fast Company, Big Think and Harvard Business Review, I write about about work-life, leadership and social media for major media outlets globally. Alongside this I host the leading Australian-based podcast Live+Work More Human with my brilliant co-host Sally Clarke.
My book Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies, blends lived experience, psychological research and cultural critique to ask a confronting question: when identity becomes content, metrics replace meaning, and connection drives consumerism—what does it take to feel real again?
Pre-order now via Amazon and Booktopia.
Order your copy of Real now
Pre-order Real: Reconnecting to Yourself in a World of Likes and Lies, released with Wiley Sept 30, 2026.
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