When it comes to technology, mainstream headlines are bleak: Algorithms control and oppress. AI will destroy democracy and our social fabric, and possibly even drive us to extinction.

While these concerns are legitimate, we need to equally account for the fact that technology affords young people something incredibly valuable: a rare space for self-actualization. In From Pessimism to Promise, award-winning author Payal Arora explains that outside the West, where most of the world’s youth reside, there is a significantly different outlook on technology. In fact, there is a contagion of optimism for all things digital. Drawing on field insights in diverse global contexts such as Brazil, India and Bangladesh, Arora describes what drives Gen Z to embrace new technologies.