Anitra Eggler – The Unconventional Digital Expert

The fastest runner in school in Karlsruhe. An obituary writer in Buenos Aires. And today, the most unorthodox digital expert you’ve ever seen on stage.

Imagine a conference hall with 300 people, most of them with a smartphone in their hand or at least within reach. Then a woman steps onto the stage, and five minutes later, no one is looking at their phone anymore.

That’s no trick. That’s Anitra Eggler.

“She was billed as ‘definitely not boring’—which is a massive understatement.”

Anitra Eggler – A Career That Sounds Like a Novel

Top student at a high school in Karlsruhe, obituary writer in Buenos Aires, journalism fellow in Passau, internet pioneer in Munich, CyberLions judge in Cannes—anyone reading Anitra Eggler’s résumé can’t help but wonder: How does all of this fit into one life? The answer is remarkably simple: she was ahead of everyone else, always and in everything.

That also applies to the internet. Since 1998, she’s been at the forefront of digitalization—as a journalist, startup manager, and media professional. “I was a young journalist when I caught the digital evolution fever in 1996. The digital world seemed like a grab bag to me. My enthusiasm was as boundless as the new digital possibilities,” she says. She breathed, lived, and loved the internet—and in doing so, sensed earlier than anyone else what it does to people.

The realization that changed everything

It wasn’t a dramatic collapse that changed everything but a single sentence spoken by a child.

“Daddy, your cell phone hurts,” the young daughter of an acquaintance had said—and cried as she did so. When he told her this story, it struck Anitra Eggler right in the heart—not because it was so extraordinary, but because it sounded so familiar.

At the time, she herself was in the tenth year of a relentless career as an internet pioneer—right in the middle of that digital maelstrom she would later describe with terms like “email madness,” “mindless surfing syndrome,” or “social media incontinence.” She realized that she herself was suffering from precisely these side effects, prescribed herself a digital therapy, and thereby regained so much time that she was finally able to fulfill a lifelong dream: she wrote a book.

“Email Makes You Stupid, Sick, and Poor” was published in 2011 and became a bestseller. Long before “digital detox” became a buzzword, Anitra Eggler had coined the term, sparked the debate, and set in motion a movement that continues to grow to this day. Her 100-Minuten-Klartext books are now published by her own publishing house, LIKE Publishing, which she founded because, as she herself says: “Publishing houses were never a home for me. So I built one myself.”

The ORF describes her as “the most sought-after female voice on the effects and side effects of digitalization,” Bärbel Schäfer of HR3 calls her “Doctor Digital,” and Kristian Thees of SWR3 sums it up: “She’s a little pope for how we deal with the digital world.”

Digital Detox isn’t about giving things up. It’s a superpower.

Anyone who thinks Anitra Eggler preaches disconnecting doesn’t know her, because her credo is the opposite of asceticism:

“Not less digital. Better digital.”

She’s not an opponent of technology, but an internet veteran who knows how the system works—and therefore also where it manipulates us. And she says it the way she says everything: directly, humorously, and without sugarcoating.

This is especially true when it comes to artificial intelligence. “Smartphones have turned our attention into a commodity—AI goes two steps further: it invades our thought space. When thinking is outsourced, space is created for emotional attachment.” And her warning is as clear as it is uncomfortable: “Those who can’t disconnect digitally can’t hit the brakes on the digital highway—and shouldn’t be traveling at the speed of AI.”

On stage: energy, humor, plain talk—and no PowerPoint

Anitra Eggler boycotts PowerPoint and instead brings live dialogs with ChatGPT to the stage; she interacts, provokes—and never leaves her audience unmoved. What clients report afterward almost always sounds the same, yet still surprises every time:

“Anitra Eggler brings as much energy to the stage as five women, ten men, and four brewery horses!”

“The most enriching and refreshing keynote speech in a long time. Anitra Eggler is worth every euro!”

And someone who has been booking her for over ten years writes: “I recently booked her on the spur of the moment for a keynote, and she was once again one of the highlights of the evening: refreshing, warm, inspiring, and highly recommended for any occasion you want to remember.”

She sums up her philosophy herself: “I’m human. That’s enough of a superpower.”

Who is Anitra Eggler the right speaker for?

Her keynote speeches are ideal for companies that want to view digital transformation and AI not as an IT issue but as a human issue; for executives who want to understand what constant availability, the flood of emails, and dependence on AI are really doing to their teams; and for conferences looking for a speaker who can simultaneously provide food for thought, entertainment, and concrete ideas.

In short: for anyone who’s had enough of empty rhetoric about digital transformation—and finally wants to hear the truth.

“I write without sugarcoating. That’s part of the therapy.”

With Anitra Eggler, that’s not a threat. It’s a promise.

Want to book Anitra Eggler as a keynote speaker: +1 (704) 804 1054 oder anitra-eggler@premium-speakers.com