The Social Dilemma is a 2020 documentary drama that
featured in Netflix on 26th January. It is directed by Jeff Orlowski
and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe and Vicki Curtis. This film features a
group of tech experts who were responsible for creating some powerful tools in
the social media site that we use in our daily lives.
These people come along to explain the “dangerous” situation
that we are living on since the early 2010s. They try to explain, in
understandable terms, the story of our current disastrous circumstances with an
example of a family.
The Family
Here, we see three children who are in their teens. The
elder one, Cassandra, uses internet only for useful information and school work
whereas the younger siblings Ben and Isla are seen extremely addicted to social
media.
At one point, the kids are losing their battle against the
temptation of social media and that’s when it hits you how much of a social
media addict you are. It makes you think if you can live without your phones
for how many days.
Tristan Harris And Other Techies
Tristan is a former Google Design Ethicist and he is the
first person to somewhat understand what was happening with all the hype. He mentioned
he was himself an addict of Gmail. The techies realized the threat of social
media when they were experiencing it themselves or were experienced by any of
their family members.
They connected all the points and came up with the best
conclusion,
“If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product”.
What we all think is, ‘social media does nothing; it’s just
a platform that connects billions of people with others.’ That’s not true. Some
of the dominating apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit Uber,
etc., act as a connection that helps in delivering advertisements to customers.
In order to showcase an advertisement that you like, the AI
has to know about you. So, technically all these social media are involved in
collecting your data. Every click, every like, every search that you make
creates a stronger, duplicate version of you that the AI will read, manipulate
and implement on you.
The ultimate purpose of any of these sites’ business model
is to keep people engaged on their screen. We don’t fall into the pit hole
intentionally or just in one day. The process is successful when there is a
gradual, slight, imperceptible change in our behavior and perception.
How Mental Health Really Is Connected With Social Media?
Justin Rosenstein, the man who created the like button,
wanted it to spread love and positivity. But, that’s not the exact scenario that
has happened, right? There are rising percentages every single day over teenage
suicides and the collapse of their mental health over social media.
The teens in America (the most developed country) approve of
their life only through their social media likes and comments. There were cases
when some of the teenagers wanted to do plastic surgery because their faces
were more beautiful in Snapchat than in actual reality. This was called “Snapchat
Dysmorphia”
Is Social Media Just An Illusion?
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable
from magic”.
- Arthur C. Clarke
The tricks that the social media has in its sleeve is much
similar like magic. We make payments sitting in our houses, we control our
entire house appliances with a single remote, we can connect with anyone from
any corner of the world.
These things are mesmerizing but at the same time, people
should also know how scary the other side of our screens look like. It’s not a
magical land where whatever you do on your phones go unnoticed. Every information
of yours is collected and analyzed deeply and this is enough to make the Artificial
Intelligence take decisions for you.
You become a pawn to the machine and there’s nothing you can
do once you get addicted. So, better check where you stand on your proneness
for social media. This is the right time to question yourself “Have we all
fallen under any kind of spell?” and find an answer for it.
What Does The
Social Media Sell?
The Social Media sell certainty. That’s how
accurately predicted information they get on us and store as data. For example,
if you search for an online course in Chrome, the next few days your Instagram,
Facebook timeline, even the advertisements in apps are going to be filled with the
same course from various institutes with special offers only for you.
How do these institutes know that you were even looking for that course in the
first place?
“There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’;
illegal drugs and software”.
- Edward Tufte
The Ugly Side
Can you believe the news that is false spreads six times
faster than the actual news in Twitter? Yes, this is a fact. The world is clumped
up with grievances and scandals where you turn to any corner of the world, you’ll
be face to face with fake news, tech addiction, polarization, hacked elections
and so many unethical activities.
These incidents paved way to a society that doesn’t care,
doesn’t have humanity and is filled only with depression and anxiety. This
pattern has to break.
Overall Review
“Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse”.
- Sopnocies
It is every human being’s right to know what is happening
with the information they provide (even unknowingly). The Social Dilemma
provides an excellent platform to understand the whole process that happens
behind our screens.
It also leaves a strong message that technology can only be
used for the improvisation of lives and need not be a tool of customer exploitation.
Millions of people everyday access new social media accounts everyday and it’s
just eating up their lives and time like a mite. The docudrama ends with a suggestion
where “we have to” find a solution for this ultimate problem.
Written by - Keerthana Lakshmi
Social