As many of you may have noticed, the new Netflix documentary ‘The Social Dilemma’ recently appeared on Netflix. It is a documentary, -or maybe rather a drama film- about all the negative effects that social media have on our lives (Rhodes & Orlowski, 2020).
In the documentary, a series of interviews with the creators of a lot of popular applications – like Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Google – are shown. These tech-insiders talk very badly about the platforms, and explain how AI and the algorithms literally control our lives.
To alternate with the interviews, scripted scenes from the life of a certain family are shown. They show that social media have a lot of impact on their lives. The main figure, which is Ben, is literally illustrated as the marionette of three fictional insiders of a network. They control what he sees and what he does. In this way the documentary makes these social media platforms look kind of like the Truman show. Without you knowing it, people watch everything you do, and in the mean time they determine your actions.
The business model of many of these big tech companies is described as keeping the user scrolling, let them coming back, and use advertisements to make money. The ‘like’ bottom of Facebook for instance, was meant to do good, to show people you like their content. However, it turned out not as good as it was supposed to be. It leads to insecure young people because they don’t get enough likes. The featured tech-insiders also explain how the users become victims from fake news, conspiracy theories, depressed youth and manipulated elections trough these platforms. People don’t know what is real and fake anymore. We think that what we see on our feed, is the same for everyone, but this is not the case. The algorithm works differently for different people.
An interesting quote that Tristan Harris (2020) -president and co-founder of the Centre for humane technology at Google- mentioned got me thinking. It was as follows: “If you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product”.
It sounds unbelievable, but the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
Have you guys watch the documentary yet? What do you guys think of it? Is the documentary exaggerated in your opinion? Do we have to be aware of what is happening to us through these platforms? Does social media have us that much under control? Is our society turning into the Truman show?
I am curious about your opinion!
Amanda
Netflix Documentary:
Rhodes, L. (Producer), & Orlowski, J. (Director). (2020). The Social Dilemma [Documentary]. United States: Exposure Labs
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for your post! I have watched the documentary as well, and it actually got me really thinking about it. I do feel that the documentary is based on all the negative sides of social media because there are positive things linked to it as well.
Young people feeling insecure about not getting enough likes is I think a problem that social media and the people created themselves. Especially influencers play a role in this, they are creating a ‘perfect-life’ image, which is not a representation of their real life. Unfortunately, those young people do not realize that.
I think the things behind social media is what gets me thinking, as indeed they really show a feed with all of your interests. They also mentioned that you have to turn off all of your notifications and I am curious if this is the way to do and make sure social media is not controlling your life.
Hi Amanda,
Thank you for sharing this blog! I have just watched the documentary on Netflix and it got me thinking as well. The quote that you stated: “If you’re not paying for the product, then you’re the product” also caught my attention. We have talked about some monetization strategies in the Information Strategy course, although not yet particular in this specific daylight. I think the documentary sheds a good light on ‘the dark sides’ of online platforms and I think it’s good to be aware of these. Although, in my opinion the documentary is also a bit exaggerated since these platforms also have their benefits, like for example facilitating the social connection with your fellow students in times like these when we only have remote education. In the documentary they have talked about the three goals of online platforms: engaging, growing and advertising. I think we as potential ‘tech employees’ should also don’t forget other goals which focus more on the well-being of users and their privacy.
Best,
Martine