The Social Dilemma Continues
Netflix’s documentary, The Social Dilemma, comments on social media’s dangerous impact on society. Social media started off as a tool for communicating with friends, family, and even celebrities, but it has evolved into something completely different. While many people still believe that they use social platforms for this purpose, the documentary exposes how social media has evolved into another tool for corporations to reach their consumers. Social platforms do this by manipulating users into developing addictive habits. Platforms aim to capture as much of our attention as they possibly can. They learn our social media usage habits and use them to their advantage. While we are the users, “our attention can be mined” and sold to corporations.
What made this documentary even more worrisome, was where the information was coming from. The developers interviewed in the film were responsible for some of the most powerful algorithms and programs found on the internet. Their experience and resume make their words more credible. Most of these developers worked for huge social media corporations like Facebook, Twitter, and Google. The developers now fear the effects of their creations on users’ mental health and the foundations of democracy. While the documentary exaggerates and dramatizes some details, many of the situations and topics mentioned can relate to our own social media experiences.
As an avid user of social media, both personally and in a professional setting, I related to many of the topics in the film. Director, Jeff Orlowski, used a fictional family to demonstrate how addictive social media can be. One of the main characters, Ben, was challenged by his mother to not use his smartphone for a week. While Ben started strong for a day or two, he heard his phone vibrate in response to a notification from a girl he liked, and he quickly failed the challenge. I find myself falling for this strategy every day, even as I type this. Social platforms and other apps push notifications to us to capture our attention. Notifications are usually pushed to us when we receive new communications, but apps are starting to push notifications for our most popular contacts’ social activity. In The Social Dilemma, the three men who symbolized the algorithm tried multiple notifications to get Ben’s attention, including his ex-girlfriend posting a picture. Of course, the girl triggered an emotional response for Ben and drove him to pick up his smartphone. This is a manipulation strategy that was mentioned in the documentary. The algorithm learns our social habits and what captures our attention most and uses it to get us to come back in hopes we interact with ads.
As someone who has grown up with social media as it has grown as well, I have developed a little bit of an anxious response to notifications. Once I get a notification, I feel the need to check it and clear it from my screen as soon as possible. This response has also has affected my relationships. While I strive to brand myself accurately through my social platforms, social media has created too much access to each other. I try to only post what I want people to know about me, but many others feel the need to post every aspect of their lives. For example, If you have someone on Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, it is easy for us to determine what someone is doing at all times.
On Facebook you can see when they’re “online” using the messenger feature, posting stories can tell us what someone is doing and when, but Snapchat takes it a step further by giving us access to someone’s exact whereabouts. While this is a whole privacy issue in itself if the user isn’t managing their privacy settings, it can also affect communication relationships. When interacting with others, it is easy for us to feel anxious when we don’t receive replies right away or we are notified that our message was opened but not responded to because we can tell when the user has been on their phone last. Why didn’t they respond? Are they ignoring me? I can easily say that I have developed anxiety from this exposure.
This access and lack of privacy are not the only affect social media has had on me and my relationships. The Social Dilemma also mentioned the role social media has played in politics and fake news. Between the 2016 election to the coronavirus, social media has been a huge player in the amount of fake news circulating. In the documentary, developers highlighted the way social media algorithms try to get users to fall into “rabbit holes.” In other words, if a user takes an interest in an opinion or topic, the algorithm will suck the user in further by giving them more obscure information that will capture the attention. This creates an echo chamber for many politically charged social media users that serves as a confirmation bias. Social platforms don’t necessarily care if the information is true, their main goal is to sell our attention and generate more clicks. The echo chamber social media creates is also extremely dangerous. Social media served as one of the biggest factors of miscommunication for the COVID Vaccine. If someone had doubts about the vaccine, algorithms would give them more articles and information supporting their doubt, making users believe it is fact.
The legitimacy of The Social Dilemma comes to fruition when you see the effects that it has had in your own life. In a lot of ways, it is sad to realize that one of the most powerful communication and informational tools is being used against us and shaping our perspectives. The social companies know this and so do we so what can we do? For many of us, social media has become an integral part of our lives. A line from the film that stuck out for me was, “Do you check your smartphone before you pee in the morning or after you pee in the morning?” Sadly, my answer is the former. It’s hard for us to control something that is controlling us so strongly, but there are small habits we can make in our day-to-day lives that might improve our relationship with social media. There are apps we can use to minimize our time on social media, we can personalize how long we want to be on it in a day and what apps. Minimizing friends lists to people you are friends with in real life can reduce the stress and pressure to post on socials. I definitely go on my phone before I pee in the morning because my phone doubles as my alarm clock so it’s the first thing I see in the morning. Taking that reliance away from my phone would help me separate myself from my phone that early.
While there are a lot of negative habits that I have developed from social media, I also have learned a lot from it. I learned how to see and learn about myself from seeing myself through a social media lens. I found confidence in being myself by using social media as a vehicle in that process. While there are some great things I’ve learned, it is important to be aware of the harms that could affect you and know when to separate yourself from them. I know I can trust myself to be aware of this, but can the rest of the world?
