*****Spoiler Alert*****
First of all, if you haven’t seen The Social Dilemma on Netflix, you need to go watch it ASAP. This documentary talks about how our technology has evolved from being a helpful tool to an addictive time-waster, and it covers a variety of issues that stem from that idea. In my opinion, The Social Dilemma highlights a devastating problem with the way our society functions today, and it is something that we all must be aware of before we can try to fix it.
To summarize, this documentary is a collection of interviews where several high-status leaders in tech discuss their ethical concerns with a variety of ‘free’ internet services. They are worried that social media platforms are taking advantage of society. You see, companies such as Google, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat don’t charge their users for service; they make their money by selling advertisements to willing businesses, then slapping those ads onto your page as you scroll through. It sounds innocent enough, right? Who cares about an occasional ad popping up on their feed? In order to sell advertisements, though, these platforms need you to spend as much time on their app as possible—which means that their entire business model relies on making you addicted to your phone.
These social media apps are programmed strategically. Every feature, color, and sound are designed to make you more likely to open your phone and scroll through. The worst part, however, is that the app is made to observe your habits, track your preferences, and serve you new material based on what it knows. These algorithms literally use your information to keep you busy wasting time so that the big tech companies can make money from advertisers.
I am a computer science major, so the topics discussed in this film really hit home for me. I understand how these companies build their algorithms. I know what machine learning is, and how Artificial Intelligence can be created. Each time you open up social media and scroll through, the algorithm that is in charge of your feed gets just a little bit smarter; it learns just a little bit more about how to keep you scrolling for just a little longer. To me, this is scary. The changes may be subtle, but they are happening constantly, and they are happening all across the world.
This isn’t just about companies using your information to show you content that you enjoy; it extends beyond that. In The Social Dilemma, they go as far as to say that social media is eroding the very fabric of our society. It is keeping us from leading productive lives by distracting us. It is destroying our self image by constantly throwing social opinions in our face. It is ruining our views of politics by isolating us within our own mindset, and convincing us that everyone else is a threat to our well-being. It is bypassing rules and regulations that have kept certain target audiences safe from harmful advertisements. Overall, it is changing the way that we think and interact with each other—and not for the better.
What can we do to stop this, then? First, watch the documentary. Seriously, it contains excellent points and is well-argued throughout. Beyond that, you can delete your social media accounts—or at least limit the amount of time that you spend on them daily. I personally have added restrictions to my Screen Time settings that prevent me from spending too much time scrolling through Instagram or Tik Tok. Another solution is to simply check yourself daily to make sure that you are not falling into the same trap. Don’t click on clickbait because you are only encouraging the system.
More than anything, it is important that we are all aware of this issue. It is my hope that we will be able to change our habits, put restrictions into place, and protect ourselves from the companies that have been selling our time and attention to the highest bidder.