Thoughts on The Social Dilemma Netflix Documentary
The Social Dilemma is a Netflix documentary focused in educating social media users on how social media uses data and effects its users. In the documentary it covers the addictions of social media, fake news, and how social media is profiting from users’ data. It focuses on how technology can be used in positive ways, but there are negative implications.
Moments in the documentary that resonated with my social media experience
Have you ever been at home watching a movie then get a notification about your friend who posted a photo on Facebook? Next thing you know you look up and the credits to the movie are rolling. You missed the movie because you opened your phone and started scrolling through your Facebook feed. In the documentary it resonated with me how my phone receives multiple notifications a day from social media apps to have me open the app. At the end of the documentary, the industry experts recommend turning off all social media notifications. When turning off push notifications it gives you control to decide when you open the social media app and helps break the addiction and spending more time than you want on social media. It’s Time to Logoff recommends turning off push notifications as the first stem to breaking a social media addiction.
Social media causes you to have distorted views
I believe everyone on social media has been under distortion of view of ourselves, relationships, and broader reality. I have noticed when spending a lot of time on Instagram and/or Facebook I can have a distorted view of myself and the people I follow. I am a consumer of social media and do not post often. In an article from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology it confirms how social media users can create a view of themselves having a great life on social media causing them to have a distorted view of themselves. There have been times when I see the same people post so often on social media that I know I start to view them as a celebrity status in my mind. It is silly sounding but by me seeing their daily posts and having a narrative in my mind fed from social media of how they are portraying themselves it changes in how I view them.
In the film, the case is made that human willpower can’t be expected to compete with some of the most sophisticated AI on the planet. What can we do to develop healthy relationships with technology?
I found it interesting that the documentary suggests humans do not have the will power to overcome social media addictions because of how sophisticated the AI is. At the end of the film, the people who created the algorithms for the sophisticated AI give tips on how to compete against it. There are two things we can do to compete and have a healthy relationship with technology. First, make the choice of how much time you want to spend on social media. Second, turn of push notifications to help you to not go on the social media app after you met your timed quota for the day. Humans can have a healthy relationship with technology. It just begins by taking back control on how you choose to use it and not letting it tell you when to use it.
The Social Dilemma causes thought provoking questions on our use of social media and how it impacts us individually and as a society. Watching the documentary caused me to consider why I use social media. I find some platforms to provide entertainment such as TikTok and YouTube. While I use other platforms Facebook and Instagram to keep up with friends and family. Without social media it is possible to find other outlets of video entertainment on Netflix or Hulu. I can also keep up with friends and family via phone call or text. If I could only keep one social media app it would be Instagram because it allows me a way to keep up with friends and has video entertainment with the reels feature that is similar to TikTok.
