I am sure many of you have heard about the new Netflix documentary, ‘The Social Dilemma’, in which it aims to expose technology’s negative impacts on society. The film attempts to reveal the truth of how social media and other platforms manipulate users by reinforcing existing interests. However, to what extent has it affected us?
The very notion of social media as a force that monetises our attention and profits off disinformation undermines social cohesion, a concept which is responsible for the foundations of our society. This is particularly worrying as during this pandemic; people have become more dependent on social media platforms than ever before. More and more we see ourselves become unavoidably interwoven with the world of technology, even regular activities such as taking a lesson or seeing family and friends have become online tasks. The documentary highlights social media’s impact on young people’s sense of self-worth and their ability to connect with others, thus showing the long-term effects of ‘The Social Dilemma’.
However, where the film disappoints is its inability to explain the complexities of the engine that drives the social media industry. Professor Shoshana Zuboff in the documentary described this idea as ‘surveillance capitalism’, a form of our economic system that mines human experience in order to produce marketable predictions. The focus on capitalism in terms of this concept broadens the idea of what the forefront issue of the ‘Social Dilemma’ really is. The normality of companies taking advantage of human vulnerabilities through applied psychology is a tough pill to swallow for many. If these platforms really are exploiting our minds for profit, one real question remains: Why have we allowed them to do so?