It is surprising that at a time when one may be looking for something to cheer oneself up, so much that is offered seems to be designed to depress. Having recently subscribed to Netflix, I find that much of what is offered involves horror, murder, or mayhem.
How I wish filmmakers – even documentary makers – would offer us some diversion! But if they won’t indulge our need for escapism, we can at least learn something important from films such as the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma.
Digital technology has revolutionized our lives, bringing efficiency we once could scarcely have imagined and, along with it, real dangers.
Educators, parents, psychologists, and sociologists have often expressed concern about how much time people spend looking at screens, especially on their phones. As many of us have seen, such devices often pull their owners away from normal social interaction.
Young people spending countless hours on their phones engage less with their friends and family and get less exercise and less sleep. Depression, low self-worth, and suicide are frighteningly on the increase among the young. And young people aren’t the only ones seriously addicted to using their phones.
Meanwhile the problems run even deeper, the film argues. The Social Dilemma interviews developers of such platforms as Google, Snapchat, Twitter, and Facebook, many of whom state that they developed the technology in such a way that it could spy on its users. Every user’s interests and concerns can be traced simply by recording what that person pauses to look at on any platform and for how long and how often. The resulting profile makes that person a target for anyone wishing to engage his or her attention.
Very obviously, the owners of the platforms have become wildly rich by selling this information to marketers looking for an identified potential customer base. Users of such technology have become the merchandise “sold” to the merchants. They are no longer users of technology, but unwittingly the used of technology. If one shows an interest in a gimmick on one’s computer, one is targeted by the sellers of the gimmick, who are willing to pay for this information.
The problem is that this approach is applied not just for merchandise, but for the entire range of users’ interests and concerns. What are the person’s political views? What are the person’s social interests? What are the person’s moral concerns? What are the person’s grievances? Once these are identified, the person becomes vulnerable to those who wish to influence him or her, morally, socially, and politically. By feeding information to internet users in the form of articles know to attract them, any propagandist who is willing to take advantage of the situation can mould these users into complaint followers.
While not everyone seeking to influence the public is badly motivated, such a power can clearly be used to promote views that threaten our social fabric. Many have noted that today society has become more divided, more tribal, and less tolerant of others. Instead of becoming better informed by the internet, many have become even more fixed in their beliefs and prejudices. Ideals of attempting to understand the views of others, of compromise, of arriving at a common ground – all have been imperilled.
We have all heard of Deep State conspiracies and of disinformation platforms that promote baseless and often libellous falsehoods designed to inflame those identified as sympathetic to such falsehoods. “Pizzagate” is probably the best-known example of such scurrilous internet content. Through entertaining dramatizations and creative scenarios, The Social Dilemma show just how such things are possible.
While the film makes the problems clear, it falls rather short in offering solutions. However, it is timely in showing that technology threatens our very humanity. Awareness of these dangers is a vital first step towards removing them.
In this regard, The Social Dilemma contributes to conversations every household needs to hold. It is, after all, within the family circle that change needs to begin.