Documentary Review: The Social Dilemma

By: Anna Cave

Discussing the deep impacts of data collection with social media founders.

This week, I watched the Netflix documentary titled 'The Social Dilemma.' This documentary is made up of multiple interviews with people who either worked for prominent social media companies or created the ideas for different popular features on social media. When social media began growing and developing more personalized features, most designers thought they were creating something good that would benefit the users, but they were naive to the flip side of that coin. ​

Anyone who uses social media is probably aware of its negative effects. Social media can have a negative impact on the user's mental health, which most of us have felt at one time or another. Social media can be isolating, and it is incredibly easy to get addicted to social media and phones in general. Those are just a few examples, as the effects of social media manifest differently with each user. 

​The documentary didn't just focus on the harmful effects, but also made me realize that I play a much bigger role in the digital world than I could have ever imagined. The documentary introduced the topic with a very powerful quote: "if you're not paying for the product, you are the product."

They explained why this was. Tech companies want to sell digital ad space, and to do that they have to present their advertisers with guarantees that their ads will be successful. In order to do that, tech companies need to make predictions about their users and to do that they need data, and a whole lot of it. Everything we do it tracked (with our consent, as laid out in those terms & conditions we've definitely all read). Because tech companies want to mine more data on its users, they need us to be engaged all the time. Everything on social media is designed to make us spend more time on our phone. Think about it: when someone tags you in a picture on Instagram, you get a notification, but you don't see what the picture is. No sane person would see that notification and not wonder what photo of them has been pushed out for the world to see, so they swipe and open the app, where they'll likely spend a little more time scrolling after checking out the photo. That whole process was designed with one thing in mind: get you back on the app.

Every aspect of the social media apps you use are designed to catch your attention and keep you there for as long as possible. It's almost like a drug, and scarily enough, the documentary pointed out that the term "users" only applies to the consumer of illegal drugs and media. Coincidence? Maybe not.

So, do I recommend 'The Social Dilemma'? Absolutely. 

This quick summary barely scratches the surface of what the documentary covered, but I don't want to give it all away. It was really interesting watching it from the perspective of a media analytics student, because a lot of that data that is collected is data I might need to do my job. My dad watched this documentary about a week before I did, and suggested it to me telling me it would terrify me. While a lot of what was discussed didn't sit right with me, I think my perspective definitely differed from his because I would love to get my hands on the wealth of data social media has collected on us. It's scary (and unfair that we don't get paid for all the good stuff we give away), but it was also fascinating to me, a data nerd. 

As a regular person (hey, data-lovers are people, too!), I was concerned about how much of what was presented was confirmed as I watched the doc. I typed up notes from what I learned on my free GoogleDocs account. I paused the documentary frequently to respond to texts I was notified about from the buzzing on my Apple Watch. I had to rewind at a few places because I got distracted looking at my Twitter feed. At the parts of the doc that moved slower than the rest, I opened my Solitaire app (okay, am I a grandma?) to play a quick game to keep my mind engaged.

Yeah, it's embarrassing that I couldn't get through an hour and half without checking my phone. But at the same time, is that addiction my fault? Everything that caused me to take my eyes off the documentary was designed by someone to make me do just that. Some of those designers were even featured in the documentary that I couldn't even get through because I was a pawn in their invention from years past. 

'The Social Dilemma' will definitely put some of your bad habits in perspective, and I 100% recommend to someone looking into or currently doing media analytics. ​