‘Social Dilemma’ pulls the curtain back on social media

“The Social Dilemma,” a relatively new documentary on Netflix, deserves the praise it’s been receiving and not just because it contains an important warning about how social media is undermining America’s social fabric and political institutions. What makes this film worth seeing is its ability to make a complicated subject—the manipulation of social media users through artificial intelligence—understandable. It pulls the curtain back on social media companies, revealing the not-so-innocent purpose of their platforms.

Reality is arguably more nuanced than the picture presented by “Social Dilemma.” Not every aspect of social media is bad, after all. Oxford dictionary defines social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” It’s hard to see anything sinister in something that allows people to “create and share content.” Social media is an important tool for websites such as this one.

So I think it’s important to distinguish between the good and problematic side of social media. “Social Dilemma” exposes the problematic side like no other documentary I’ve seen. It tells an engaging story through multiple interviews with industry insiders and a docudrama centering on a family of three teens. Two of the teens are on their smartphones almost constantly. In one scene, the mother attempts to have a device-free dinner by placing the family’s phones in a locked container, only to have one of the kids smash the container to retrieve her device. “Social Dilemma” addresses why these teens become so addicted.

Social media and smartphones interconnected

“Social Dilemma” makes clear that you can’t separate social media and smartphones. Mobile devices, not desktop computers or laptops, have given social media its power. It wasn’t until the smartphone’s arrival, after all, that social media use skyrocketed.

As I’ve written in previous posts, choosing not to use a smartphone can significantly boost your productivity. My major concern with social media is with people wasting huge amounts of time on it. Social media can be useful under some circumstances, but it too often acts like a black hole, sucking up time.

While I’ve encouraged people to give up their smartphones and practice digital minimalism, my mind as I watched this film was on the pre-teens and teens who don’t as of now have smartphones. They stand to gain the most from seeing “Social Dilemma” and have an opportunity to learn about social media’s manipulations before becoming social media’s next targets.

Behind social media’s curtain

One reason social media has so quickly come to dominate American culture is it all seems innocent enough. That’s partly because users only see the front end. They don’t see what goes on behind the curtain. What “Social Dilemma” shows is that social media is no ordinary medium. Social media’s purpose is to capture and maintain users’ attention through artificial intelligence—computers making decisions on their own and then learning from those decisions.

If parents wonder how it’s possible their teens can spend so much time on their phones—blame the artificial intelligence. It keeps users coming back for more. Does that sound familiar? When some people describe smartphones as the cigarette of the 21st century, it’s not the phone itself that’s addicting. It’s the social media apps loaded onto them that keep people hooked.

Artificial intelligence’s three personalities

The most fascinating part of “Social Dilemma,” in my opinion, was the examination of how social media employs artificial intelligence, or AI. The AI is played by actor Vincent Kartheiser of “Mad Men” fame. In the docudrama segments of the film, he tries to figure out how to grab and keep the attention of a teenager, Ben. Kartheiser plays three different roles, each a different form of artificial intelligence. One version represents social media’s desire to grow. Another aims to keep users’ attention as long as possible. The third version seeks to monetize that growth and attention.

For the most part, Kartheiser succeeds, except for a brief period when Ben’s mom challenges Ben to give up his phone for a week. Kartheiser panics, but then wins back Ben by posting an alert about Ben’s ex-girlfriend and restarting Ben’s addiction to his phone.  

Read: This phone is so dumb, it’s brilliant

Depression, anxiety on the rise

Studies show social media is affecting teens’ development. They have linked a rise in depression, anxiety and suicide to the emergence of heavy smartphone use among teens around 2010. Girls, in particular, are susceptible to poor self-image, an issue “Social Dilemma” explores through the character Isla. Why would teens continue using something that makes them feel miserable? Well, why do people continue smoking?

One of my goals for our kids is for them to understand how social media works long before they’re tempted to start using it. If they decide someday to use social media, I want them to know exactly what they’re getting into. I want them to know about the business model that Facebook, Google and Pinterest uses, but not as these companies present it. I want our kids to know the business model as described by former Facebook, Google and Pinterest executives featured in “Social Dilemma.” As these former executives explain, social media is not about entertainment. It’s about manipulating users to make as much money as possible.

If you use it, be intentional

I think it’s possible to safely use social media but only by being intentional. Only by being in complete control. That’s not the case for a lot of people. It’s certainly not the case for Ben in “Social Dilemma.” He’s not only addicted to his phone, he seems completely unaware of the addiction. His smartphone is in charge, and Ben isn’t free to walk away from it. Under the direction of their smartphone apps, people like Ben experience not life but a sort of digital version of life, a heavily commercialized version curated by social media’s artificial intelligence.

It’s hard to be frugalmatic if you dedicate large blocks of time to absorbing images and messages designed to get you to absorb more images and messages, which are designed to get you to absorb even more images and messages. And on and on.

‘Social Dilemma’ can help spread awareness

Some defenders of social media argue that social media is just the latest technology to disrupt society. Like with past technologies, society will learn to adapt and soldier on, the argument goes. The problem with this thinking is that it fails to recognize how artificial intelligence diminishes people’s ability to adapt. Artificial intelligence determines what you see and when—all while grooming you to react in a certain way. It’s an order of magnitude beyond what society has ever experienced. Social media leaps above television like television leaped above Gutenberg’s printing press.

People, teens especially, deserve to know what these companies have in store for them. “Social Dilemma” can be helpful in this regard. It helps foster awareness by showing viewers what’s going on behind their screens. It’s probably too much to ask for people not to use social media. But it’s not too much to ask for people to become aware. When people become aware, they become more intentional. They learn control. My hope for the next generation of social media users—if they decide to become users—is that they learn to manipulate social media rather than have it manipulate them.

And, yes, I encourage you to share this post on social media.