Opinion

The dilemma with social media or checkmate on humanity

17.9.2020

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

The Netflix movie «The Social Dilemma» is a fierce reckoning with Facebook and the like. Social media is destroying democracy and, sooner or later, will lead to civil war-like conditions. These are two dystopian theses of this 90-minute docudrama.

Rewind to a mild day in May. While the sun is shining outdoors, spiteful battles are raging indoors. Opponents and supporters of the coronavirus measures are having it out on Facebook. I delete my account.

Black and white

You’re a covidiot or a covid denier. Bill Gates is the devil or the messiah. Corona is just a beefed-up cold or a killer virus which will end the human race. It’s either or. There’s nothing in between.

Everybody seems to have an opinion and not shy about sharing it on the net. These opinions usually include links to «experts» who provide science- or data-based «proof». The motto: my opinion is the only truth. If you don’t agree, you’re an idiot. Now replace coronavirus with climate change and Bill Gates with Greta Thunberg. The result is the same. Back in May, this self-opinionated bickering went too far for my liking and I deleted my Facebook account.

What was the point of Facebook and Co. again?

Social Media. The plague of the 21st century. But hey, wasn’t it originally all about staying in touch with friends? Or did I get it wrong? I wonder what Oli from sixth grade is up to? Now that’s a surprise! He lives in Canada with Andrea and runs a bed & breakfast. They were already a couple back in the day. Would you look at that. Oh, here’s a funny cat video. Thumbs up.

At which point did social media mutate into a curse for humanity. There’s a movie now available on Netflix that has the answer. In «The Social Dilemma», former leading employees of Google, Facebook and Co. paint a dark picture of the future. Nothing less than civil war-like conditions and the collapse of democracies is what the documentary predicts. In spite of this, the movie trailer is shown on YouTube. The irony.

How did it come to this?

It’s the question big question asked at the beginning of the docudrama. What’s the problem with social media? One answer comes from Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google: «Never before in history have a handful of designers had control of what a billion people think and do.»

Not to forget money. Obviously. It’s also about money. What role do we play in all of this? Well, if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. The business model of these companies is to keep you glued to the screen for as long as possible. How much of your valuable time are you willing to give Facebook and Co. and the advertisers who pay for you to watch their ads? Computer scientist and author Jaron Lanier takes things a step further in the movie when he says: «It's the gradual, slight, imperceptible change in your own behaviour and perception that is the product.»

And that’s how social media make their money. They change what we do, how we think and who we are. The aim is not to collect as much data as possible in order to sell it to the highest bidder. Instead, it’s about developing models that can predict our actions. Whoever has the best model wins. A presidential election, for example. What does this do to the world? Well, take a look around.

Welcome to Dystopia

It was a mild evening in September. The last rays of sunshine were reflecting on the asphalt. Indoors, the credits of the Netflix documentary «The Social Dilemma». were running.

Everyone finds their own opinion confirmed somewhere on the social network. Everything else is fake news. But if we no longer have any facts in common, we're screwed. Checkmate. The result: civil wars and the collapse of democracy. That’s the movie in a nutshell.

Is there a way out? The protagonists try to point out possibilities how we can escape the social media trap. Log off from all social networks, put aside your smartphone and go out into the real world. That’s roughly the message of their statements. Is this the solution? On one side, there’s the richest, most powerful companies. On the other side, there’s us, the products. What if we, the laying hens, suddenly decide to stop producing eggs? I’m skeptical. But hey, we’ve nothing to lose, right? The next item on my social media to-undo list: delete Instagram account. After that, WhatsApp is going.

You could accuse director Jeff Orlowski’s documentary of being one-sided and incomplete. In fact, it is primarily a story of dystopia rather than dilemma. The advantages of technology remain practically unmentioned during the 90 minutes. What’s more, it’s Netflix of all companies that produced and broadcast the documentary. The streaming provider is, after all, a company that collects huge amounts of data and wants you staring at the screen for as long as possible. This contradicts the message of the film. My impression is that Orlowski made «The Social Dilemma» to shake people up and trigger a widespread discussion about social media. Well-balanced content does not seem to be his weapon of choice and the end justifies the means. I think we can forgive him for that.

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Patrick Bardelli

Senior Editor

Patrick.Bardelli@digitecgalaxus.ch

From radio journalist to product tester and storyteller, jogger to gravel bike novice and fitness enthusiast with barbells and dumbbells. I'm excited to see where the journey'll take me next.

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