You Might Have Missed: “The Social Dilemma”

The Social Dilemma uses actor-based interludes to keep from feeling like a 90 minute TED Talk. Photo: Netflix

By JADA PRIMUS

From polarization to depression, anxiety to addiction, data-stealing to surveillance capitalism, social media offers it all. In the Netflix original documentary The Social Dilemma, social media is put under a microscope. Directed by Jeff Orlowski and produced by Larissa Rhodes, the film looks at how this technology continues to plague humanity.

Of course, social media is not all bad. It has ushered in a new age of connection where we can talk to a person on the other side of the world while ordering a car service to take us to any destination. But it is essential to also note the harm social media has caused.

In doing that, the documentary alternates between a stylized short film with actors depicting real-life situations involving social media's effects, explanations from people in the social media business, and a storyline out of sci-fi where algorithms are portrayed as people in a lab monitoring our actions on social media and handpicking videos, posts, and notifications to keep us engaged, as well as mixing in the occasional ad. These interludes give us a break from the normal lecture-style of a documentary, offering a humor level that is uncommon for the genre.

One thing The Social Dilemma does especially well is stress the question of whether or not humans are designing a technology that will lead to their eventual downfall. The film covers the anxiety and depression caused by constant validation-seeking on Instagram or Snapchat, as well as data stealing and the political polarization that causes some people to join domestic terror organizations. 

The documentary compares social media addiction to drug addiction, explaining how when social media is used, there is a small release of dopamine (a neurotransmitter causing the feeling of pleasure and happiness in the body), and when we go without social media, we begin to feel withdrawals. Though this analogy may be a bit dramatic, it is highly effective in explaining social media addiction in layman's terms.

Actors Skyler Gisondo and Kara Hayward portray the points being made by the documentary’s psychologists and technology experts in inspired-by-real-life situations that add some entertainment. For example, Gisondo’s character, Ben, is challenged by his family to stay off his phone for one week, but finds the challenge too difficult and surrenders after a mere few days.

Though these breaks from the normal documentary are usually no longer than a couple minutes, they are a large part of what makes The Social Dilemma such a good movie, earning 88% on movie rating platform Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.7/10 on IMDB. Not only do the brief breaks prevent the film from becoming dull, they also offer realistic portrayals of how social media affects humans, making it so that we don't just hear people talk about it, we get to see it, too. If you feel like the documentary-viewing experience often resembles torture, give this one a shot.

The interviews in the film are also very revealing. For example, Justin Rosenstein, a software programmer and entrepreneur, explains how Facebook's most notorious feature, the “like button,” was originally intended to "spread positivity" but instead became a marker for users’ self-worth.

However, there is one crucial point that the movie forgets to hit. Though there are interviews with everyone from authors to tech CEOs, there isn't a single interview with a regular person who isn't a part of the tech industry or hasn't spent years studying it. The movie would have been better if it had featured interviews from people of different backgrounds and ages explaining how social media has affected them. This was a missed opportunity, as most people have never worked at a Silicon Valley tech startup.

Still, The Social Dilemma offers interesting insight and is definitely worth a watch, especially if you feel drawn to check social media a little too often. I would just challenge any potential viewers to resist the urge to check their phone during its 90 minute running time and thereby avoid putting themselves in a highly ironic situation. 

★★★★☆