In September, Netflix released the film Social Dilemma, which explains the mechanisms and algorithms that underlie social media. In a 90-minute Netflix documentary, former employees of Google, Facebook, and Instagram talk about how social networks manipulate people. The algorithms that underlie their actions help to track and predict the actions of users, and, subsequently, interact more effectively with them. However, it is said that these algorithms can lead to addiction in users. Moreover, the developers state that the same algorithms can be used to destabilize the situation in society, influence election results, as well as spread fake news and false information.
Experts who work in large corporations confirm that if you do not pay for the product, then you are the product. Corporations not only sell users’ data, they change people’s, and, specifically, children’s and adolescents’ habits, with no possibility of them actually noticing it. Even the professionals who created these algorithms cannot resist them. Additionally, the data is not simply sold, but is used to build models that predict people’s actions in the future, which allows corporations to manipulate masses further.
These models specifically target younger generation, as it is far easier to put the corporations’ intended concepts and ideas into inexperienced and not yet fully developed minds. For example, Berk (2017) states that “children in age 6-11 think in an organized, logical fashion only when dealing with concrete information they can perceive directly” (p. 306). They do not understand abstractions, therefore, they are prone to falling victims to delusional concepts social networks bring. Adolescents also suffer from delusions; however, there are of another form. According to Berk (2017), “adolescents react more strongly to stressful events and experience pleasurable stimuli more intensely, which makes them highly reactive to peer influence and evaluation” (p. 373). This phenomenon reflects the adolescent’s feeling that they are constantly under the critical attention of those around them. Since this “audience” is created by their own ideas, it knows everything about them that they know, which causes unnecessary mental stress and tension.
Interestingly, there are two narrative lines in the film instead of just a single one. First is where experts – employees of corporations such as Google – talk about how social networks work from the inside, about the consequences they can lead to in the form which they now exist in. The second is more artistic, where an example tells how much social networks influence people and how much they depend on them. In parallel, an important problem of the 21st century is being raised – the suicidal moods of Generation Z. This issue is also associated with the addiction to social networks – namely, to the thrill of likes and comments from acquaintances and strangers. According to Berk (2017), “mature, rational thinkers reach conclusions that differ from those of others, they consider the justifiability of their conclusions” (p. 456). Youngsters do not yet possess this ability of epistemic cognition, thus, they cannot always separate their own views from those provided be the social media. The rejection of oneself and an attempt to hide behind all kinds of masks and filters also add to this, now immensely big, problem.
Conclusion
The main line of the documentary was the most significant, as it revealed an important message. The problem is not that the social media manipulate people and decides for them what they will see and how, or that someone is collecting users’ data with impunity. It is the fact that a person is now dependent on social networks, and subsequently, they often do not analyze the information received from them, considering it only reliable. Moreover, being on the Internet, people – youngsters, mostly – begin to forget about who they really are. They create a completely different person online, without thinking about what they are doing there. From there, an internal dissonance occurs, which might cause too much of unpleasant outcomes to a person. This issue is especially acute among children and adolescents – therefore, it needs to be addressed by both the scientific community and the society.
References
Berk, L. E. (2018). Development through the lifespan. Boston, USA: Pearson.