Algorithms, influencers and hashtags

A review of "The Social Dilemma"

By Juliet Swimmer, Staff Writer

★★★★☆

Netflix’s groundbreaking documentary, “The Social Dilemma” directed by Jeff Orkowski, is at times shockingly disturbing and extremely insightful, and outlines the effects that social media can have on our lives and highlights who is to blame. The film features tech experts who bring the dangers of social networking to the forefront of our lives. “The Social Dilemma” had some eye opening pieces of information, however it dramatized the danger to the point where it was scary and seemed unrealistic. 

The documentary did an amazing job displaying the effects social media has on people, their communities, the economy and even democracy. The director chose to use  “talking head” interviews with early inventors and important people working at large social media companies such as Instagram and Facebook. These interviews set up the key issues, and the filmmakers also used animation and archival videos to help drive home their points. Additionally, the film makers used a very unusual and innovative technique—a narrative film living inside the documentary. The narrative film showed how the life of a teenage boy named Ben is negatively impacted by social media. These varied film techniques made the information much easier to comprehend. With the information being so easy to understand, it forces the viewer to really think about how the presented problems impact your own life. 

Another thing this film does really well is to thoroughly explain the issues it brings up, including an explanation of how our democracy and our mental health are impacted by social media. And the film argues that the problems are quickly getting worse. According to the official website, on social media in just the past two years, the number of countries with political disinformation campaigns doubled.

Most of the documentary will put you at the edge of your seat with your eyes glued to the screen wanting to hear more. However it still had some flaws. While the parallel narrative of the film was mostly helpful, some of it fell short. For example, in the narrative film portion, there are three men who are supposed to operate an algorithm that feeds information to Ben to keep him hooked on his phone. The algorithm sends him personalized notifications that just did not ring true. This felt very unrealistic, and contradicted the filmmakers’ message about how algorithms manipulate people. 

Another issue with the film is that it made it seem like social media’s manipulations would doom us all forever. Social media does, after all, also bring lots of value to people and society, but the filmmakers downplayed these positives and emphasized the negatives. In the end, it leaves viewers with an unsettled feeling. Despite these flaws, the film did an amazing job bringing awareness to issues most would have probably overlooked about social media.