Taglines: The dark side of social media.
The Social Dilemma dives into the manipulation techniques it claims that social media companies use to addict their users, and the psychology that is leveraged to achieve this end. The interviewees state that this often leads to increased depression and increased suicide rates among teens and young adults.
Orlowski uses a cast of actors to portray this in the dramatization. Ben, a teenager (played by Skyler Gisondo), slowly falls for these manipulation tactics and dives deeper into a social media addiction.
The dangers of artificial intelligence and fake news are touched on. Tristan Harris argues that this is a “disinformation-for-profit business model” and that companies make more money by allowing “unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price”. Wikipedia is mentioned as a neutral landscape that shows all users the exact same information without curating or monetizing it.
The interviewees restate their fear about artificial intelligence’s role in social media and the influence these platforms have on society, arguing that “something needs to change.”
The Social Dilemma is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis. The documentary provides a deep dive into on how social media’s design is meant to nurture an addiction, manipulate people and governments, and spread conspiracy theories and disinformation. The film also examines the issue of social media’s effect on mental health (including the mental health of adolescents and rising teen suicide rates).
The film features interviews with many former employees, executives, and other professionals from top tech companies and social media platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, Mozilla, and YouTube. These interviewees draw on their primary experiences at their companies to discuss how such platforms have caused negative problematic social, political, and cultural consequences. Some of the interviewees qualify that social media platforms and big tech companies have provided some positive change for society as well. These interviews are presented alongside scripted dramatizations of a teenager’s social media addiction.
The Social Dilemma premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020, and was released on Netflix on September 9, 2020. The documentary went on to be viewed in 38,000,000 homes within the first 28 days of release. It received 7 nominations for the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards in 2021.
The Social Dilemma (2020)
Directed by: Jeff Orlowski
Starring: Tristan Harris, Aza Raskin, Jeff Seibert, Justin Rosenstein, Shoshana Zuboff, Jaron Lanier, Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward, Vincent Kartheiser, Anna Lembke
Screenplay by: Davis Coombe, Vickie Curtis, Jeff Orlowski
Production Design by: Adam Wheatley
Cinematography by: John Behrens, Jonathan Pope
Film Editing by: Davis Coombe
Costume Design by: Suzie Ford, Melissa Karsh
Set Decoration by: Amie Bordelon, Taylor Jean
Music by: Mark A. Crawford
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for some thematic elements, disturbing / violent images and suggestive material.
Distributed by: Netflix
Release Date: January 26, 2020 (Sundance), September 9, 2020 (United States)
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