The documentary "The Social Dilemma", which was shown on Netflix a few days ago, ranked high among the 10 most viewed films on the platform, is the most important this year because of its content.

Whether you agree with his approach or not, the thoughts he raises remain terrifying and invite contemplation and pause for a long time.

We tweet, we like, and we share— but what are the consequences of our growing dependence on social media?

Silicon Valley insiders reveal how social media is reprogramming civilization.

#TheSocialDilemma Only on Netflix, starting September 9th.

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- The Social Dilemma (@SocialDilemma_) August 29, 2020

The film addresses anyone who uses social media platforms and famous sites, mainly: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Instagram, and others;

So if you are among those, who wake up and sleep without their phone being left, never hesitate to watch it right away.

The movie is based on insider and semi-dangerous information provided by programmers and designers accustomed to working in these huge companies, and even supervising the development of technologies that would attract the largest possible sector of people, before they discover that they themselves fall into the trap of addiction to these sites and their inability to dispense with them.

This prompted some of them to try to find a solution, or at least educate those who are obsessed with these platforms of the serious damage they cause in their lives, believing that change will not result unless there is public pressure threatening the huge material gains that the owners of these companies reap.

You are the commodity

One of the points raised by the work is that companies do not get their profits in return for selling products and advertisements directly, but by selling the users themselves, or more precisely, their data and the information they collect on them, which does not happen explicitly.

The Social Dilemma


is a documentary film that talks about social media and all its harms, and how we "the product"


is

. It

is possible that we know it, but what you hear from people who have participated in the sites has a different effect ..

AHMED HAMDY.

(@ a_hamdy10) September 26, 2020

But in the presence of artificial intelligence algorithms, technologists and the systems used can exploit the information not only that the person records about himself, but inferred from the pattern that he follows in his behavior and the choices he likes as well, in order to attract his attention and force him to continue to the point of being addicted to the presence and use of services, which is what In the film, it is described as a policy of motivation by reward.

Profit by hearsay

Another disaster revealed by the film, which is the companies deliberately allowing the promotion of rumors and false information, after they found that to bring profit, perhaps more than the ads themselves, because false news spreads faster, which can be exploited, whether to benefit from it economically or politically.

It has been proven that over time, it results in changing the behavior of users without their attention, which makes it the worst and unexpected influence at all, especially since they can pass out extremist or influential ideas as they like.

The perfect way to make radicals

One of the twisted ways that these companies also follow to influence users is that they deliberately expose them to people and news that share the same interests and opinions, without presenting the other opinion, making them over time fanatical to their opinions, believing that they are the most correct and followed, and that others are pure gullible and stupid or perhaps they were Terrorists, which increases the spread of hate crimes consequently.

This means that the users of these services are isolated in one way or another from the world, and are placed in a bubble that is not always of their choice, which makes them see only one side of the coin completely different from the face that the other sees, even if that other is their partner in life.

Law or revolution?

According to the opinions of technology workers, companies have nothing to make them dispense with the huge profits that they reap, for the human being and his psychological and mental health is their last concern, which has led some specialists to believe - according to their statements at work - that the continuation of this situation will cause a civil war in the future. .

The only solution that may prevent this is for a protest revolution to occur from the users themselves after seeing that information, demanding the enactment of laws to limit the use of personal data, and for those platforms to be subject to strict control, and thus the resulting harm is minimized.

11 things you can do to stop being manipulated by your phone, according to the tech experts on Netflix's 'The Social Dilemma' https://t.co/EK4ook8MWq via @businessinsider #TheSocialDilemma

- The Social Dilemma (@SocialDilemma_) September 24, 2020

Technical level

On the technical level, the work is modest, and specifically that story parallel to the information it tells us about the film's true protagonists, the technicians.

Although this does not prevent the plot, despite its simplicity and straightforwardness, it broke the monotony of documentary work, and I drew attention to two points and prayed:

The first is that the impact of social networking sites and their content on adolescents, causes an increase in the rate of depression and then suicide at this age, or even the rate of those wishing to have plastic surgery.

The second is the addictive state that many have reached, and how phones made them completely separated from their families, emotionally and socially.

I watched the movie The Social Dilemma, and I felt that I wanted to target the mobile from the 40th floor

- Meron🌻 (@Merna_G_Eldaly) September 27, 2020

"Social Dilemma" is an American drama-documentary film produced in 2020, directed by Geoff Orlovsky, but with a careful look, it can be classified as a psychological horror film, the protagonists of which are you, me, family and close friends.

Only you will decide after ignorance has become a luxury beyond your reach, whether you will take a step back or are determined to stay on board this express train that aims to exploit you to serve greater goals than you, before it expels you to the side of the road, while you are addicted and lacking self-confidence.

(THREAD) Here's a brief thread on THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, a documentary / drama now on Netflix that's getting a lot of deserved buzz.

I strongly recommend folks watch this, though I do have mixed feelings about parts of it.

I break down a few of my thoughts here.

I hope you'll read on.

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- Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) September 23, 2020