The Social Dilemma

The Social Dilemma is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis about the negative social effects of social media. Synopsis This documentary dives into the psychological underpinnings and the manipulation techniques by which, it claims, social media and technology companies addict users. People's online activity is watched, tracked, and measured by these companies, who then use this data to build artificial intelligence models that predict the actions of their users. Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, explains in the documentary that there are three main goals of tech companies: The engagement goal: to increase usage and to make sure users continue scrolling. The growth goal: to ensure users are coming back and inviting friends that invite even more friends. The advertisement goal: to make sure that while the above two goals are happening, the companies are also making as much money as possible from advertisements. Harris summed this up with the warning: "If you're not paying for the product, you are the product", paraphrasing earlier insights from Television Delivers People, Tom Johnson and Andrew Lewis.