The Social Dilemma



"The Social Dilemma" is an American docudrama that was released in 2020. The film was directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe and Vickie Curtis. This docudrama that can be watched on Netflix talks about the negative social effects of social media. It uses the scene of a family of five who continue to get affected by the problems of social media use. Along with this they interview many social media experts who have worked in high-level positions for companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google. 

My social media class is currently watching this movie together in class. We are about halfway through the film and so far it is very interesting. I have found it intriguing how these tech experts are being so upfront and honest with the audience about how social media can be unhealthy. They could easily be using their talents to continue to create new ways to keep society addicted to social media but instead they are telling the audience what is actually going on behind the public eye. 

Tristan Harris, who spent three years as the Google Design Ethicist spoke about how social media is intentionally addictive and manipulative. He talked numerous times about how social media companies are tracking users' every move on every platform. Even details many users do not think about such as the time spent on another user's account or how long someone looks at a post. Something I found even more interesting was that he mentioned that he is most addicted to Gmail out of all platforms. This was not something I was expecting because that is not a common answer and I personally try not to go on Gmail unless I need to. I also found it interesting how he made the point that although he knows how experts get users to be addicted to social media he still gets sucked in and trapped himself.

Overall, this film is extremely interesting to watch and learn more about the inside and truths about social media. It is easy to read about these things but visualizing it and hearing from experts that have been on the inside of big technology companies is even more informative.  

Comments

  1. Paige BashawatyApril 15, 2026 at 1:29 PM

    Hey McKenna! I agree that this film is very interesting. I also agree that it was intriguing that the tech experts were being upfront and almost having contradicting opinions on what their job title has them do. I am excited to finish this film!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Emma KeyApril 16, 2026 at 1:09 PM

    Hi McKenna! I also have been enjoying this film, as it is really eye opening. I also think it was interesting how gmail can be addictive to some people. Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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