The Social Dilemma
The largest complaint I have seen about this film is that it includes vital but already understood basic information about the world as it exists. I have to heartily disagree. For every millennial who has been dutifully educating themselves on the internet since the Myspace age, there is a tech unsavvy adult who doesn’t know the difference between HDMI and VPN. (It’s me if that wasn’t abundantly clear.) While we all hope to be proficient or even expert at the realities of the internet by now, that is far from the case. Every day perfectly intelligent adults fall for phishing scams and hoaxes, and spread misinformation without even realizing it.
This documentary covers the complexities of social media companies’ mechanisms and how they make you click on links, buy products, and engage with unfamiliar media. It also explains the negative impact social media has on children, societal schisms, and what our future will look like if these issues are not resolved. The worst case scenario is that no one trusts any source and large and time sensitive issues like fascism and climate change continue to escalate until we’re all dead or wishing we were.
Undercutting the important points that the film makes are several dramatic fictional recreations of technology’s impact on families’ daily lives. There is no question: these are completely unneeded. While the younger daughter’s issues with her self image were emotionally impactful, the same point could have been made with a montage or stock footage. All the story threads of the film ultimately go nowhere and look out of place amongst the interviews of tech nerds, writers, and social experts.
I appreciated that the filmmakers later added in extra footage that covered the coronavirus. While political unrest, climate change, and racism are definitely more pressing concerns, this pandemic is a large factor in what we can do next in combating them online, and the sooner misinformation is stopped the sooner we can wholly address those issues. For me, Tik Tok has been especially corrosive during this pandemic. While the app has a lot of inspirational content centered around mental illness, LGBTQIA+ content, and feminism it also features a lot of cool, well-dressed, beautiful people living their best lives. I had no idea that my recent reemergence of body dysmorphia and disordered eating was a direct result of the constant watching of this content. In case no one has told you today: you’re beautiful, you matter, and you deserve to be yourself. Take care of yourself out there.
Like the recently released Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal, which also mixed fiction and documentary to tell a story, this doc tries to relate to its audience as much as possible. I think there are some compelling arguments, but it worries me that documentarians are more and more made to speak directly to their audiences rather than relying on them to come to their own conclusions and find the thread they’re laying out. I only hope we don’t get to the point where a story is seen as more important than facts.
