“The Social Dilemma,” a 90-minute documentary on the potentially dangerous effects of social media, has fared unexpectedly well after its release on Sept. 9, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90% and a ranking of the fifth most-watched show on Netflix this week.
The self-proclaimed “documentary-drama hybrid” takes a close look at how major social media companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and other sites push out targeted ads to earn money. By collecting user data and analyzing it, these companies are able to push out content that the user is most likely to watch—fostering addiction amongst the majority of social media users.
The documentary then highlights the effects of this addiction; it takes a closer look at deteriorating mental health amongst adolescents, the increasingly rapid spread of conspiracy theories, and how politicians manipulate social media for their electoral campaigns. Such claims are supported by a broad range of expert testimonies and statistical evidence presented in ways that make it easier for the viewers to understand.
One unique feature of the documentary is the way that it’s structured. It begins with interviews from former leaders of major Silicon Valley companies, such as Tim Kendall, former President of Pinterest, and Justin Rosenstein, the co-creator of Facebook’s ‘like’ button. They talk in-depth about the unethical intentions of certain companies and how these companies collect, use, and process data.
However, these interviews are also spliced together with a fictional drama narrative that follows the story of a teenager battling with social media addiction. The teenager, Ben, finds himself missing out on social experiences due to his addiction.
In the drama portion, the documentary also personifies the concept of Artificial Intelligence as three men standing behind a desk and manipulating Ben into joining a radical political group. This intense visualization in the documentary serves to explain complex topics such as data manipulation and surveillance capitalism through real-world situations. “As I was learning more and more about how the software worked, I just kept picturing the algorithms on the other side of the screen,” director Jeff Orlowski said to WWD.
After the interviews and the fictional narrative, the documentary focuses the viewer’s attention back towards the main claims by providing general narration that summarizes and provides background information.
Many critics praised the concise manner in which the documentary compiled and connected current issues such as white supremacy, COVID-19 misinformation and mental health. The unique format of this documentary allowed the writers and collaborators to present an impactful story on social media use.
Article by Vismaya Paul Mohindra of Richard Montgomery High School
Photo Courtesy of Netflix