The Social Dilemma is an excellent documentary, exploring the (mostly negative) impacts of social media on society.

“The Social Dilemma examines how social media’s design nurtures addiction to maximize profit and its ability to manipulate people’s views, emotions, and behavior and spread conspiracy theories and disinformation. The film also examines social media’s effect on mental health, in particular, the mental health of adolescents and rising teen suicide rates.” ¹

The movie is biased, and some of its details are contested. Some reviewers have complained that some important themes have been used to push the writers’ narative (see below). However, it is still an important watch for Digital Society students.

“It is extremely one-sided, and even more odd is that when the film came out, Tristan and friends were bullish on us all needing to save ourselves by deleting our social media accounts yet now we are meant to be on social media, on the very channels they denounced… nay, we are meant to be sharing the film there too.”. ²

Trailer #

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA Trailer (2020) Netflix from Kiwidisk on Vimeo.

©️ Cover image is an edited version of a photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash