The Social Dilemma is a documentary that came out in January of 2020; it features many former employees of huge technology companies, as well as a cast of actors who act out the "docu-drama" on screen. Since it's release, the Netflix production has gained a huge popularity for it's in-depth analysis of the dominant ideologies of our modern-day society.
When I watch anything that says computers, phones, social media, etc. are bad, I almost instantaneously dislike that thing. It's hard to try and have an objective standpoint while digesting the information; but that's not to say the information is wrong. It's just different.
I enjoyed seeing the different commentary from ex-employees of companies we all know- Twitter, Facebook, Google, Firefox, etc. It was nice to see people who worked for different companies commenting on other companies as well as their own. I really liked the quote that Aza Raskin (ex-firefox employee) gave near the beginning of the film. He said that "advertisers are the customers- we're the thing being sold," which really resonated with me. I've worked in the back end of an advertising department before, so I was able to connect this quote to a previous experience in my life.
I'm not going to delete my social media after watching this, but I have been trying to lessen my screen time in the past year and this has given me another good reason to do so. So many of our "free" apps or social media cost us in ways that aren't monetary. For me, it's time better spent pursuing what I actually enjoy. I'd rather use my time to make myself money- not some social media company. It's like they say: If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.
https://www.thesocialdilemma.com
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