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The Social Dilemma Movie Review

The Social Dilemma is a 2020 Netflix documentary film directed by Jeff Orlowski. It’s an urgent movie that has the power to make you really think about your phone.

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“We’ve created a system that biases towards false information.

Not because we want to, but because false information

makes the companies more money than the truth.

The truth is boring“

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The movie is about the rise of social media in particular and how devastating of an effect these websites can have on humanity as a whole. It is especially powerful for featuring a group of previous employees at big companies such as Google, Apple, Instagram and Facebook, thus it has that very honest feel to it.

The dangers of so-called surveillance capitalism and data mining are explored in-depth here. It is absolutely disturbing witnessing the work of these algorithms that are here personified as people in a strong move by the filmmakers. The ads have always been there, say these tech employees, but now is the time when they have fully evolved to know us and what we need, thus waiting for us at every turn. It’s a truly frightening development that will undoubtedly not stop in the near future.

There is a moment in the movie where the data on teenage girls suicide is brought up and it was truly a heartbreaking realization. The film showcases just how devastating filters and selfies can be to these fragile underdeveloped minds at such a crucial age.

What I really admired is putting a showcase on Facebook in particular. All of these social networks are terrible, but this one is the worst and the most manipulative. It was the first of its kind and now it has spread to older people as well.

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While I personally found the movie somewhat biased in regards to the emphasis on just the bad side of the Internet, they still did manage to emphasize some good aspects, in particular shining the light on the glory that is Wikipedia. I adore this website, I use it all the time and it’s my favorite site of them all, so finally seeing others acknowledge that was wonderful. It’s the only website that uses pure facts instead of ads and manipulation.

What I did not particularly care for here was the use of dramatization. Those dramatized sections were somewhat cringy to me as the acting was so bad and it all reeked of fakeness and those inspirational commercials for teenagers and kids. It was simply not necessary to employ real actors for this movie when the tech employees themselves were so interesting.

The Social Dilemma is at its most disturbing when comparing Internet users to drug addicts and shedding the light on the manipulative tactics of ads and search engines that use gambling techniques. That segment was truly eye-opening.

Yes, the conspiracy theories and the fake news are running rampant today and they need to be stopped, but the film mostly emphasized on the problems of the politically right and never those leaning left. It did preach the divide in the American society today, but still it should have been more neutral.

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Tristan Harris was particularly memorable among the former employees and all of his lines were filled with urgency. Yes, sometimes the film seemed overly alarmist, but for the most part it is essential viewing. Seeing these employees teach their kids not to use these websites was enough for me as they are more in the know about these issues than us.