The Social Dilemma

    So, the past couple of classes we have been watching The Social Dilemma in class. The Social Dilemma is a documentary on Netflix that was released in 2020. It aims to talk about the tough subject of social media and how the whole purpose is trying to get a user addicted. They interview people who worked at these powerhouses of the tech industry that decided to leave their jobs for some reason. They are out trying to spread awareness as to the bad side of potential that social media can have. With all of that being said I do have a couple of problems with it.

    While it is a documentary to bring awareness to this and the problems it could bring, my problem is how exaggerated it is. They cut back and forth from the experts giving their thoughts and experiences on this topic and then show a family type scenario going through some of the things getting talked about. But the family is so exaggerated that it is hard to relate to. There is this one scene where the mom decides to take all of the family members phones so they can spend quality time at dinner. This, however, is relatable but then it becomes bizarre and makes not a lot of sense. She locks the phones in this jar and the daughter decides to smash it open to see her phone and then just walks away. I always thought this scene was corny and did not make a ton of sense. Another example is the son who we follow the most during the family scenes literally like quits soccer because he was too focused on his phone and I just feel like that is unrealistic.

    While I am sitting here nitpicking this documentary, I have to give it the credit it deserves. It is a very good watch and I would recommend it to people. The experts have real experience and the things they say really start to make you think. It has very good pacing and it is not too hard to stay focused on it. It is entertaining and makes you realize just how powerful social media can be.