The Social Dilemma. Are we being watched ?
Social media platforms has become a part of our daily routines like eating, drinking, sleeping, and even working out if not more important, on average people spend 144 minutes each day on social media, studying this helps us get better understanding how powerful the social media became in our lives.
In recent years it has become clear that behind these platforms with their attractive graphics, images and user friendly interfaces there is some kind of a manipulation of human mind and behavior with algorithms that generate profits for these companies with the Machiavellian precision: Infinite scrolling and push notifications keep users constantly engaged, personalized recommendations use data not just to predict but also to influence our actions, turning users into easy prey for advertisers and propagandists.
Netflix’s documentary “The Social Dilemma” was a new eye opener with shocking interviews with the ex maestros and engineers of these addictive platforms, how they control your life with a simple programing code or algorithm to decide for you: what do we watch? where do we react? what is our mood? who do we love and hate? what should we buy? where should we go? and even who we should date?
After watching the documentary, the first question that pops up into our minds; do we still have free will in our lives? is there anything left we can choose or decide? At this moment; we stand on a cross road to decide between two choices, should we cancel or de-activate all of our social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp…etc. ) and go back to the old mobile phones where the only option we had is to receive and send text messages and voice calls, and bear with the social consequences of this decision. Or do we keep all of those accounts and ignore the conspiracy theory documentaries being bold and confident that there is nothing for us to hide on our social accounts and keep our life secrets of in our minds.
To conclude; will this be the answer to our main question: is there anything left where we can choose or decide? the answer is Yes. We can still be social and active on these platforms. We can continue to post, tweet and comment, and maintain an extensive list of friends and followers, provided we remain cautious and knowledgeable about privacy requirements to mitigate any potential future abuse.
Sources;
(https://www.broadbandsearch.net/blog/average-daily-time-on-social-media)
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/09/movies/the-social-dilemma-review.html)
