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Thoughts - The Social Dilemma [Netflix Documentary]

Your thoughts about social media abuse?

  • The government needs to regulate these businesses

    Votes: 11 29.7%
  • There is nothing to worry about

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something needs to be done but without government regulation

    Votes: 20 54.1%
  • Nothing should be done but all this information is concerning

    Votes: 6 16.2%

  • Total voters
    37

knz

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Hello Everyone,

I heard of this documentary called 'The Social Dilemma' today and decided to check it out. I think it's a very well put together documentary showing you the ins and outs of how social media systems, and therefore the billion-dollar companies behind them, have an impact on the world. What we see, and not see, has an influence on our opinions and behavior. What we see, and not see, is controlled by these companies. Or, in reality, by the AI they use that learns about our online behavior.

It's interesting to hear about some tricks being used to engage people on the online platforms. Interesting from a user point of view, as wel as ... a business point of view. While this documentary shows you the crazy side of these platforms and AI, it at the same time gives you little tips and tricks to engage with your customers or your community. You learn about what big platforms did in order to increase engagement, conversion, and income. Of course these platforms, besides being able to harm people in one way or another, are also able to connect people, and businesses, and do good. The pyschology behind all of this is fascinating.

I definitely enjoyed watching the documentary and would recommend it. Also, I'm curious about your thoughts and opinion about this documentary and the topic as a whole. I think there's quite some interesting lessons and takeaways for everyone here that will come to light when discussing it.

Thus, I made this thread and look forward to your comments!

 
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Last edited:

BellaPippin

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ISH I went for High Score first. We watch an episode of something with dinner since my boyfriend does watch tv. But I saw the trailer and was intrigued, although I'm a bit wary of it being something like Zeitgeist: Electric Boogaloo.
Also: Finished watching WW2 in color and its GOOD. And sad, but good docu
 
G

Guest1413tpa

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This made me finally kick my FB habit. Now my account is dormant, for when I have to use it for Ads.

I’m still on some other social media, but have dialed it back immensely. All prt of relearning myself and how to get into periods of deep work.
 
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RamonV

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This made me finally kick my FB habit. Now my account is dormant, for when I have to use it for Ads.

I’m still on some other social media, but have dialed it back immensely. All prt of relearning myself and how to get into periods of deep work.

Same here, i think that if you're not using social media to make money chances are you're wasting a ton of precious time and putting yourself in a position where you can be easily manipulated.
 
G

Guest1413tpa

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Same here, i think that if you're not using social media to make money chances are you're wasting a ton of precious time and putting yourself in a position where you can be easily manipulated.

Exactly. Twitter is the only platform I take seriously as a user now, because I’ve networked and made connections on there that translate into dollars in my pocket.

Stark contrast to LinkedIn, which has been nothing but a corporate circle jerk.

Made me happy to work as a media buyer.

100% this.
 
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Juke

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Just watched this and found it really describes the issues well. I recently disabled all my social media and have been far more productive because of it. I won’t be going back on it until it changes fundamentally or I need to for business reasons.

“If the product you are using is free then YOU are the product”
 

knz

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ISH I went for High Score first. We watch an episode of something with dinner since my boyfriend does watch tv. But I saw the trailer and was intrigued, although I'm a bit wary of it being something like Zeitgeist: Electric Boogaloo.
Also: Finished watching WW2 in color and its GOOD. And sad, but good docu

Ah! High Score, fun stuff, haven't yet seen in though. I honestly barely watch tv or netflix at all. But in some cases like this one I'm curious and want to know more hehe. I don't know Zeitgeist: Electric Boogaloo and WW2 yet, might be interesting to check out another time
 
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knz

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This made me finally kick my FB habit. Now my account is dormant, for when I have to use it for Ads.

I’m still on some other social media, but have dialed it back immensely. All prt of relearning myself and how to get into periods of deep work.

Good for you! Social media can be super distractive. And getting back into a workflow and proper focus can take like 25 minutes, so one can imagine the negative effect of being distracted every few mins.

Same here, i think that if you're not using social media to make money chances are you're wasting a ton of precious time and putting yourself in a position where you can be easily manipulated.

Fully agree here. I use FB mainly for the FB group I have with my target audience and ads. LinkedIn to show what I'm doing which has led to projects and clients as well. Other stuff never converted but can be distracting. This series can be quite an eye-opener. It also takes time to post stuff besides the fact that doing things in an organic way takes time. Building a following etc. Better put that time in business.

“If the product you are using is free then YOU are the product”

You made some good decisions and yea, this sentence/quote was amazing haha :D
 

gryfny

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I watched it yesterday and I think it's garbage. Don't get me wrong, I understand the dangers of social media and digital platforms. But I hardly got any new insights from the documentary.
 

MJ DeMarco

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I started watching this but only got 15 minutes into it ... then the internet went out.

Ill try again tonight, I should have some comments on it since it seems to reflect what I've been saying for the last few years.
 

Flint

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It starts with an interesting topic, but I couldn't finish it. Too much fear mongering, blaming "them" for making "us" addicted to social media and controlling our lives. This is definitely made with passive consumers in mind... and creating another viral show for their consumption. A great example of how to play to people's fears to generate traffic.

Also, the topic of privacy is important and deserves a bit more serious approach.
 

MitchC

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I’m glad there’s a thread on this so I don’t have to start one. Here’s the end of my last post in my progress thread.

“On a more personal side, I used to travel a lot and had a number of trips planned this year, I was getting extremely angry and frustrated at not being allowed to travel. Recently I watched the social dilemma on Netflix and realised it was social media that was making me feel like this.

While it may or may not be true that there’s no reason I shouldn’t be allowed to travel, there’s nothing I can do about it so there’s no use getting angry.

I’ve deleted all social media and I already feel better, I was a legit addict. 6+ hours a day on Instagram alone.

I’ve replaced it with reading on my phone for now, starting with a book by Jaron Lanier, who was in the social dilemma, called “ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now”.

The book is deep, Jaron is super smart, you can even gain some marketing insights from it.

It doesn’t talk about basic ideas like what a waste of time social media is, how addictive it is, how insecure it makes you, we’ve all heard that stuff, instead it talks deeply about how our brains work and how social media changes us and manipulates us in f*cked up ways without us noticing.”

This book could be next months book review @MJ DeMarco? “Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Right Now - Jaron Lanier“

The Social Dilemma would have been based on this book.
 
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knz

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It starts with an interesting topic, but I couldn't finish it. Too much fear mongering, blaming "them" for making "us" addicted to social media and controlling our lives. This is definitely made with passive consumers in mind... and creating another viral show for their consumption. A great example of how to play to people's fears to generate traffic.

Also, the topic of privacy is important and deserves a bit more serious approach.

I agree it does engage with the 'fear' people have! I viewed it from a perspective of neutral interest as I don't fear these things. I find it very interesting, especially the psychology side of it. Of course, social media has enough benefits, as long as it's used correctly. It's all about balance I suppose. It does provide some great insights :)
 

Flint

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As a parent, I'm very much interested in psychology of social media, smartphones, games etc. I think it's extremely important to understand how young minds are affected by being exposed to those things from early days. It's a problem of creating passive consumers and directionless drones vs. helping your children to become active, purposeful and fulfilled creators.

I find the narrative of the show off putting mainly because it's trying to stir the conspiracy theory pot and is optimised to squeeze the most out of their passive consumers by playing to their fears.

This is not a new topic and there are better, more thoughtful takes on it. Like this:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETB0x2UU6JE


Here's an example of this optimisation (again, think smartphones, social media apps and games, not just slot machines):
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYoQrL1hKoo


@Koenz I know you're working on a project to help parents and their gaming children, so you may be interested in many concepts discussed in the above interview, such as the zone and that it's not about winning.

@MJ DeMarco have you heard Natasha's rapid "rat lab" optimisation analogy before? I find it useful to explain how the The Script works (without "them" vs "us" conspiracy theories, more like something that has evolved with us).
 
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knz

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As a parent, I'm very much interested in psychology of social media, smartphones, games etc. I think it's extremely important to understand how young minds are affected by being exposed to those things from early days. It's a problem of creating passive consumers and directionless drones vs. helping your children to become active, purposeful and fulfilled creators.

I find the narrative of the show off putting mainly because it's trying to stir the conspiracy theory pot and is optimised to squeeze the most out of their passive consumers by playing to their fears.

This is not a new topic and there are better, more thoughtful takes on it. Like this:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETB0x2UU6JE


Here's an example of this optimisation (again, think smartphones, social media apps and games, not just slot machines):
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYoQrL1hKoo


@Koenz I know you're working on a project to help parents and their gaming children, so you may be interested in many concepts discussed in the above interview, such as the zone and that it's not about winning.

@MJ DeMarco have you heard Natasha's rapid "rat lab" optimisation analogy before? I find it useful to explain how the The Script works (without "them" vs "us" conspiracy theories, more like something that has evolved with us).

Very interesting, thank you for sharing! Already opened the videos in my browser so I'll have a look later today. And yes absolutely, knowledge about these concepts discussed in the video's you shared are things I can take with me in my work :)
 

Martin Boeddeker

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Hello Everyone,

I heard of this documentary called 'The Social Dilemma' today and decided to check it out. I think it's a very well put together documentary showing you the ins and outs of how social media systems, and therefore the billion-dollar companies behind them, have an impact on the world. What we see, and not see, has an influence on our opinions and behavior. What we see, and not see, is controlled by these companies. Or, in reality, by the AI they use that learns about our online behavior.

It's interesting to hear about some tricks being used to engage people on the online platforms. Interesting from a user point of view, as wel as ... a business point of view. While this documentary shows you the crazy side of these platforms and AI, it at the same time gives you little tips and tricks to engage with your customers or your community. You learn about what big platforms did in order to increase engagement, conversion, and income. Of course these platforms, besides being able to harm people in one way or another, are also able to connect people, and businesses, and do good. The pyschology behind all of this is fascinating.

I definitely enjoyed watching the documentary and would recommend it. Also, I'm curious about your thoughts and opinion about this documentary and the topic as a whole. I think there's quite some interesting lessons and takeaways for everyone here that will come to light when discussing it.

Thus, I made this thread and look forward to your comments!



The documentary is great. I spent years on this topic and have become very disillusioned.

I think we will just have to deal with this. On a global scale it will only get worse. The only thing we can do is to combat technology addiction on a personal level or in a small circle.

The people who do that will thrive.

Everybody else will continue to be manipulated.

Technolgy is just like sugar but worse because it's so gradual.

You don't see if someone gets intoxicated with all the craziness that is happening online and rarely visible in personal lives because it's like water to a fish. It's the new "normal"

But you see the results happening on a systemic level for exmaple in the US politics.
 

PizzaOnTheRoof

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Just wondering what Fastlaners think about this Netflix documentary on the dangers and impact of social media on society.

Lots of ex-Google/Facebook/Instagram higher up employees and entrepreneurs are in the doc discussing the issues.

Of course the call to action is that we need regulation, so what’s the solution?

Die hard free market capitalism or government regulation?

Personally I think people need to take responsibility for their own actions BUT I don’t think social media is only a tool. It is specifically designed to effect change and there are people who seek to use these tools for nefarious reasons.
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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Fear mongering/alarmism at its finest.
One thing they touch on in the doc is the rise in teen suicide that coincides with the introduction of social media.

Gen Z is having fewer relationships and less of a social life on average, and they grew up with this IV drip of dopamine since middle school.

Ever since TV came about we’ve had regulations against advertising to children.

Why is social media different when teens brains are literally underdeveloped?

I think we need to remember that we (this forum) are not the norm.
 

AidenRafi

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Havn't seen it, but i get the gist.

I put the theory into practice a while ago and deleted all social media.

In the past year my life has been more productive and interesting then it ever was with social media.

I will not be jumping back on unless i have something to sell.
 
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MitchC

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There’s another thread about this already:


There’s a book called Ten reasons to delete your social media right now by Jaron Lanier (the guy with the dreads in the doco) which goes into a lot more detail about your brain and how social media changes it and affects you. Its pretty crazy if anyone is interested in reading it, I’ve gone from 6 hours+ of Instagram a day to 0 since reading it and I feel A LOT better.
 

LordGanon

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These days, I actually deleted every social media I do not use for business reasons. It's pure mind poisoning that doesn't get justified by its usefulness. I'd actually compare it to smoking. When I open up Facebook, it's like watching a car crash.

Instagram? Even worse. People don't even realize it's just flickr for mobile without artistic merit. Trying to turn their lives into stock photos. Twitter? Oh, you'll only talk to people who agree with you. And there's a group of nutjobs for every belief. Never understood how people thought anything truly meaningful could be put in 140 characters or less.

And what I would be really interested in: How Tinder affected dating, sexuality, reproduction and mental health. Correlation doesn't mean causality, but the suicide rates of women, which have traditionally been far lower than those of men, in the UK have gone up with the size of its userbase. I only know hard data for UK, would be interesting to see data from other countries.
 

Andy Black

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I linked to a fascinating podcast where someone discussed the dangers of social media. I can’t for the life of me find it.
 
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Andy Black

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Never understood how people thought anything truly meaningful could be put in 140 characters or less.
Just wanted to say I prefer people getting their point across in less words. I’m a collector of one liners.
 

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