The social dilemma

Introduction

In recent years, the importance of social media has increased by leaps and bounds. Digital revolution has brought into reality the access to information, communication, and global connectivity at a very high speed. On the one hand platforms availed to us like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have made our lives easy, in terms of the dissemination of information fast, not only to the privileged few but to all. On the other hand it also paints many dark sides to it. Lurking right beneath the surface of such platforms, algorithms and data can be viewed that shape our society and our behaviour at the core. An exemplar to this critical context is the documentary "The Social Dilemma," with the attempt to unveil the dark underbelly of this system, especially pointing out the dangers involved with the tools we use day in and day out.

While the dominance of social media continues to rise further into our lives, then, it becomes important to focus on its challenges and risks, marking a new subject of interest to our societies. It demands that we understand its complexity and devise appropriate solutions. In this work we will be trying to understand the questions raised by "The Social Dilemma" in its effects at an individual and a societal level, the risks it carries along, and possible solutions it offers. By addressing these inquiries, we can enhance our understanding of these risks and devise strategies to maximize the benefits of these tools.

The relevance of social media

The origin of social media

The birth of social media is characterized by technological breakthroughs and the readiness of societies to adopt them until they became cultural phenomena. You can trace the emergence of social media to the early years of the internet when Six Degrees and Friendster were among the companies pioneering the idea of networking. They gave users the opportunity to create personal profiles and connect with others, therefore fostering an online identity for individuals. However, the revolution was completed when Mark Zuckerberg came up with Facebook. Initially, Zuckerberg had the site set up only for Harvard University, then opened it to other colleges and universities, and finally all internet users. This became a crucial point in the development of the use of social media because Facebook took off from here, surging the company to dominance in the market. Later, other social media companies like Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok were introduced and created new ways of interacting with each other, expanding the area of possibilities for social media. These platforms expanded the functionality of social media, acting as channels for communication, flow of information and arenas for political discourse. Yet, at the same time, this evolution also reveals the inherent dichotomy of social media or in other words a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it allows access to the Internet, possibly for the enrichment of knowledge through education and dissemination of information. On the other hand, it gives scope for the exchange of opinions, which, coupled with misinformation, can create narratives and foster polarization, often leading to adversarial attitudes toward established institutions, as represented by government entities.

The growing role of social media

There are several reasons why there has been an increased tendency towards social media usage over the past couple of decades. First, they are fast and accessible—no matter where you are. This access is further extended with a user-friendly interface, adapted for smartphone and internet usage, making them easy for the user to utilize. Besides, they offer entertaining sides whether it is with memes, a lot of videos or live streams, which help to develop online communities by which one gets a sense of belonging and support. Moreover, for others it is a self-presentation media where they enjoy polishing their digital identities. These platforms are increasingly used for professional purposes, either by employees looking for career networking or companies trying to market themselves. Social media is, therefore increasingly seen as a way of interacting with other people and companies, giving a sense of participatory that promotes its place in one's life.

The mechanisms behind the business models

Criticism of the business models of social media platforms

The critical element regarding this topic is the monetizing of user data and the running of algorithms to personalize content for users individually. This kind of business model aims at increasing the engagement of users and draws advertisers for targeted marketing efforts. The nature and intentions of these platforms, though, are subject to ever-increasing scrutiny, especially in the light of "The Social Dilemma," which brought to light the damaging effects of such practices. Perfectly curated content could help in fragmenting society, developing silos where individuals are coaxed to stay. The platforms often try to reach the maximum of user attention, leading to information overload and even addiction.

The social and psychological consequences of social media

Social media has been realized to have both social and psychological impacts on its users or people in general. Psychologically, overuse of social media can cause emotional damage through anxiety, depression, and self-distorted image. It has been realized that constant comparing with the idealized life on social media platforms encourages feelings of inadequacy. Therefore, the pressure to be constantly available has a tendency of causing anxiety and disengagement from various situations. Socially, the use of social media leads to increased polarization in society and causes societal fragmentation. Algorithmic personalization keeps users in filter bubbles, feeding them content that affirms their existing beliefs, and where interaction can become hostile and hate-laden, the spread of toxic voices is facilitated. It enhances social fragmentation since the way in which the members have their lifestyles regulated is predetermined. In summary, this shows the need to have a critically informed perception of the use of social media and shows the importance of taking proactive measures against such risks.

Data protection and privacy

Considering the individual and societal implications of this issue, dealing with data protection will be very critical as it has significant effects on these two categories. One of the major concerns is that most of the users are not adequately aware of what the platforms they use daily collect and do with their personal data. It includes personal data such as interests, geographical locations, and browsing histories.

Moreover, the practices used to collect such data are not transparent at all. User data is often not only used internally within the company but also sold to third parties. Also, selling data to media companies happens without consumer consent or the option for consumers to control where their data is sold. This is how Apple launched a commercial move to let users know that some applications, like Facebook, had access to all the data stored on their phones, hence reminding them actively about this fact. After that, the owners of Facebook were involved in several lawsuits, and changes were made in the sphere of privacy data as a consequence. The collection of data raises a lot of ethical questions. While on one side individual users normally agree to privacy policies without reading their content, on the other side, it is companies who should give users the opportunity to know all the information in order to get a better overview.

The government’s responsibility

It is also important to think about the role and level of responsibility that governments should play in solving the problems that this work and the documentary talk about. One type of solution is the regulation of technology companies, at least in terms of responding to concerns about privacy. A basic idea here could be to make things more transparent between the companies and the users. To start with, governments could legislate to improve the protection of customer data, keeping the data of their customers safe. With clearer regulations of disclosure, companies will have to publicly declare whether they sell customer data to other parties. A filter would be implemented, which for example would trigger a notification that asked if the user was sure that they wanted to allow their data to be sold to any third party. This filter would provide a more truthful, transparent, and less misleading view of how many users or customers the company has. Their customers or potential customers could make a decision of whether they want to become customers or not, based on such policies.

Finally, there is also a need to take a tougher stance on companies that break regulations on the protection of data so that companies can be held more liable for their actions. Another approach is to ensure that the platforms are more transparent about their algorithms for feeding and recommending information to users. Customer awareness of these algorithms will enable them to be more critical of the content they receive and understand better why some adverts come their way. Independent auditing of these algorithms by third parties would further cement fairness and neutrality in the dispensation of content.

Conclusion

The goals of the documentary: the social dilemma

The movie shows that many users of social media are still unaware of the consequences, especially on human behavior, as I had mentioned earlier. It, therefore, calls for more sensitization and tools to understand the algorithms that companies use, in their bids to apply social media in the most effective ways to reach consumers. As a result, the documentary points out the need for government regulations. Government involvement can force corporations to minimize negative effects on people by imposing punitive measures for failing to comply with privacy policies. Regulations regarding social media content would increase corporate accountability in the influence of user-generated content, which would decrease the risk of social stratification.

In this regard, the most imperative aspect to this topic is the emphasis on individual responsibility in the use of social media. The film aims at encouraging the audience to change their usage patterns and habits, and to bring a more critical and reflective approach when interacting with the said apps and platforms. A good example is the testimony of a former employee in the documentary, who describes working on projects to further addict users to apps, like adding features as it is with the loading button the case. He describes how just looking at the loading logo while it is proceeding and then ending the loading process can condition users to have a physiological response that give them a “dopamine hit” and makes them feel satisfied, and, on the other side, makes them feel incomplete if not feeling the completion of that process for about 10 minutes. He presents an example from his personal life in which he left his smartphone in the car on purpose so that he can spend more time with his family. However, he found himself going back to the car so he can be on his smartphone again, which simply shows that even him could not resist. This is a moving example of personal responsibility and the struggles that come with self-regulation of usage. Consequently, it remains the burden of the user to appreciate usage patterns and be careful when interacting with social media platforms.

The bottom line

Looking at the impacts of social media on the young population and the societies all over the world, there is a realization that there are both benefits and risks that come with it. The particular impact on children and young adults, from cyberbullying, internet addiction, and self-esteem development, warrants closer scrutiny and the consideration of remedies by parents, educators, and governments. It is important that we design means to protect the youth from the possible dangers of social media and their digital well-being. At the same time, we have to consider the effects on whole societies or nations and how they interrelate only through social media. Misinformation, political manipulation, and societal movements driven by social media should awaken us which is why the movie calls for organized regulation on a global scale. We have the power and the responsibility to seize the opportunities provided by social media for our mutual good and to control the threats from it.

A possible creative solution approach linked with the topic of the social dilemma is advocating for decentralized social media alternatives in place of the mainstream centralized ones. For these alternatives to be devised and encouraged, the other social platforms should either include greater data sovereignty or be decentralized in nature. This would then make it easier for users to claim sovereignty over their data and prevent the chances of manipulation or exploitation by the companies for monetization purposes. This aim to halt business monetization goals would partly reduce algorithms' influence on people from what it is today. It is a commonplace fact that if you Google a keyword which represents a product, you will see the related advertisements all over the place for the upcoming days. But now, if those financial incentives of companies are reduced, these algorithms would slightly lose this much control as well.

This can further be implemented with the use of blockchain technology or an equivalent that guarantees the safe and tamper-proof way of managing data. Such technology is underpinned by distributed networks of computers, which guarantee the authenticity of data and the ownership of this data by the individual creator as opposed to any centralized entity, including corporations and governments. What follows from this is that this would not only cut out the current domination of social media giants but, more importantly, boost user autonomy and self-determination. Moreover, the applications could add features that encourage responsible use. For instance, allowing applications to shut down once the set time for using them expires. The users would, therefore, be more productive and reduce the negative impacts that are related to misuse of applications, such as mental health problems. For instance, Apple gives room for these functions. When you set a so called screen time, you can limit your time of usage of an app and once you reach the limit of usage you can no longer open the app. Ultimately, these are restrictions set by the user themselves, and one can obviously ignore the limit once the limit is reached but even though a good start. It is only an introductory approach by Apple to control social media usage, but by far not the final state. Summing it all up, decentralization of social media platforms provides a sort of transformative solution to the pitfalls that social dilemma poses, in the sense that users have a leeway to bring balance and responsibility into their digital lives.