CULTURE

Here’s Why You Must Watch the New Netflix Documentary, ‘The Social Dilemma’

Expsoure Labs/Netflix

The eye-opening new Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma examines the harmful impacts of social media and technology use on society.

Last week Netflix released their highly anticipated documentary The Social Dilemma. The documentary was first shown at this year’s Sundance Film Festival back in January, and it received nothing but positive reviews. 

The Social Dilemma centers around the harms of technology and social media, and it features several tech industry experts who previously worked for the world’s largest tech and social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest, and more.

These tech workers reveal the secrets and algorithms behind these sites that we all use on a daily basis and break down how each company uses ads to lure us in and keep us engaged on our phones 24/7.

 

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“The Social Dilemma” is now streaming on Netflix in over 190 countries around the world! We’re so grateful to our incredible team, cast, subjects, and partners who made #thesocialdilemma possible. This film meets the world in the midst of a global pandemic, ongoing racial justice mobilizations, a major presidential election, and a new socially distant school year. As many of us look to certain technologies for much-needed connection, if left unchecked, this power can undermine our democracy, mental health, and human rights. Now is the moment to come together and ignite a global conversation about our shared social dilemma and how we can realign technology with the interest of people, not profits. Watch today on Netflix and join us on 9/16 at 8:30 PM Eastern Standard Time for our Roundtable Q&A to dive deeper into the issues. Learn more at www.thesocialdilemma.com.

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Each worker left the tech companies they worked for after seeing how unethical their practices were. The companies know how harmful nonstop social media and technology use can be, but they don’t care to address them as long as they continue to make a profit.

Teens and young adults are especially prone to the negative effects of too much social media usage. The constant need to be perfect and accepted by peers is thrown in their faces on a daily basis, which in turn has negative impacts on their mental health and self-esteem. Studies show that social media has caused a significant increase in depression and suicide rates among teenage girls, and the numbers are only continuing to rise.

Not only has social media impacted our mental health, but it also has impacted democracy, as seen with Facebook and the 2016 election, and it continues to circulate fake news regarding serious and important issues.

Fans are loving the documentary, and it’s helping to have open discussions about the negatives surrounding social media and technology. It’s also helped to open peoples’ eyes and see how this is a problem that needs to be fixed.

Those featured in the documentary are hopeful that we can turn things around to help slow our technology addictions, but to do so it’ll take everyone being able to recognize that it’s a problem. Be sure to catch The Social Dilemma now streaming on Netflix.