By Neeraj Nanda
THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, English; Genre-Documentary/Science; Skyler Gisondo, Kara Hayward, Vincent Kartheiser; Writers Davis Coombe, Vickie Curtis, Jeff Orlowski; Director: Jeff Orlowski; PG; 1 hour 34 minutes.
MELBOURNE, 11 September 2020: About more than two decades back working for a 24-hour TV channel in New Delhi, I heard about the internet being there in the Press Information Bureau (PIB), New Delhi and accessed Email from for the first time in my company from a friends account. Little did I know then I will be living here and my life will change. In fact, I did not care and was more interested in news and later social media.
I felt many times social media is addictive and feel controlled by it. Even your posts reach is controlled. Likes lead to much more. It’s seductive and intrusive. This is the theme of the timely documentary. Former employees of social media companies tell it all.
And, there is a family suffering.
Through interviews and a convincing narrative, the documentary tells us how these companies manipulate human behavior to get profits. How social media overpowers human nature. And companies work on it. It’s unchecked capitalism. The most popular social media has become the best tool for an authoritarian system. There is no privacy. Or, it’s an assault on democracy. And much more.
To sum up this ‘business model’ is the ‘religion of profit at all costs’. But the ex-employees who created it also feel ‘it is not a law of physics’. Guilt is on their faces. It’s a model subject to change or can be changed. A sort of Frankenstein in need of control.
So, are you now going to delete your social media account? Maybe yes or not. A must see compelling documentary to know what you are in.
I give it 4 and a half stars out of 5.
