The social aspects of human interaction are due to many factors that are imperceptible to persons. Many people today use social networks and other Internet resources to get the information they need. However, any information in the online space can be created to manipulate people’s opinions and create false beliefs. The film The Social Dilemma highlights these issues and can have a beneficial effect on countering manipulation and misinformation.
Summary
The Social Dilemma is a documentary released by Netflix to raise people’s awareness of the internet. The main points in the film were that social networks use algorithms to manipulate people and how this can negatively affect the psyche (Kenny 01:15-05:00). At the same time, these arguments are supported by several facts given in the film. For example, interviews of many employees from well-known companies working in the social Internet field, such as Google or Mozilla. Thus, social networking algorithms significantly affect democratic values because they can impose specific thoughts on people, including those regarding politics. Social media can thus contribute to intense polarization and misinformation in society, which causes adverse effects and can affect human relationships.
Reaction
The theme and ideas of the video can be correlated with those discussed in the textbook and course materials. Social security is an important aspect that must be preserved in society. Thus, the impact of social networks on a person can deprive them of their ability to think critically. This is possible because various topics in the media are presented with so-called hard evidence, which automatically makes people think that the data shown is valid. These problems are fully correlated with those that people meet in modern realities. With the development of technology, it is becoming increasingly difficult for users of social networks to distinguish facts from fictitious ones designed to be manipulated. Moreover, with the advent of various neural networks that can fake photos, this topic is becoming even more relevant in the modern world.
This video caused me mixed feelings related to the fear that people do not understand much about modern social networking algorithms. This, in turn, is a threatening factor that can substantially impact society’s behavior. Thus, the material and the film are directly related to my life and everyday experience since I constantly use social networks and fall under the influence of the algorithms of their work. The film also influenced my ideas and feelings because I started to think about some of the material I constantly see online and whether this information contributes to my doing specific actions. After watching the documentary, the factor of manipulation of human actions is one of the most important for me to study.
It can be said that this work further increased my understanding of this topic by processing information from the film. It changed my perspective in such a way that I began to pay more attention to fact-checking and the development of critical thinking. The merit of the video is relatively high as it reveals many insights that improve people’s understanding of social networking algorithms. This is the importance of points that help to realize the importance of critical thinking. At the same time, the material is presented consistently, and the narration contributes to a better perception of the content. In this regard, I would recommend this video for viewing, as it can protect people from manipulation.
Conclusion
Watched documentary broadly represents the topics of social networking algorithms and various companies that collect data. They are aimed mainly at creating an opinion among people that will be beneficial to someone in this way by manipulating society. This is an urgent problem since the development of modern technologies is increasingly contributing to the immersion of people in the Internet space where they need to show critical thinking.
Works Cited
“The Social Dilemma (2020).” Vimeo, uploaded by Meg Kenny, 25 Sep. 2020.