Imagine a world, where people-we are being manipulated by digital advertisers. This is one of the most important problems that is caused by the Social Dilemma. Social Dilemma focuses on how big social media companies manipulate users by using algorithms that encourage addiction to their platforms. It is called “digital advertising”. It also shows how platforms collect personal data to target users with advertisements. For social media companies, if users will view more ads and invite more friends, they generate more money for such companies. Furthermore, notifications — for example, the alert that’s generated when a user is tagged in a photo or others request to follow them — keep teens stuck to their phones, without realizing that their behavior is being manipulated. Growing evidence that teens, as well as adults, tend to stay away from spending time with friends and family members. Instead, they deal with challenging emotions by turning to social media for distraction and entertainment. In this way, addiction to social media takes hold and draws teens away from more enriching experiences. “A whole generation is more anxious, more fragile, and more depressed.” social psychologist Jonathan Haidt said.
Where is it going to?
Now most platforms, social media companies and tech giants are using manipulation techniques in order to addict their users. Even they make different algorithms that are designed to get our attention. When we check and there are notifications on our phone, we continue to check and check and check. We need to be aware of just how strong the link between social media and degrading mental health is. It leads to increased depression, anxiety, increased suicide rates among teens and adults. There are lots of movies and articles that touch on the vulnerability of teenagers who use platforms like Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and others every single day and are influenced by them. “The Social Dilemma” which was released on Netflix is the most popular one. In the documentary, a dramatization shows a young adolescent becoming fixated on her perceived defects after she posts a selfie and one of her friends makes a comment about her ears. Hence, mainly it talks about the harms of social media. Moreover, we can see how companies or platforms manipulate people, especially teenagers and how our attention is becoming a product for them. Mike Brooks says in one of his interviews. This documentary has a single, and simple, message: Put down your phone, you’re being manipulated by technology.
Illustration: https://dribbble.com/shots/14182464-The-Social-Dilemma
“If companies are capturing and manipulating our attention, how can we control our lives?”
Social dilemmas occur when people do not fully take into account the effects and results. Considering that this is a problem for people of all ages, we all must fight against it.
Therefore we can:
Restrict our privacy settings. Unfortunately, even if we do restrict our privacy settings on platforms, they can still collect and use our “platform” data. This includes contents that we read, “like”, click and others.
Limit our screen time.
Know what task we want to complete on social media and don’t waste more time.
When social media is making us feel anxious or depressed, take a break.
Make conversations with others about how much time they will spend online.
Encourage people around us to do research before sharing posts to make sure they’re not spreading fake news.
Limit the time we spend on social media
What do we need to do for our future?
A social dilemma is a situation in which a group of people must work together to achieve some goal that no one person can easily fix alone. Hope that the public will catalyze new regulations and influence tech companies to better protect the young people who use their products. Bearing in mind that kids, who are the active users of social media, don’t fully realize what is happening to them. There are some changes Facebook, Instagram and others can make. We should question everything we read online, especially if it is presented to us in a way that reflects a detailed understanding of our propensity and preferences. And we should prevent the “attention extraction model” that makes social media seem friendly and reinforcing. Remember that we are not late ,but we are not early ,we are on time to make the right decision.
Maryam Mammadli
12.01.2022
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