Within the course of one month Netflix released the dystopian documentary “The Social Dilemma” and the romantic cliché-ridden TV soap, “Emily in Paris”, that have since trended together. These two productions offer two completely opposing visions of social media that coexist in an absolutely unproblematic way not only on Netflix but also within our perceptions and attitudes. On the one hand, we have the “Delete everything. They are watching us” – syndrome. On the other hand, “I just got 20,000 likes. I am revolutionising everything”- euphoria. It is the persistent tension between these two worldviews that is much more interesting than either of them taken separately.
'The Social Dilemma’ portrays a world in which the tech platforms knowingly manipulate the weaknesses of human psychology in order to gain our attention, make us spend as much time on the platforms as possible, and ultimately expose us to targeted ads. Platforms do this through all kinds of devious mechanisms such as notifications, dopamine rushes from getting likes, or providing us with the short-term excitement of scrolling down and seeing something new. The documentary skillfully shows how our human agency is taken away from us by algorithms that micro-manage us and turn us into products for sale.
The strategy of ‘The Social Dilemma’ as a cultural intervention has been one of “revelation” – the film told us “this is what they are doing to you”, hoping we will rebel, change our behavior or at least join the rallying cry for regulation. But there have been two main problems with this strategy. First, what ‘The Social Dilemma’ presents as revelation unmasking a horrible truth, has in fact been known for a while. Moreover, after every big revelation about how social media operates – from the Snowden revelations to the Cambridge Analytica scandals, the sad truth is that users, outraged initially, have then gone back to resuming normal habits after some moderate PR-oriented tweaks by tech platforms.
