The growing chatter about the ill-effects of social media is packaged together, dramatised and heavily underlined in The Social Dilemma . D...
The growing chatter about the ill-effects of social media is packaged together, dramatised and heavily underlined in The Social Dilemma. Directed by Jeff Orlowski, the 93-minute film combines real-life interviews with a fictionalised story about the effects of social media on an American family.
The docu-drama begins with a series of ominous statements. A range of technology experts allude to the flip side of social media and the way a tool that was meant to connect people has gradually become a curse akin to an existential threat. The interviewees include former employees of Google, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and other internet giants who talk about the Frankensteinian monster they helped create.
Among the most prominently featured is Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist at Google who went on to found the Centre for Humane Technology, a non-profit pushing for ethical technology. Other interviewees who have had similar changes of heart include Tim Kendall, the man who helped monetise Facebook and is now the CEO of Moment, an application that encourages more healthy mobile phone usage, and Guillaume Chaslot, a former software engineer at YouTube.
Together, these experts explain how humans have become a pawn in the game between social media and advertisers. Their dire warnings culminate...
