5 Disturbing Lessons From The Social Dilemma

The advent of social media sparked a social networking revolution where an increasing number of people started spending more and more hours of their day on social media platforms. The Social Dilemma investigates and highlights the adverse effects caused by the unrestricted use of social media.

What Does The Social Dilemma have to say about social networking? Tech experts in The Social Dilemma explain the various ways in which social media has deteriorated the mental health of users and has led to an increase in depression, suicide rates, and mistrust. It also explains how social media has dulled the ability of users to tell the difference between truth and lies.

This article will walk you through the 5 most alarming lessons that we have learned from The Social Dilemma and why they are important.

The Premise: What Is The Social Dilemma?

The Social Dilemma is a documentary produced by Netflix and released on September 9, 2020. In this documentary, a series of tech experts, who created or helped create some of the most popular social media platforms, explain how these platforms have negatively influenced the human mind.

Why Is The Social Dilemma Crucial for Present and Future Generations?

People today are more addicted to social media than ever before, and the situation will only worsen over time. The message portrayed by this documentary is, therefore, critical in order for people to become mindful of their addiction to social media and address this problem while there is still time.

According to the Digital 2022: Global Overview Report published by DATAPORTAL, there were 4.62 billion social media users in the world by the end of January 2022. This was a 10% increase from last year.

With such a rapid rise in the number of social media users in the world, it is vital that people know just how dangerous these online platforms are. This will allow people, teens and adults alike, to become aware of their addiction to social networking sites and take the necessary measures required to reduce their social media consumption.

Furthermore, this will also help us in protecting future generations from falling into the social media trap by taking preemptive measures that could limit their access to social media. Collectively, these measures can help reduce social media consumption, offset the rising suicide rates, and drastically improve the mental health of current and future generations.

In fact, a study involving 154 participants was conducted by the University of Bath regarding this theory called Taking a One-Week Break from Social Media Improves Well-Being, Depression, and Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial. The research was published in the US journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking, and it proves that just a one week break from using social media significantly improved the mental health of the participants and reduced feelings of depression and anxiety.

What Are the Most Disturbing Lessons We Learn from The Social Dilemma?

Social media being addictive is no mere coincidence; in fact, these platforms were designed for this very purpose. In addition, these platforms were also meant to blur the line between truth and falsehood so as to manipulate the public.

In all fairness, however, these weren’t the only main takeaways from The Social Dilemma. The documentary reveals an entire list of negative factors that testify as to how social media is no longer the glorified communication channel it was once advertised to be. Here are the 5 most alarming lessons that we have learned from the Social Dilemma:

Social Media Was Designed to Be Addictive

If you’ve ever tried to strike a conversation with someone who’s browsing through their social media, you’ll know just how addicting these platforms are and how mindless people tend to become while engaging with these platforms. In most cases, you’ll simply be ignored by the person.

Former high-ranking employees of several major social media and tech moguls explain how social media has been programmed to keep you engaged and online for as long as possible in The Social Dilemma.

This is primarily because these institutions are for-profit businesses, and their revenue and profitability largely depend on how long users stay on their websites. To put it frankly, when it comes to social media, the consumers are the product that is being sold to the advertisers and marketers.

For this reason, social media platforms monitor the activity of each user and keep track of their likes, dislikes, interests, age, location, and other relevant information. This information is then used to show you only the content that would appeal to you, thereby keeping you online for longer.

The former president of Pinterest, Tim Kendall, says "Their business model is to keep people engaged on the screen,” when referring to social media platforms.

Most of the tech experts featured in The Social Dilemma don’t even allow their children to use social media. They all claim to have their own phones’ notifications disabled.

Social Media Has Led to an Increase in Suicide Rates and Self-Harm

In addition to being addictive, social media has also been known to be very destructive towards mental health. In the Social Dilemma, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt states that cases of non-fatal self-harm among females have increased significantly. In fact, there has been an increase of 189% among girls aged between 10 to 14 and 62% among those between 15 to 19.

Teenage females’ suicide rates have risen as well; among those aged 10 to 14, they rose by 151%, and among those aged 15 to 19, they rose by 70%. The psychologist also states that this surge in cases came about at the same time as when social media platforms became compatible with cell phones.

The reason for this increase in cases is that teenagers are buying into the highly exaggerated and falsely depicted lavish lifestyles that are shown on social media. Teens nowadays are mistaking popularity for self-worth and are pursuing unattainable standards of beauty that exist only through social media filters.

Haidt says, “A whole generation is more anxious, more fragile, more depressed,” when referring to generation Z, and he blames this on the fact that this generation was the first ever that got into social media during their middle school days.

A study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology in 2017 involving 5,000 people found that a higher social media consumption was correlated to self-reported decline in physical and mental health as well as life satisfaction.

Social Media Blurs the Line Between Truth and False

Have you ever encountered a person with a different viewpoint than yours and wondered why your belief and theirs don’t align?

This difference in views and beliefs comes from the different content and news you are exposed to on social media and vice versa. Your Facebook ads, Google search results, as well as the friend recommendations you receive from social media algorithms, can be worlds apart.

Your viewpoint and beliefs are formed entirely based on what pops up on your timeline, and the same holds true for any other person. So, what this essentially means is that everything you believe to be true and right is based on what the social media algorithm decides to show you. So, in reality, social media controls your belief system and therefore has the power to manipulate you into believing whatever opinion makers and thought leaders want you to.

In essentiality, what this entails is that there is no way to distinguish what’s true and what is not, thanks to social media. Everything you believe to be wrong could just be because the social media algorithm wants you to believe it as so and vice versa.

“We in the tech industry have created the tools to destabilize and erode the fabric of society in every country, all at once.” Says Tristian Harris, a former Google employee.

Unfortunately, the situation is only getting worse. Social media algorithms were designed for the sole purpose of keeping the users engaged. As such, these algorithms are unable to discern between truth and lies.

A study published on MIT News called Study: On Twitter, false news travels faster than true stories found that false news spreads faster on Twitter than true ones, and ironically, it’s humans that are responsible for the spread of misleading information and not bots.

Social Media Has Birthed a New Disease

Snapchat dysmorphia is a new mental disease that has emerged as a result of the pernicious relationship between social media and body image. The virtually perfect images shared on social media platforms, specifically, Snapchat, that have been enhanced through the use of filters has compelled many teenagers to feel unsatisfied with their bodies and how they look.

Teenagers, particularly girls, are more likely to experience body dysmorphia due to social media’s emphasis on looks. As a result, adolescents develop hyper-criticism and hyper-consciousness of one or more of their physical characteristics in reaction to the unattainable standards of beauty promoted by social media. As a remedy, these teens then seek artificial glow-ups such as through plastic surgery or implants.

Snapchat dysmorphia, in turn, promotes feelings of anxiety and depression in oneself. In severe cases, this mental disease warrants professional medical attention.

People Use Social Media as a Digital Pacifier

Another very disturbing yet, true, lesson that The Social Dilemma has brought to light is the habit of people to use social media as a pacifier for the discomforts and displeasures in their actual lives. The most worrying part of this is that most people do it unintentionally, like a reflex.

The Social Dilemma highlights mounting evidence that both adults and teenagers are gradually losing the ability to decompress and comfort themselves through thinking, engagement in activities, and interpersonal connections. Instead, people use social media as a diversion and source of pleasure to cope with difficult feelings.

Another way that social media addiction affects kids and pulls them away from more fulfilling experiences is in this way. Gradually, this cultivates in oneself detachment and resentment for the outside world and can be a major factor in why some people lack social and conversational skills.

Main Takeaway

The Social Dilemma provides much-needed insights to current and future generations by highlighting how the overuse and misuse of social media has corrupted and deteriorated the mental health and capacity of people today. It also compels us to reflect on ourselves and realize how social media has enslaved us.

However, to be fair, social media also has its own perks and benefits that make it a great tool if used correctly and in the right amount. After all, overconsumption of anything can never be a good idea.

Having said that, we hope you’ll embrace the lessons outlined in this article and be more mindful of your social media consumption as well as what you like and share on these platforms.