During the last election, filmmaker Jeff Orlowski admits he was heavily addicted to Facebook. But that soon changed. In 2017, he began filming his new documentary “Social Dilemma,” which interrogates social media platforms through tech insiders. Newly fortified with behind-the-scenes knowledge about the ways the companies manipulate users to increase and retain engagement, Orlowski decided to delete his Facebook account.
“Social Dilemma,” which premiered at Sundance earlier this year and is available to watch on Netflix, makes a strong case for users to be wary of free social media platforms. As the saying goes, “if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product” — and the documentary wants the product to be wary, or at least aware of the tactics used to keep the product online and on sale for advertisers to target.
“I always thought [climate change] was the biggest issue we needed to pay attention to,” Orlowski says. “When we started learning about how our technology is invisibly changing our society, we realized this is a huge, important existential threat.…It was another huge problem driven by a business model that isn’t designed with humanity’s interests at heart.”
In addition to traditional documentary techniques, the film incorporates a fictionalized drama narrative to illustrate Facebook’s algorithmic approach to capturing and retaining user attention. Orlowski wanted to illustrate what was going on behind-the-scenes, and decided to anthropomorphize the algorithms. It’s like a more nefarious version of “Inside Out.
Since then, Orlowski and his production company, Exposure Labs, have been focused on connecting the film to change-makers — politicians, tech companies and engineers — and social media users, who ultimately have agency to decide whether or not to use each platform.
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