We are the product: How do we help young people solve The Social Dilemma?

There may be no less compelling sentence that you could speak to a teenager, than “maybe you should look at your phone less.” For those of us whose job success somewhat depends on grabbing and maintaining teenage attention, the idea that young people might willingly limit or adapt their smartphone use seems like the most wishful of thinking. Some teens describe their phone as being like an extra limb; others are less aware of, but no less vulnerable to, an addiction to likes, pings and notifications. As much as the luddites in the older generations might wish we could turn back time, phones, apps and social media are now embedded at the very heart of teenage life, and for a while now it has seemed like nothing can stop their relentless march toward greater and greater domination of teenagers’ time.

Suddenly though, a different kind of conversation is taking place, not just led by the older generation and the tech-skeptics, but by the very Silicon Valley executives who pioneered these devices and their software in the first place. It’s a conversation that has piqued the interest of young people, and one to which they are rapidly adding their voices. And somewhat ironically, this new debate is being provoked by one of the very worst devourers of young people’s waking hours (and a few more when they really should have gone to bed): through a documentary film produced and distributed by Netflix.

The Social Dilemma has hovered near the very top of Netflix’s charts in almost every country in which it operates, since it was released on the 9th of September. At time of writing it’s the no.2 choice (because no-one can compete with Enola Holmes right now) in countries as diverse as Peru, Jordan, Russia and Australia. It’s in the top 10 everywhere else. A fairly low-budget documentary film which mainly features programmers and marketeers talking to camera, is the talk of the world. Once you see it, you’ll understand why, but you’ll also probably feel a mix of surprise and fascination that the film has created such a stir among young people.

We are the product

It takes a little while to understand exactly what The Social Dilemma is trying to be. Interspersed alongside the main and familiar thread of talking-head interviews with industry insiders spilling the beans on the motivations of Silicon Valley, there’s also a recurring dramatised story which illustrates the world’s current obsession with hand-held technology. In this second storyline, a typical, middle-class American family navigates the perils of school, social lives and failed attempts to eat meals together while constantly reaching for the devices to which they’re so addicted. Then a third narrative stream gives us an insight into the way in which one of those characters – the teenage son – is manipulated by his social media accounts, as three Inside-Out style characters in an imagined control room deep in the bowels of a gigantic server try to work out how to keep him looking constantly at his phone. So it’s part doc, part realistic drama, and part sci-fi story; a fittingly innovative approach, given the subject matter.

All three threads weave together to make the same, deeply troubling points. Overwhelmingly this is a warning that something is very wrong at the heart of the global tech industry, coming to us from people who understand exactly how it works. We’re all familiar with concerns about too much screen time, the possible effects of video-game violence and the addictiveness of the social media ‘like’, but this takes things much further. A growing group of experts believe that social media companies are driving unhealthy behaviours in the entire online population of the world, because by doing so they make money. Not only that, but they’re using practices with deeply questionable ethics to store, sell and utilise our data in the pursuit of advertising profit. At one point, the renowned ‘father of virtual reality’ Jaron Lanier sums up the problem in a neat but disturbing phrase: “if you’re not paying for a product [online], then you are the product.” We think we’re using our smartphones, but the film makes a strong argument that really they’re using us.

A global discussion starter

The film-makers and their subjects repeatedly state that they’re looking to ‘start a conversation’ about the ethics of social media. Given how many young people are currently engaging with The Social Dilemma, this could certainly be a gauntlet for youth leaders to pick up. Many young people have already watched the film, but I think we should be encouraging those who haven’t to give it a try. Some of us might even want to suggest holding a whole group or co-ordinated viewing, to be followed up by a discussion time. If you do that, here are a few starter questions to get you going:

• Prior to watching the film, did they believe there was a downside to social media and smartphone use? If so, what was it?
• Having watched the film, what concerns do they have about technology and tech companies?
• Is there anything in the film they disagreed with, didn’t believe, or wanted to question?
• After seeing the film, is there anything they think they would like to change about their phone or social accounts?
• What place does faith and God have in all of this – in how we might choose to spend our time online?
• What positive changes would they like to see made to social media apps and other internet technology?