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The Social Dilemma – You’re Being Manipulated

September 9, 2020 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

“So we’ve created an entire global generation of people who were raised within a context where the very meaning of communication, the very meaning of culture, is manipulation.”

Hopefully you “like” Screenfish’s Facebook page and follow us on Twitter and Instagram. But keep in mind that each of those actions tells the world a little bit about you. And those various platforms will use that (and all the other info they’ve collected about you) to allow others to try to manipulate you. In The Social Dilemma, documentarian Jeff Orlowski takes us on a tour of how those social media platforms shape and manipulate us as individuals, and as a society.

The film is filled with commentators who have stepped away from important positions in social media companies, many for ethical reasons.  They have first hand knowledge of the hows and whys of social media. One, a former Twitter executive, tells us: “What I want people to know is that everything they’re doing on line is being watched, is being tracked, is being measured. Every single action you take is carefully monitored and recorded. Exactly what image you look at, and for how long you look at it. Yeah, seriously, for how long you look at it.” These people go on to explain how all that information is monetized (one of the people we hear from is the former director of monetization at Facebook), and how others can use that information to target you with ideas (not limited to ads) that may shape your life in many ways.

The film isn’t a completely dark picture of the internet. Those who worked in the industry early on got into the work with visions of the good that could come from it. As one points out, it has allowed families to be reunited, organ donors have been found. It has literally saved lives. But that comes with a price. As one of the commentators tells us, social media are both utopian and dystopian simultaneously.

Many people may worry about the extent to which social media have filled the world—especially when parents think about how much screen time they should allow their children. Some think the way we connect with social media has destroyed the personal connections we had when it was face to face. That has become a problem for many. Even those who speak in this film note their own struggles with online addictions that they have had to deal with—and they invented some of these things.

That tendency to be tied to our screens is only an aspect of the real problem, which is how that opens us up to manipulation by business, political, and perhaps even immoral actors. They can tailor what they say or show to whom. It makes it very easy to spread disinformation and fake news more rapidly than real information can be shared. At the heart of the problem are questions about truth—including if there can be any real truth in this “information age”. (What an irony that the more information we have available, the harder it is to find the truth.) I like a reference in the film to the Peter Weir film, The Truman Show. Each of us is unaware of the people watching us and shaping what we think is reality.

While all the commentators are interesting, the one who got my attention was Tristan Harris, who worked as the Google Design Ethicist (who knew such a thing existed) before starting a non-profit to deal with the ethics of this “attention economy”. In a presentation he gives during the film, he offers this warning: “We’re all looking out for the moment when technology will overwhelm human strength and intelligence. When is it going to cross the singularity, replace our jobs, be smarter than humans? But there is a much earlier moment when the technology exceeds and overwhelms human weaknesses. This point being crossed is at the root of addiction, polarization, radicalization, outrage-ification, vanity-ification, the entire thing. This is overpowering human nature, and this is checkmate for humanity.”

That really takes this examination of the role of social media into the realm of the spiritual (although that is not the kind of language these people use). One of the big spiritual questions they don’t quite ask (but would be of great importance) is the role of free will and determinism in this process. Do we have choice in this, or does the manipulation of social media have control of us?

Another question of import is whether the genie can be put back in the bottle. That is a question that these people struggle with a bit at the end. Some may doubt it can be done without real regulation, which is difficult to bring about after the fact. The film’s message is not to focus on the “can it be done” question, but to make the point that we must regain that control.

The Social Dilemma shows on Netflix. For more information go to Netflix.com/TheSocialDilemma.

Photos courtesy of Netflix.

Filed Under: Film, Netflix, Reviews Tagged With: documentary, facebook, Social Media, Twitter

Searching: Life and Death Online

September 5, 2018 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

Think of how much time we spend looking at screens. I’m looking at one (with various windows open) as I write this review. You’re reading it on a screen. We work and play and often socialize through the many screens of our lives. Searching tells us its story through these screens. To use such a gimmick can be a distraction or even a way of covering up shortcomings. But in Searching it becomes a vital part of the story and of the social commentary the film is making.

The film opens with the setting up of a new computer and adding photos that outline the life of the Kim family. It brings us up to the current day where David Kim (John Cho) and his daughter Margot (Michelle La) live in Silicon Valley. We catch their texting pack and forth, typical parent/teen conversations. But when Margot doesn’t come home one night and doesn’t answer texts or calls, David becomes worried. At first there are possible simple explanations, but eventually he must call in the police. While Detective Vick (Debra Messing) oversees the police investigation, David begins hacking into Margot’s laptop, searching for clues and leads. Everything that we see on the movie screen are things that are taking place on computer, phone, or TV screens.

As the story plays out we get a minor guided tour of the internet, including Facebook, Twitter, Google, Pinterest, Facetime, and a range of other apps. To some extent this plays up the gimmicky side of the film. But it also serves as an effective way to organize this thriller with increasing tension. And the use of social media is an essential part of the thriller. And it is a rollercoaster ride of a thriller with the ups and downs, twists and turn in the last half hour especially enjoyable.

Where this becomes more than just a gimmick is how the film serves to reflect our culture and the way we live so much of our lives—whether actively or passively—online. Our screens are our archives. The screens hold our secrets. The screens give us access to a broad world. The screens also make us vulnerable. There are ways in which the screens that fill our lives make us voyeurs—looking at the world from the outside. But the screens also give us a way to discover and connect people and place in ways both positive and negative. The potential of our screens, however, really rely not in what we watch, but in how we choose to engage them. That is the lesson that underlies the thriller aspect of Searching.

Photo Credits: Sebastian Baron, Elizabeth Kitchens. ©2018 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: Computer, Debra Messing, facebook, John Cho, Michelle La, thriller, Twitter

Sorry, Ricky Gervais: Humanity Still Needs a Cure

March 21, 2018 by Matt Hill Leave a Comment

i genuinely dig
Ricky Gervais plenty,
and i’m thankful for
The Office,
like, for sure

i appreciate his
iconoclastic approach
to comedy;
i relate to his atheism,
tho i’m not an atheist myself,
as you’ll gather below

however,
i noticed him make a move
in his recent Netflix comedy special,
Ricky Gervais: Humanity,
that i’d like to call into question,
because it raises a
significant issue
for someone like Gervais

(Ricky, i hope you’ll appreciate this;
you seem to appreciate
close thinking,
or at least attempts at it 🙂 )

last year around this time,
Netflix was
releasing a slew
of comedy specials;
at that time, i posted
“comedy needs Crashing”

in it, i noted:

…a certain “typical”
comedic perspective –
generally hilarious,
of course,
but also
sardonic, cynical,
melancholic and
world-worn and weary,
endlessly observational
when it comes to
finding problems,
but seldom (apparently)
when it comes to
actually addressing them,
actually living with them
in the day-to-day
(other than offering
its own oddly biblical
and plenty true
pseudo-spiritual
prescription of
“just laugh through it”)

i submit that Gervais
affects this perspective
in Ricky Gervais: Humanity
*to the letter,*
almost as if he’d
read what i wrote

he even chooses to
end the special –
having already advertised,
importantly,
his own atheism,
as he’s wont to do –
with his own version
of the prescription:
“just laugh through it”

in other words,
how does Gervais
suggest we approach
(obv universally rough) life
in this Godless universe?

“just laugh through it”

*this* is the move i want to
call into question

first let me say again:
i agree with this suggestion;
it can be, in fact,
found in the Bible
(Proverbs 17:22, e.g.)
and other religious traditions

but here’s the thing:
in the Bible,
such a prescription is
clearly but a palliative –
something to help you through,
but not something
that ultimately cures
any ultimate issue

for,
importantly,
in the Bible,
there is an ultimate issue,
and more importantly,
there is an ultimate cure

and so this is the part where Gervais –
where any atheist –
encounters a problem;
here’s the rub:
either there isn’t really
an ultimate issue to cure,
or there is an ultimate issue,
but no ultimate cure

either the way things are
in this Godless universe
seem wrong –
like something that
could be,
should be “fixed” –
but they’re really not
(because “wrongness”
isn’t really a thing);
or they really are wrong
(whatever that could
even mean sans God),
but there’s nothing
and no one “ultimate” enough
(no God)
to ultimately do
anything about it

to me, tbh,
neither of these
really seems okay

to me, tbh,
neither of these
really seems to
match up with
our experiences, our intuitions,
our wisdom about the world

and so,
to me, tbh,
a palliative like
“laugh through it” –
nice and true
and helpful as it may be –
is just not enough
once we’ve dismissed
the possibility that
something is really wrong
and
something can
really be done about it

in other words,
it’s just not enough,
once we’ve dismissed God

\\\

so…
calling into question complete…
where one goes from here, of course,
is up to that one

thanks for the laughs, Ricky –
humanity is certainly a
fertile topic for it

here’s to hoping for
options kept open 🙂

 

 

Filed Under: Editorial, Reviews, Television Tagged With: analysis, atheism, atheist, Christianity, comedy, God, humanity, Jesus, laughter, Netflix, pop culture, religion, review, Ricky Gervais, special, spiritual, Twitter

3.18 Entering THE CIRCLE

May 8, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

This week, Steve welcomes Patrick Erskine and Paul Levac to enter into James Ponsoldt’s THE CIRCLE.  Starring Emma Watson and Tom Hanks, this sci-fi drama explores our world through the eyes of social networking and just might have something to say to the Millennial generation as well… but is it worth your money?  (Plus, this might be the most entertaining edition of Screen It or Skip It since the show began…)

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

3.18 The Circle

Thanks Paul and Patrick for coming on the show!

Filed Under: Film, Podcast Tagged With: adaptation, book, Boyhood, drama, Emma Watson, facebook, Google, Instagram, John Boyega, millennials, Patton Oswald, privacy, Stitcher, teen drama, The Circle, Tom Hanks, Tumblr, Twitter

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