The Social Dilemma was in interesting, but not all that surprising film. Just being aware of what I see during my time on social media led me to believe a lot of what is shown on the film was happening already. It is pretty easy to tell on some apps that they have algorithms that learn what content you enjoy, and then show you content that they think you will enjoy. The apps that I see this the most on are Youtube and Tik Tok. They can learn what types of videos you spend time watching and then filter the content that they present to you to try and keep you on the app as much as they can. Facebook clearly can see which type of products you are interested in based off of your online browsing habits and then recommend products to you almost instantly. Sometimes it even seems like they can hear what you are saying and then show you an ad based on a conversation you had.
I do not believe that my social media has created a distorted view of reality. In my personal postings, I try to be as authentic as possible as I do see that as something that lacks in social media. When I worked in the fitness industry, I was very shocked to see the lack of authenticity across the industry online. I realized at that point that being fake online to try and boost sales numbers was not how I wanted to carry myself or my business, and it taught me how to spot content that was not authentic. I do believe that on a personal level people do distort things online, such as relationships or financial status to try and make themselves look better.
The film does provide a very interesting discussion point when it comes to human will fighting against extremely complex AI systems. For some people the AI will be nearly impossible to outsmart if they do not realize what the AI is doing to them. The best thing we can do to keep our relationship with technology is to learn about the systems we are using. For those who cannot see it on their own, films like The Social Dilemma are very eye opening and can lead people to be more aware of what they are interacting with online.
I do believe I could stay off of my phone for 24 hours, however I would be anxious mostly just because of the lack of communication with my family. It would not be a big challenge to stay off of Instagram or Youtube for a day, but not having the access to talk to my family like I do everyday would be the challenge.
If I could keep one social media app I believe it would be YouTube. To me, it is the perfect app for education as well as entertainment. The content comes across as more authentic because you can put a face and a voice to a message instead of just text in a status update. I am a visual person so seeing something done in a video has a larger impact on me than just step by step written instructions. I use tutorial videos quite frequently for cars and DIY projects.
Social media has become a complex and highly intelligent form of technology that can impact our lives drastically. If we learn how to use it well and avoid the temptations it brings with it, we can use it successfully in our daily lives.