The Social Dilemma
I thought I understood the general concepts and algorithms that companies like google, Facebook, twitter, etc. use but I was astounded about how much it impacts us as a society. The documentary, “The Social Dilemma”, on Netflix, is filled with conversations with many of the original architects of these systems and how monetization though ad targeting is driving behavior modification of billions of people worldwide.
The Social Dilemma also goes on to explain how our younger populations are being affected and correlates the dramatic increase in many conditions like anxiety are due the nature of keeping someone always engaged in a platform for monetary gain.
I already started getting off a number of social platforms, Facebook and Instagram being the latest – but now I’m really concerned about how being online is effecting my daughters.
What’s the answer? I don’t know but I can tell you that I am more willing than ever to pay for services that are not ad driven. I already have a pi-hole for ad blocking, and use cleanbrowsing.org for DNS filtering. But what do you do that when you use gmail? Use a iPhone or Google Android phone? Is it flip phone time again? I don’t know what to think really. And that’s a good thing.
What I can say is I would highly recommend the documentary.
https://www.humanetech.com/take-control