If You Are Not Paying for the Product, You Are the Product!

What you can learn from the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma.”

In its newly released documentary “The Social Dilemma,” Netflix analyses the techniques, and the underlying strategies of social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.

And I have to admit that immediately after watching this documentary, I deleted several apps from my cellphone and became more alert on my own “social media behavior.”

Isn’t it strange that there is such a thing as “social media behavior”? I was born in 1986 and got my first cellphone in 2001. A classy Nokia 3310 (a younger generation than the famous 3210 with all its heroic attributes) granted me access to the cooler side of the playground.

Some of the younger kids might not believe that, but this Nokia did not have any access to the internet. It had a two-color display, and the only way to “waste your time” was by playing snake (I inserted a link as I am not aware of how techy you are).

Everything changed in 2007 and the following, as Apple introduced the first iPhone. From 2009 on, you could see smartphones in almost any hand of younger and older people.

And according to the “Center for Disease Control and Prevention,” this was the turning date for “hospital admissions for non-fatal self-harm cases.” From 2009 until today, the number of girls aged 15 to 19 that injured themselves rose by +62%. The figures for girls aged 10 to 14 are even more striking: they went up by +189%.

I don’t want to blame the cellphones and mostly social media platforms solely for these increases. Nevertheless, as the experts in the documentary also stated, the “false” images of perfect bodies, wealth, and intense use of social media indeed have played a significant role.

Speaking about experts, in the documentary, a lot of (former) executives talk about their views on this topic. I like this aspect as not only professors share their outside perspective on this phenomenon, but also the designers of the platforms themselves.

And boy, what they share is hard to endure for me. It is a direct punch in the face as it reveals things that were unconsciously already clear to me.

But it is a difference if you are living inside of the matrix or if you are taking the awaking pill.

General aspects of the social media industry

The director of the documentary Jeff Orlowski and the writers (besides Jeff), Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis did a brilliant job showing what influence social media has on almost any aspect of our lives.

The film itself digs deep into human psychology and the interest of the companies, e.g., surveillance capitalism and data mining. Let us begin with the psychology part:

“There are only two industries that call their customers “users”: illegal drugs and software” (Edward Tufte)

According to Tristan Harris (a former Google design ethicist, and now co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology), social media companies focus mainly on:

• engagement by the customers
• growth of the platform
• advertisement and the revenue generated

And he compares social media tools with slot machines, but “as you don’t pay for the “product,” you are the product.”

Social media focuses on increasing your engagement to a specific platform and tries to level up the growth. They only do this to reach a wide variety of people to sell as much advertisement as possible.

Social media firms use the customer, us, to try out new features and collect the feedback. A bit like training lab rats, isn’t it? But lab rats have got a beneficial aspect.

They, hopefully, are used to develop a cure for a disease. To put it the hard way: social media is the disease.

According to Sean Parker (an early investor in Facebook), the developers precisely understood what they could create with their products, and they still did it anyway. They focused on making money.

It is shocking to me how unaware I was about these topics. It reminded me of another excellent documentary on Netflix, “Game-Changer.” You might want to watch that one too.

Back to the documentary, Tristan Harris evaluates that social media moved from being a mere tool based technology to an addiction based technology. It is by no means only a tool anymore; it is using the user, us, to pursue the goals of the companies.

And unlike the major technology shifts, like steam machines, cars, or even the internet, we will not adapt quickly to this form of technology as it is adapting even quicker to us than we do to the platforms.

“It’s the gradual, slight, imperceptible change in your own behavior and perception that is the product!” (Jaron Lanier)

The documentary crushed my belief that we could fight AI (artificial intelligence) like in Matrix or Terminator. AI already took over as it will take some time until technology will overwhelm human strengths, but it has already overcome humans’ weakness, according to Tristan Harris.

He believes that it is already a checkmate to humanity.

The issue with the information

What I observed when I visit my sister is that her Netflix-welcome-screen looks completely different than mine. And in the documentary, the analogy to Wikipedia was made as all information on this website look the same. It is not the case for social media platforms.

AI calculates based on the information collected from your past usage; what announcement would suit you the best way! It determines what works best for the customer based on your past decisions and favorites. Happy free world!

And if you ever wondered why other people see the world differently than you do, it does not only derive from them going to different schools, living in other surroundings, they also consume entirely different social media input.

The documentary is quite clear on the point that technology has the capacity and capability of dividing society. And the sad thing is that community is not aware of this.

The producers also shared their opinion about (fake) false news.

“False information simply make the company more money as the truth is boring! False information moves six times quicker in comparison to true news”

And the producers want us to be aware of this fact. I was hesitant at that moment. You may ask why — who is telling us to be more mindful of this real and striking issue?

Another company that makes money by issuing movies that also represent an at least questionable life-style? Thanks to Hollywood, most people think that life starts quite familiar (childhood), then it is time to struggle (school & jobs), to succeed at the end (retirement).

So why should I trust Netflix? It reminds me of an analogy: a wolf is warning a sheep that a tiger might eat them… What is the real intention behind the movie?

Another point that irritated me was the excursion to the current COVID-19-crisis. It was a bit too confusing, in my view. I think the documentary would have done a better job if it would have stopped after the analysis of the psychology and intentions of the companies and let the viewer make up his mind.

It appears to me that the writers are acting a bit too much like schoolmasters at this point. Their input is already brilliant enough; why make such a detour with this topic?

The current crisis is already full of fear, misleading information, and uncertain developments.

Different perspectives and possible solutions?

Let me be clear. What the politicians and developers in the documentary state is not new to you and me. We stopped speaking with each other. We are bad listeners and have to improve on so many levels, especially after this crisis.

Nevertheless, the idea of Marc Zuckerberg in his congress’ hearing that more AI can solve the problems will not be the solution. AI cannot solve this problem. And AI is not the problem. It is our usage of this tool that makes it a problem.

“Whether it is to be utopia or oblivion will be a touch-and-go relay race right up to the final moment” (Buckminster Fuller)

It goes hand in hand with the U.S. Suicide Rates (by “Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”). From 2009 on, girls aged 15 to 19 experienced an increase of +70%, whereas girls aged 10 to 14 saw a rise of +151%. We should see this as a weak-up call.

And it reminds me that I should also speak to my sister about the time my nephew and niece spend on their “child-computers.” I think it follows the same rule of thumb as the input in “Game-Changers”: small steps that we can carry out are better than a massive revolution without any long-term effects.

Almost everybody in the movie believes that one of the most significant risks is a civil war and that the problems caused by their own former “babies” are getting worse and not better. The battle for awareness will continue in a much fiercer way.

Tristan Harris puts this brilliantly:

“How do you wake up from the matrix when you are in the matrix? Technology is confusing!”

It is simultaneously a dreamland and horror movie. The companies won’t change the business case as they earn money from addicted users.

I don’t believe that regulation alone will be that helpful as the authors or the developers think. I think that more awareness of the customers should be stressed a lot more.

Final thoughts

The fight between the social media platform and the regulators reminds me of the quest for anti-doping campaigns. The people who use doping are always on the edge of technology, while the officials can only follow slowly.

The cure is always slower than the illness.

The documentary itself is worth watching, and I hope to reach a higher level of awareness through this. The last sentences by the developers were striking and again hard to swallow:

“As long as trees and whales are worth more dead than alive, the system is broken. We have to demand that neither the world nor us as humans should not solely be treated as extractable resources. We should ask ourselves what we can do to cure the world!”