Peel the Onion｜'The Social Dilemma' Dilemma

By J.B.Browne

I Watched Netflix's 

The Social Dilemma and All I Got 

Was A Curt Reminder 

of My Own Unconsciousness

If you didn't know, last week, October 29th, was International Internet Day or #InternetDay on social media. Isn't that amazing? Without the Internet, you wouldn't be reading this. So, we should all be celebrating the most important and popular communication tool humankind has ever invented, shouldn't we? Or should we? 

BBC archival footage of an interview between British journalist Jeremy Paxman and David Bowie made the rounds that day. In the clip, filmed in 1999, Paxman asks Bowie what his thoughts were on the then-nascent 'Internet,' well before the rise of Google and Facebook. Staying true to his otherwordly artistic vision, Bowie clearly understood this new 'thing' in ways Paxman couldn't even begin to conceive.

Paxman: But the Internet is just a tool. 

Bowie: No, it's an alien life form!

Later on, Bowie, with absolute conviction, said this: 

"I don't think we've seen the tip of the iceberg. I think the potential for what the Internet is going to do to society, both good and bad, is unimaginable."

When Netflix algorithms rightly predicted I might be interested in watching newish docudrama, The Social Dilemma, I willingly clicked to find out more. I'd heard about it. I was horrified by what I saw. I immediately deleted every social media app off my phone and vowed to switch off my phone for one week. I failed. But I learned some core truths about my relationship with tech and how I've allowed myself to become so addicted. Bowie had indeed made some scarily accurate predictions.

Directed by Jeff Orlowski, The Social Dilemma seeks to expose our tech addiction and how the increasing efficacy of tech platforms have removed our ability to make choices independently. Technology, or so we're told, is now "tech tyranny," the sort we've never seen before. 

Algorithms that mimic our brains' dopamine-producing reward systems can aggregate our knowledge, advancing products so quickly we're drowning in a tornadic sea of tech chaos. The film's crux is how social media companies manipulate users by encouraging addiction through their platforms to better profile our digital habits.

By harvesting our personal data, literally creating digital versions of ourselves, ads are targeted towards our interests as we unconsciously offer up personal information. So far, this nefarious, unsolicited manipulation has gone unregulated. But the film's talking heads are Silicon Valley types who actually made this stuff, so they know it's going on and uncontrollable. As the credits rolled, the film concluded as a flawed yet spirited attempt to address our collective complacency about being complicit in the surveillance capitalism sizzling through our screens. And though the film sought to highlight today's social media problems, it provided next to zero solutions. So what's the answer?

Quieter streets, masks, distance, and more reliance on technology; that pretty much sums up the COVID-19 era and beyond. According to Nielsen's Global Media, which focuses on audience measurement, we've seen a substantial reliance on technology during this collective trauma. With lockdowns and isolation, there's been a permanent shift in the way we live. Vines of technology engulf us like never before, providing connection, communication, and knowledge but, perhaps most of all, comfort. As smartphones have become smarter, they have embedded themselves in our identities. That's why any violation of privacy hurts so much.

Attempting to turn off my phone for a week was a conscious effort to rid myself of a digital life, one I led for hours a day, and one that partly defines who I was psychologically. In their famous 1998 paper The Extended Mind, philosophers Andy Clark and David Chalmers argued that technology is a part of us. That everyday objects like smartphones, tablets, etc. with the Internet of Things and deep learning have become essential to our cognitive functioning like the firing synapses in our brains. For Clark and Chalmers, our devices have begun to augment our minds, freeing up more internal resources while increasing our cognitive power. Smartphones as evolutionary extensions of our brains.

In practice, not having a phone when everyone else does is a bit like being the designated driver at a rave. You notice everyone else, chained, flicking away down an endless stream of fresh content. In his book Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked, author Adam Alter links the same biological and psychological connections between people who abuse substances to people hooked on social media. He argues that where Facebook used to be a fun, neutral environment, it's now highly addictive and dangerous. Any company making similar products will ascribe to the same set of aggregated metrics, he argues.

So how do we make sure our attention isn't continually being commodified? Actually, there isn't much we can do if we "need" to stay connected. As my little experiment proved, it isn't really a choice unless you want to hideaway troglodyte-style. But willpower alone isn't enough. My advice would be to try and build habits to curb usage as much as possible. Here are some tried and tested tips that helped me vastly reduce phone time through the week and, therefore, social media: 

• Airplane mode/switch off when eating with family

• Airplane mode/switch off when out with friends

• Airplane mode/switch off on weekends

• No phone in the first hour of waking

• No phone one hour before bed

• Delete all social media apps from phone

• Only desktop versions and for limited times in the day

What's evident is that Bowie was on the money. The Internet will only hasten our dependence on technology and potentially some sort of societal collapse. The great philosophers knew too the dangers and fragilities of the human mind. Roman Emperor (161 to 180) and chief stoic Marcus Aurelius had this to say: "An infected mind is a far more dangerous pestilence than any plague—one only threatens your life, the other destroys your character." Above all else, we must guard our lives by protecting our conscious, subconscious, and unconscious minds. Get a flip phone. Start detoxing. Finally, is there social media on Mars?

As he would refer himself, J.B. Browne is a half "foreign devil" living with anxiety relieved by purchase. HK-born Writer/Musician/Tinkerer.