Coincidentally, the days before I watched “The Social Dilemma,” I had actually deleted my most heavily used social media app, Instagram. In order to prevent myself from falling into the hole of procrastination, I decided to delete the app to focus on my upcoming prelim that Friday. Out of instinct, my finger swiped my phone screen and tapped on the spot where the app was previously located every time I picked up my phone during study breaks. It was a weird feeling: knowing the app wasn’t there, but still consistently repeating the action as if it’ll magically appear again. Rather than opening the Instagram app every time, I was faced with the weather app instead. Again, out of instinct, I scrolled through, as if the weekly weather forecast would suddenly transform into Instagram posts. So, it would be an understatement to say I was excited to be able to download the app again that Friday afternoon. Since I don’t use other popular social media apps like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and whatever else is out there, I’ve never seen myself as someone obsessed or very attached to my phone. Being as I only really indulge in Instagram and YouTube, I thought I was safe from the toxic effects of social media. After watching the documentary, I realize now how wrong I was. The influence of these platforms isn’t that simple. The fact that I’ve subconsciously developed the habit of simply tapping on the app whenever I use my phone, or immediately checking my notifications when my phone buzzes shows how reliant I actually am. The scariest thing about the documentary was the fact that these platform companies designed their apps for these very reactions; they want this dependency.
After watching, it’s hard to stay optimistic about the possibility of change, but its inspiring to see so many former employees being involved in this movement to make technology humane. Hopefully, I’m alive then to see the change.
What you just described is something I’ve become more aware of myself doing recently. Even in the moments before class, or taking breaks from studying, or even with friends when we are just hanging out, the first place I go is social media. I haven’t posted anything in over a year, so I thought I was pretty independent, but I realized recently that just going on social media to relieve boredom was the same thing! I’ve been thinking a lot lately about taking a day just to not use any social media, but that is nearly impossible for me to do since I use sc more than texting to talk to my friends since I have spotty cell coverage. So I’m already in the app, and I just get sidetracked. It really is a dilemma! I don’t know what will come next, but at least I can say I’m trying to fix it.