Do You Need to Go to T.A.? (Technology Anonymous)

The pictured photo is from a clip of the documentary, The Social Dilemma, which was released on Netflix in Jan. of 2020.

Dr. Anna Lambke, Stanford University School of Medicine Medical Director of Addiction Medicine, says, “Social Media is a drug. I mean we have a basic biological imperative to connect with other people that directly affects the release of dopamine in the reward pathway….So, there's no doubt that a vehicle like social media, which optimizes this connection between people, is going to have the potential for addiction.”

The documentary, The Social Dilemma, began with Tristian Harris, Google's former Design Ethicist, posing a question. When people are asked what is wrong with tech companies today, there's a list of possible answers you'd get: scandal. fake news, polarization, addiction, data stealing, etc, but Harris posed the question of what is the root of all of these problems?

It was interesting hearing people who helped create these platforms speak on the issues with them. This is because these platforms and technology is now being used for things that they were not intended to be used for.

Harris says, "if you're not paying for the product you are the product," which I also relate to a saying I always hear which is that nothing is free. When you agree to social media sites' terms & conditions, you are leasing yourself to them for the time that you chose to spend on that app.

Aza Raskin, Firefox and Mozilla Labs Former Employee, states that "because we don't pay for the products that we use, advertisors pay for the products that we use. Advertisors are the customers, and we're the thing that's being sold." This was a powerful statement that I had to rewind a few times. We assume that sites, especially social media, are being used for our joy and to our advantage, which they are in some ways, but joy doesn't pay these tech companies' bills.

In order for advertisments to be successful, you need lots of data. Where do companies get this? Through something called surveillance capitalism. Every action you make is being watched carefully. The psychology of the way a human brain makes decisions is built into these systems strategically. These systems know when you're lonely, depressed, hungry, etc. They know more about you than the adverage person may know.

The pictured photo is from a clip of the documentary, The Social Dilemma, which was released on Netflix in Jan. of 2020. This is a fictional depiction of humans being virtually monitored by technology companies.

The Social Dilemma was interesting and eye opening to say the least. I learned a lot of information that I didn't know prior but I can’t say that I am surprised. I think that many Americans are aware to what is going on but because technology companies have done their jobs, we either don’t care or feel as though we can’t live without it. Although it may be hard to believe, it's very realistic that you can become addicted to technology. After all, it makes our lives easier and it connects us to things beyond our wildest imagines. However, there's another side to this. A dark side. Until technology companies are able to, as a whole, take accountability for the part they've had to play in the issue, we may just continue to be a society of internet fiens.