Research Question: How does social media use negatively affect the mental health of a teenager?
The Social Dilemma. Jeff Orlowski, Tristan Harris, Vincent Karheiser, and Skyler Gisondo,
Netflix, 2020.
Summary:
The Social Dilemma is a film by Jeff Orlowski that examines the effects of social media use on young people’s mental health. The film shows how social media was designed to be distracting and therefore addictive. The film follows Skyler Gisondo’s teenage character as he goes from what looks to be a rather mild addiction to his phone and social media to obsessive and then “red-pilled” by fake news.
Quotes:
“We curate our lives around this perceived sense of perfection because we get rewarded in these short term signals: hearts, likes, thumbs up and we conflate that with value and we conflate it with truth. And instead, what it is is fake brittle popularity that’s short term and that leaves you even more, and admit it, vacant and empty before you did it. Because that enforces you into a vicious cycle where you’re like what’s the next thing that I need to do now, because I need it back. Think about that compounded by two billion people and then think about how then people react to then to the perceptions of others.” — Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital
“We’re training and conditioning a whole new generation of people that when we are uncomfortable or lonely or uncertain or afraid we have a digital pacifier for ourselves that is kind of atrophying our own ability to deal with that.” — Tristan Harris, former design ethicist at Google and co-founder of Centre for Humane Technologies
Rhetorical Analysis:
Jeff Orlowski is a director of films such as Chasing Coral (2017), Frame by Frame (2015), and Chasing Ice (2012). Orlowski created this documentary to show the harmful effects of social media on mental health. It feels a bit late; it also feels as if the target audience is Millennials and not necessarily the teenagers of today, Generation Z. He uses videos and skits to dramatic effect. When certain claims are made, they are supported by evidence and experts.
Reflection:
This source helps to highlight how terrible the use of social media can be for a teenager’s mental health. The scene in particular with the psychiatrist discussing the increase in suicide rates among teenage girls to be particularly strong evidence when answering my question. The documentary shows in many ways how social media is addictive and isolating, and ultimately can cause harm to certain groups of people.
