The Social Dilemma

Yelp / Eng
be-real

Go to company page Yelp Eng

be-real
Sep 13, 2020 30 Comments

What do folks in Google and Facebook (and others too) think about the recent Netflix documentary called The Social Dilemma?

Personally, I think it's very accurate in that these platforms are doing more harm than good and it's a problem stemmed by many factors, one of the biggest being the need for publicly traded corporations to always grow.

What does it mean for people working in this industry knowing that you are working on something that potentially has such far-reaching consequences on the societies we live in?

#thoughtprovoking #discussion

P.S. This was not posted to start any sort of finger-pointing.

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TOP 30 Comments
  • Vudu
    SqSJ45

    Go to company page Vudu

    SqSJ45
    My friend on Friday suggested me to watch this documentary, we were chatting over slack. Today morning Netflix suggested this documentary. So i watched it. After watching Now I am thinking, was that my choice or Netflix ai.
    Sep 13, 2020 1
  • Apple
    frid@ywh3n

    Go to company page Apple

    frid@ywh3n
    I saw first 15min and found it BS. The engineer who talks about how he shared this exciting idea in Google which went up to ceo and no one did anything. Guess how any of the other engineering ideas work ? You believe in it, you drive it ! Else there are ideas at a dime a dozen.

    And that BS about if you’re not paying, you’re the product and driving engagement and what not. What was TV and TRP ratings ? Was that not “free” and only selling ads and trying to capture your attention ?
    Sep 14, 2020 6
    • Cisco / Eng
      theblind🙈

      Go to company page Cisco Eng

      PRE
      StartUp Health
      theblind🙈
      > 2010: Social Media
      1990 to 2010: TV
      1950 to 1990: Radio
      < 1950: ?

      There's always something.
      Sep 16, 2020
    • Lyft
      pc_tc

      Go to company page Lyft

      pc_tc
      Apple you should watch the rest of it. The beginning was pretty annoying and so were lots of the people they interviewed. They also have a little running skit they kept cutting too which was cringey. Despite all that the main points that culminate towards the end were pretty insightful imo. Give it a shot.

      My main gripe with it was the interviewees. It's really easy to make millions and millions of bucks building technology and then turn around and say its bad for society.
      Sep 16, 2020
  • Google
    cortisol

    Go to company page Google

    cortisol
    1. Users need to understand that there's an actual cost running the services they are using.
    2. Users need to choose pay to use services over ads based services.
    Sep 13, 2020 2
    • Amazon / Eng
      ILU3000

      Go to company page Amazon Eng

      ILU3000
      Yes I agree, the better model would be for people to pay for these services. I would happily take a yearly subscription for Google services. The problem is with the lack of transparency .. Google/Fb and similar ad heavy businesses are not very transparent on their activities.
      Sep 14, 2020
    • I have youtube premium but my attention is still dragged into rabbit holes and it's clearly still addictive
      Sep 22, 2020
  • There was absolutely nothing in there that should have been a surprise to anyone by now in 2020, unless you're a 22 yo new grad I suppose, maybe. So many documentaries covered those exact topics for years.

    I was laughing at how they all acted scared for talking like it was some super secret thing going on.

    One other let down, no data other than ONE: teenage girl suicide rates going up. Was there no other objective data they could reveal as insiders??
    Sep 14, 2020 2
    • Google
      qichen

      Go to company page Google

      qichen
      This. And regarding the suicide rate chart, my impression was “correlation is not causation”. You can’t claim that social media caused the increase of teenage girl suicide rate just because the timing coincides.
      Sep 14, 2020
    • @goofle for real I wasn't like woo wtf... Hold one here. Poor Zuck maybe he didn't actually kill all these teens? 😅
      Sep 22, 2020
  • Google
    qichen

    Go to company page Google

    qichen
    Ad is about showing you a stuff you might or might not need, and making you want to buy it. So if you call that mind controlling, sure all those tech companies are controlling your mind.
    Sep 13, 2020 1
    • Apple
      DQJt21

      Go to company page Apple

      DQJt21
      Controlling your mind comes from manipulation of the feed that you see for maximum engagement. If they are sending some vulnerable people on a rabbit hole of conspiracy theory recommended videos, then it is controlling one's mind in a way.
      Sep 16, 2020