Kiersten Laramee

Professor Notarantonio

MKT311-C Consumer Behavior

26 October 2020

“The Social Dilemma” Reflection

1. Were there particular moments in the film that resonated with your experience? What

were they and why?

The moment that resonated the most with me the most from the film because it represents real

life, is when the boy finally got his phone back and stayed on it for hours. This resonated because

I have spent days without looking at my phone very much and once I can go on it for more than

five minutes I get completely lost in my phone for hours. I also had a moment of realization

while watching the movie after one of the professionals said that social media is making us even

more polarized because we only follow accounts that reinforce our beliefs. This cause society to

be even more polarized and set in their ways because we are reaffirmed in our beliefs. After I

realized I to did that I decided to start following more accounts that contradict my beliefs so I can

become more knowledgeable in the entire subject.

2. Choose a specific theory of Personality from Chapter 5 and relate it to the Movie.

While all of the personality theories listed in the book, Freudian, Neo-Freudian, and Trait theory,

can be applied to the underlying themes of “The Social Dilemma”, Neo-Freudian fits the movie

best. This theory puts an emphasis on how social roles are a critical part of developing

personality, there are different approaches that attempt to explain why personality is influenced

so much by social roles and both are present in the movie. Alfred Adler first proposed that
personality is developed because people are trying to reach their highest potential. This is evident

in the movie when the young daughter reacts poorly to people making comments on her looks,

thus they have knocked down her limited from reaching her highest potential. Another

interpterion of Neo-Freudian, presented by Karen Horney, insinuates that people’s personality

develop because they are trying to overcome feelings of loneliness and isolation. This is evident

in the movie when the teenage boy gets so absorbed in deeply segmented groups because he just

wants to feel like he’s a prat of something.

3. “The Social Dilemma” has sparked some social media users to abandon their

accounts. After watching the documentary, would you be inclined to do the same?  Why

or why not?

After watching “The Social Dilemma” I did consider deleting my social media accounts but

realized quickly that would ruin my career in publicity. So instead I debated turning off my

phone for days or deleting my social media accounts for a couple of days. I could never bring

myself to do so though because I felt as though I would be missing out. Not necessarily on

people’s lives but major topics in general because they are usually reported on social media first.

At the same time this constant exposure to information makes me stressed out every day because

there is too much information to process. I feel as though I am always playing catch up with the

news, new trends, and social norms in my generation. I wish that I could just turn off my social

medias and connect with people on a human level but I once I shut off my phone I realize that

everyone is glued to theirs and that’s such a harder barrier to break through. To get people to put

down their phones and be comfortable in an uncomfortable setting seems nearly impossible at

this point in time because phones have become an appendage of human kind. I have however set
a timer on my social medias so I do not become distracted and spend hours living through my

phone, instead of just living.

 4. Consider the 3 quotes below from the movie: Choose one of the quotes and explain in

terms of Consumer Behavior.  Provide a marketing example.

o ”If you’re not paying for the product, then you’re the product.”

This quote best represents consumer behavior but flips it on its head so the consumers now

become the product. Nothing is truly free in the World people are always paying one way or

another. When it comes to social media the everyday consumer is paying by willingly giving

over their personality and mannerisms to the social site, which in turn sells it to marketing

agencies and companies. When companies buy this data on users they are then paying for our use

of product which is what this quote is saying. That the average day consumer, and the data they

give companies by interacting on sites, is the product because big companies are paying for our

service to be free. This allows them to continue collecting data on our behaviors, which makes

their marketing strategies even more directive/affective. For example Instagram can track how

long you interact with a post they then sell this information to companies so they can learn how

to make you, the consumer, interact with their brand longer. This may be changing the colors,

wording or the whole ad.