After watching the movie "Social Dilemma" on Netflix, I learned more about how social media can

harm society. The director of the documentary, Jeff Orlowski, and the writers Davis Coombe and Vickie Curtis

did a great job showing how social media affects many aspects of our lives. The film explores human

psychology and corporate interests like surveillance capitalism and data mining. The former tech employees in

the movie explained how social media platforms manipulate people to make money, leading to problems like

addiction.

It was surprising to learn about the strategies they use to keep us using their apps, but I could relate to

using social media too much and feeling its negative effects, especially as a Gen Z growing up with this

technology. Tristan Harris, who used to work at Google, pointed out that social media companies care most

about engaging users, growing their platforms, and making money from ads. He compared social media to slot

machines, saying that even though users don't pay for the service, they are the ones being sold. And there was a

quote in the movie from Edward Tufte that shed light to me regarding the reality of the manipulation tech

companies do, he said “there are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’: illegal drugs and software.

A lesson I learned from the movie that I hope everyone grasps is how vital it is to pay attention to how

we act online and take breaks from social media to enjoy real-life moments. If people realized how social media

networks trick us and affect our mental well-being, we might all start using technology more wisely, making the

World a better place, free from online harassment. Because as per Sean Parker who is an initial investor in

Facebook, the developers fully understood the potential of their products yet proceeded with their creation,

emphasizing financial gain as their primary objective not the impacts to the users.

If I could pick one group to watch this movie, it would be teens, those who use social media a lot. I

hope they see how important it is to balance technology use,prioritize real connections with people and avoid

social media addiction. I hope that everyone learns to take care of themselves by being cautious with social

media use, and enjoy offline activities more than being online all the time.