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TIME STAMPS:
0:00 - intro
1:48 - docu-drama
3:31 - shout out to Bright Cellars
5:28 - social media addiction
7:45 - need for social approval
9:02 - Gen Z
11:20 - data collection & personal privacy
14:12 - facial recognition
16:30 - technochauvinism & gender inequality in tech
19:01 - surveillance capitalism
20:29 - misinformation, theories, & fake news
21:51 - polarization
26:54 - final thoughts
31:55 - individual vs institutional or collectivist solutions
MENTIONS & SOURCES:
My Screen Time is Out of Control (addicted to my phone) - • My Screen Time is Out ...
Low-Tech Schools and the Privilege of Limiting Screen Time - • Low-Tech Schools & the...
I Got Access To My Secret Consumer Score (article) - www.nytimes.com/2019/11/04/bu...
Facial Recognition in Brooklyn (academic article by Mutale Nkonde) page 30 - hjaap.hkspublications.org/wp-...
Safiya Noble's book, Algorithms of Oppression (affiliate link) - bookshop.org/a/15495/97814798...
The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, book by Shoshana Zuboff (affiliate link) - bookshop.org/a/15495/97816103...
How to Do Nothing, book by Jenny Odell (affiliate link) - bookshop.org/a/15495/97816121...
The Cambridge Analytica Story, Explained (Wired) - www.wired.com/amp-stories/cam...
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Hello my dudes! My name is Tiffany Ferguson. I’m a 25 year old sharing my thoughts and life experiences. Here on Tiffanyferg, my main series is called Internet Analysis, where I research and discuss topics related to social issues and media.
Business Inquiries: tiffanyferguson@select.co
FTC: This video is sponsored by Bright Cellars.
woo I'm finally back! let's discuss THE SOCIAL DILEMMA! TIME STAMPS BELOW: 0:00 - intro 1:48 - docu-drama 3:31 - shout out to Bright Cellars 5:28 - social media addiction 7:45 - need for social approval 9:02 - Gen Z 11:20 - data collection & personal privacy 14:12 - facial recognition 16:30 - technochauvinism & gender inequality in tech 19:01 - surveillance capitalism 20:29 - misinformation, theories, & fake news 21:51 - polarization 26:54 - final thoughts 31:55 - individual vs institutional or collectivist solutions
Could you make a mini video about gender inequality and racial prejudice in Technology?
Ahhhh, I didn't know you had a podcast! Enjoy your last semester!!!
Hi Tiffany! About the black lives matter fist and don’t vote sign around 23:38, it’s a real thing that’s going on kzhead.info/sun/ZLqen8OMa5Nrl4U/bejne.html Hope this helps! Love your videos
23:00 maybe they were trying to touch upon the fact that there are hundreds of "woke black" social media accounts that tell you to protest and not to vote, but they actually are run by russian bots? kzhead.info/sun/ZLqen8OMa5Nrl4U/bejne.html This is the Vox video I learned about the issue I am talking about
@@kellyyin4126 omg i commented the same thing without checking other replies first :D I even spend few minutes to find the video link ahahahah i 100% agree
my biggest issue was these millionaires suddenly getting morals - I'm sure it's easier to sleep at night and be ethical when you're loaded
Yeah, I imagine its a lot easier to _not_ be moral when you're _becoming_ a millionaire, and then turning around and being moral once they're set.
That's a bit disingenuous. They weren't without morals, they just didn't know and understand the consequences of these technologies back in the day when they worked on them.
on g, i'm also trying to get those 500k per year for a couple years until i realize i was wrong lmfao
@@RosesAndIvy I agree. Humans are humans, no matter how rich or poor. It's just that some may be ignorant to certain things or never had to experience those situations. I think it's a bit hypocritical to fault someone for not having the same experiences as you when people's lives are so personal (literally lol) and nuanced.
And their morals don't stretch in the form of lobbying for our rights to privacy, it just means they keep their kids off social media
Let's take a moment to appreciate timestamps.
True!!!
And the subtitles!❤️
This was the fist channel that I saw do this
@@zoeyoung8511 samee i love tiff
yesss, love to see it!
Random tidbit I noticed: The older sister who recognizes that technology isn't good and tries to tell her family is named Cassandra (at times called Cass for short) - in Ancient Greek mythology Cassandra is a prophetess who can see the future but is doomed to not have anyone believe her. That can't be a coincidence!
Oh wow, great catch!
Yesss also the AI actor was in Mad Men which feels like a direct reference of a different sort. I'm guessing there's a lot more references to read into that I missed my first watch through
I can confirm this is true.
@@DeanithForeverYoung People like you irritate the hell out of me. Of course names don't always mean something deeper. HOWEVER IN THIS SPECIFIC INSTANCE, Cassandra is not a particularly common name, it literally means prophet, and is the name of a character in a very well known mythology who experiences the *exact same thing* as Cass in the doc. It is in NO WAY absurd or a reach for me to call attention to that artistic move made on the part of the filmmakers. I wasn't trying to provide some deeper meaning to the names of all the other characters in the film too, was I? Go away with your ~loOk at mE I'm so lOgicAl and anti the HuManitiEs and ArtS~ bs.
wait this made me remember how in the show 'the society' one of the characters who wanted order early on was called cassandra. That fits to her character a lot
I love how this whole video is about how addictive social media is and how it distracts you from doing real work while I am here watching it to procrastinate my hw and avoid human interaction.
Same tbh 🤧
Im watching this instead of my class xd
im watching this at 4 am... I should be sleeping lmao
Ahahaha so me right now😭😭😅🤣
i found myself constantly scrolling through some horrible twitter threads when i should have been asleep, feeling hopeless because there was nothing i could say or do to stop people from sharing dangerous misinformation. i also wondered why i kept finding myself here. why was i making the decision to look at something i knew would upset me, and why couldn't i stop? the only solution was to delete my account. i lost nothing.
I feel this. I stopped going on Twitter like last year, I pop in every once in a while to see notifications and enter contests but I don't scroll for hours as I used too. Although I did replace it with Instagram, I am way happier than I was before.
I tend to look at things on the internet that I know pisses me off
Deleting the app worked well enough for me. If I want to use twitter I have to go through a browser and remember my password, and I'm super lazy so that's deterrent enough.
@@sanityisrelative Same! Even if I don’t delete my actual account, adding a few steps to make it less convenient to log in usually means I just won’t log in unless I have an actual reason to do so (not just “I have 5 minutes, I MUST FILL THEM”).
true.
I used to be a babysitter for a while and looked after this child for 3 years, from 8 to 11 years old. I watched her grow from a confident, funny, intelligent child to a young adolescent obsessed with her appearance and growing more and more superficial. She would spend entire afternoons on Tik Tok. It's just sad to witness the immediate effects social medias can have on very young generations.
It's upsetting to see parents model bad behaviour and neglect safety education/practices in all fields... I installed youtu.be "Kids" to minimise random exposure for the 6yo I was au pair for but couldn't limit screen time.
I worry for my little sister for the reasons you mentioned...
That's my niece. She mimicks a lot of the youtubers and Instagram influencers she follows. It's a lot of "if I get x-likes, I'll do (act)." The way she moves and talks now feels very artificial.
@@scritch.scritch would talking about it with her help?
I remember when I was young playing with lego, playing football in school and playing video games with right next to my brother constantly. Yeah.... I weep for the young generation ALOT
lol a movie full of white men being like wow we messed up
Who was surprised. Completely unprecedented, right? 😂
There were females who used to work for social media companies too
sounds like iron man
Thanks for clarifying their race? lol.
LMAO
As with the AI, they also didn't talk about how white/lighter skinned people's posts are boosted. I wasn't expecting them too but that would have been a nice surprise. But I think racism & colourism would've been a good "social dilemma" to cover
right! i feel like i saw this a lot on tiktok; white tiktokers dancing videos got a lot more attention than poc doing the exact same thing, usually poc would need some sort of extra pizazz to their video in order for it to go viral. i think tiktok definitely boosted white peoples videos more.
Absolutely! It’d be nice if Netflix came out with a whole episodic series on these types of topics bc there’s endless issues to explore
@@tiffanyferg where Netflix fails Tiffany ferg could provide 😉 maybe ? That would be a good video topic
@@oliviaq336 I work in the tech industry, sorry to burst your bubble. But no this is not racism or colourism issue. People prefer their own people biased. Poc like poc, white like white. The reason why white get more attention is because there are literally more white people in the user base (and in population). You can put poc/white infront of more people, but that would be pointless if the end user swipe left in the end. Every good user ticktok user need to have "pizzaz"/style in order to be successful. There are some to you might not seem to have it. But their audience like thier style enough to spend time, attention, and money for them. Ai is still relatively new, we are currently still in development on different methods how it see "faces". The early version measures "shades of shadow" to find the eye, nose, mouth to find the "face". This work on white people since they are easy to read and process but for poc have issue finding the mouth and nose. (Early photography history have similar issue to this. black people picture seem more black than in real life) But as computer/ai get more powerful, this will eventually get solve as more poc picture is harvest from social media and feed to into the ai for better recognition.
that would be a whole documentary by itself!! someone need to do it lol
Everytime I hear one of those ex Sillicon Valley talk about how dangerous the internet is, all I can think is "Okay, Frankenstein, maybe you should have taken care of your creation?"
Babysitting makes digital spaces much more pleasant, like ones average public space (from trainstations to librarys), it however does not suit the developers.
I see it kinda like Oppenheimer regretting his contribution to the creation of the atomic bombs, of course social media isn't killing people on the spot but in the long run I think it is. It's fair to regret their actions but that doesn't mean they're free of guilt, they knew what they were doing.
ayy Joker! Igor profile pic here :D
it is not that easy i think, sometimes people just do things and just way latter realise what it does
Tech things aren’t one persons creation and not theirs to control. Especially not ones like Facebook. It’s more like adding one piece to a system while it moves to the next person for the next piece. Different departments specializing in different pieces.
Reminds me of that cartoon that's gone around everywhere - Tiffany: We should improve society somewhat Those People: Yet you participate in society...curious! I Am Very Smart.
Lol pseudo intellectuals have been around since the beginning of time. Unfortunately their big brain time has gotten more exposure because of the internet. I love this comment
Omg I love that you mention how most democrat "moderates" would be considered right in other countries and the "leftists" would be considered moderate. Most US-Americans don't see that lol.
As a European I was so glad she mentioned it! It'so weird and honestly confusing seeing how Americans categorize their political beliefs into left and right 😅
Yes! As a Canadian it’s so strange to see the issues Americans are arguing about, like, healthcare is still being debated?? Catch up!
Then there's political ads calling moderate Democrats "socialist".
@@eatingcereal5646 lmaoooo I know right!!
@@caterinapicco7316 exactly!!
I also wouldn't categorize racial justice movements as "far left", I think because the US is such a right wing leaning country, it is easy for people on the right and centrists to categorize anything that doesn't fall in that spectrum as "far left". So you get things like universal healthcare and education which are in reality more like baby's first steps of socialism being called far left ideologies and the people who advocate for them being called communists.
Yes great point!
Absolutely. I live in Scotland UK and we have had everything the US ‘right’ fear for nearly seventy years; national healthcare, free/affordable higher education, paid vacation time, etc. We are considered to be one of the most free, progressive and safest countries in the world and a million miles away from anything resembling far left communism lol. I think the issue is US society seems to only think in black and white, it either is or it isn’t. They have a distinct lack of nuance which doesn’t surprise me they have ended up so politically polarised.
Many people on the left do this all the time. By constantly categorizing people who are against them as "far-right" nazi sympathizers. So it's not just a one-sided issue coming from the right.
@@pauliedoodle1939 the dogmas are rooted deep since the cold wars
@@darrellm9915 The growing extreme political polarization worldwide is a problem, yes. We'll never find solutions to anything if we hate people on the other side (which ever side that is) and are unable to work together. People automatically decide what they are for or against based on what the other camp is for or against. This is not conducive to change or progress.
I liked the documentary, it went a bit too overboard at some point tho. But the boy's story who got arrested it's kinda realistic because when incels go online with their hatred to women and find thousands of other people thinking the same way..yeah u get what I mean?
Yeah Laura Bates wrote a book about It 'Men Who Hate Women' she like did a whole thing and went undercover and stuff. It's very terrifying and interesting
I don't think incels go from hating woman automatically. It something that happens slowly, they go from being sad individuals who happen to be single, to people who shift all their blame on woman for "making" them like that.
@@teemo9141 That was the point I think they're trying to make. In the documentary the boy *slowly* goes down the rabbithole until he doesn't even bat an eye at some of the fearmongery and absurd claims in the videos simply because they "are trying to look out for you!" the same way Redpill and PUA forums do.
@@lotsofuwuenergy3983 yea that's what I meant
@@teemo9141 its a process, essentially.
I agree with what most fo the interviewees said in the documentary, but what really turned me off was that it felt like fear mongering especially with the dramatization and as you mentioned they offered no solutions
I agree that the fear-mongering may have been a bit much, but in my opinion, it's well placed. I often run into articles about populists all over the world (the majority of which being far-right) gaining traction on Facebook and on their own websites thanks to advertising misinformation and private groups. The Russian meddling in the US 2016 presidential campaign via Facebook and the Cambridge Analytica scandal also come to mind. I do believe that social media as it currently stands is a threat to democracy, and we can expect to see more and more issues of this type if governments do not step in (which, as Tiffany highlighted, how likely is that to happen?). Re: the lack of solutions, I definitely agree :/ the few solutions they offered missed the mark!
yes, I think that a good opposite example is david attenbourough's documentary that came earlier this year, about the loss of wildlife in the planet. It was also dramaticized in places and it did instill fear, but at the end solutions were presented, and not only on the personal level.
For sure. Like subtle fear mongering, I felt like I was watching a shitty anti vaping ad but for tech
Which is bad because you are presenting all these problems yet no solutions and we are stuck with the bad stuff.
If they had the solutions this wouldn’t be a dilemma,lol
Coming from someone who's worked in Silicon Valley, I thought this documentary was really behind the times. There's a new philosophy bubbling up in the tech space that I think is a viable solution - it's sort of similar to how public parks/libraries function in our real life. Essentially, instead of trying to make Twitter or Facebook less awful, let's try and build public spaces on the Internet that are designed to bring people together (rather than to addict). Wikipedia or early Myspace are good examples of what these potential digital spaces might look like. Yes, social media companies use everything from push notifications to sound effects to make their product as addicting as possible. And it's important for consumers to be aware of that. But the engineering/policy discussions surrounding social media have moved beyond this fact, and it seems like the documentary doesn't acknowledge that... Actually I might make a video about this, you've inspired me!!
I mean like...lol, I get what you mean here, but idk. It's not necessarily useful to talk about what's happening in R&D space when application isn't really there yet? Like, I could talk about research I'm seeing done in certain fields (I'm not compsci adjacent, more applied sciences, just to be more clear without potentially doxxing myself haha) & what kind of implications they might have for future tech, but if someone was reporting/commenting on the current state of that tech, I wouldn't necessarily expect them to devote time to what hasn't yet been really implemented. If that makes sense? It's cool to hear, tho, that ppl are trying to move in that direction, re: tech policy & design! Would be neat to see a broader Internet that looks like that. 🙂
@@sweetpeabee4983 I personally think the doc should have acknowledged what people are trying to do to combat these issues (activists, engineers, or otherwise). Literally what is the point of presenting these issues to viewers if you aren't providing a potential way forward, or call to action for the viewers? Even Tiffany in this video said "I don't have the solution" and "we need to demand that these products be designed humanely, whatever that means." I feel that the documentary in its current state gives viewers an increasing sense of despondency re: the Internet, and doesn't arm anyone with the knowledge they need to actually demand or enact change. I guess the point of this comment is that this documentary could've been made 5 years ago, nothing in it was particularly revolutionary or even surprising to most people.
@@vastava I agree it's a bit outdated and should have focused more on solutions, but (surprisingly) I've heard from lots of people who did think it was revolutionary and who didn't know much about these issues. I also work in tech and I think there wasn't much news in the documentary to people who work in the field, but I also think it's easy to forget that most people aren't aware how tech works. Yes, most people know that their data is being collected and sold to third parties, but I don't think most people understand the extent of it, and what that actually entails. So in terms of raising awareness I really like the documentary.
Yes please
as someone located in the bay area and majoring in computer studies even I had no idea the practices and specifics of what went into making social media so successful. Its a mixture of public relations/business/ psychology/marketing and I only focused on programming before it. However im more interested in working in tech before. One thing I wished they touched on more of were the bots, the ones that destabilize countries and mess up elections.
One thing that stood out to me in regards to addiction is when one of the guys said the minimum age for getting a phone should be 15. I agree with that. I'm a zoomer (17 years old) and I only got a proper smart phone when I was 15. Before that, my parents only allowed me to use a tiny matchbox of a nokia that could only call and send texts. Because of that, I've never been fully addicted to social media. I've never had instagram, twitter, tiktok, etc. I only made a Facebook this year for college information and I intend on deleting it next year. The age you start using social media absolutely has an impact on your addiction. The only social media outlet I've been addicted to is KZhead and that's because I've been watching YT from my parents' ipad since I was 9 years old. It's not hard at all to be 'disconnected'. I communicate with my friends and schoolmates through messenger (you don't need FB to have a messenger) and Signal (a more secure app like messenger), so it's not like I'm a hermit in the woods or anything. I'd say the hardest part about it is when classmates make fun of me for not knowing certain trends or slang, but really it's not a big deal.
Im 15 and I get my phone when I was 8 at that age I only use yt and I really get addicted, some years later I start to use social media, and Is weird because affects in a bad way but at the same time without social media, I would never meet some of my best friends or start to understand English (my first language is Spanish Im from chile) and I cant imagine my life without social media and is so weird because is bad for me but help me a lot In my life
@@drenubes761 like most things in life, there are nuances
I don’t even think you need to have gotten your phone late to use it healthily. I got my phone when I was only like 8 I don’t think it did me that much harm. The important thing is that it’s “regulated” in a sense and that the rules parent have are effective but not too outrageous. I guess it helped that I was never rlly into social media but I still think it’s an effective tactic. Works even better if you can involve your kids Cos then it doesn’t feel like rules Cos they had a hand in creating them
I got my first smartphone at age 18 and I can say that sadly I am addicted to social media. I don't think it's to do with age really. I know I became addicted because I was lonely. I had friends 'online' and so it was where I always went when I began feeling down. The more you use it the more addicted you become. I rue the day I downloaded instagram tbh. I don't use twitter or facebook or anything else, just instagram, and I am SO addicted to scrolling. It's awful.
I fully agree with this. I got my first computer with internet (shared with my dad) in 2010, at age 12. I got my first smartphone in 2016 or 2017. I got it for free from a co-worker, otherwise I probably would've waited even longer :p I went all throughout middle school and high school without a smartphone. I was the only kid without a smartphone, but really, I didn't need one at all. I had a simple phone I could text my friends with if necessary, or I just called them. KZhead is the only website I'm addicted to; no facebook, twitter or instagram for me. Perhaps even 12 was too young, as I did get addicted to avatar community sites in my earliest years on the internet. However, getting a smartphone at a later age clearly helped. I barely use mine. Age is the key. I'll always keep cringing when I see a baby or toddler with a tablet and smartphone.
okay but this again a reminder that in every tech/science department some humanities folks should be walking around and try to figure out how this will work out? I really feel like humans are great at creating new things and then being completely surprised when said new things turn out to have consequences. It would be neat if we thought about those beforehand
There are indeed people in large companies who do this type of work! I work in a big corporation in our tech department and my role is to research consumer behaviors, how they currently use product, and how they will potentially use product in the future. We also test prototypes to understand these potential "unintended consequences." My background is sociology/humanities which is actually a very valued perspective in the departments I work with. In terms of "Big Tech," I think this is a case of a few companies getting too big, too fast, with zero regulation or oversight. They essentially tried to play god with algorithms/machine learning & data mining, and I'm hoping that this is the beginning of major pushback as consumers wake up to what is really going on behind the curtain. GDPR, the big EU data privacy act, was a huge step in that direction. I'm hopeful that if Biden is elected, we can get a similar federal legislation for the US.
Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back to the past it's easy wondering why no one stop to question before doing something. But in reality every technology advancement is done out of necessity, curiousity, or boredom. No on at the past could have known what could have happen if you can access social media 24/7. To them social media is just the next step of email. A more user friendly and affordable/sustainable version of business model. And now that they know and are better at it. Are the problem to blame is because of them or their user? Should they lock user out of their account for thier own well being (time out for excessive use), block/censorship because they have different perspective or opinion than other people?
There are people who warn against new things (and not so new things, just things that feel new because we ignore history), but they're always in the minority, especially when there's money to be made. Nobody with a brain is surprised, they just pretend to be because it's easier than admitting that we chose not to do the "right" (read: harder) things.
@@colettehanlon1241 aaahh a fellow UX Researcher. But let's be honest here, our role wouldn't have been able to prevent this issues, because they are inherent to the business model
“..great at creating new things and then being completely surprised when said new things turns out to have consequences.” - Yup, like a cycle. Takes about 10 years for data/scientists to find something.
I was waiting for them to talk about racial bias in AI, but looking at the very pale discussion panel just gave me my answer
These tech bros and most older people complain about how dependent gen z is on social media, but they never consider that the main reason behind that is that we don't have any other options. I mean, social media has dominated over almost all other means of communication and entertainment so it's not like we ever had access to anything else and I do not think this is either gen z's fault or our parents', plus social media is just convenient.
It's the fact that they built these apps to be addictive and get surprised when people get addicted to them for me
@@therealmotherfvther YES EXACTLYY!
Plus we grew up with this shit. This is all we know. TVs, Books, everything is on a phone, tablet or some sort of tech.
Exactly ! I am a photographer, I am told all the time "you have to have Instagram and be consistent to get followers if you want to be seen and get work". But I don't want to produce pictures like You do cars
The biggest takeaway I had from this show was that docu-dramas don't work
I wouldn’t say that. I know a lot of people who watched it that had their eyes opened to how social media really works. They had no previous understanding of algorithms or how they could be used to influence human behaviour or opinions.
I had to skip the parts with the family. Too cringy.
As a Latin American, we actually joke about Americans having to choose only between right and extreme right-wingers.
I'm just so tired to this fake-deep idea of: diD yoU KnOw sOcIAL MeDiA iS bAd?! Like... we been knew. 🤣 (This comment refers to the film, not the critique within this video, just to be clear.)
Thank you, I hate it too. How about teaching people how to use social media in a good, positive way instead of this fake deep “omg social media is so bad” while being on twitter all the time...
It’s so interesting that people got that “vibe” from the documentary. I didn’t really get a social media bad impression. I just thought they made warnings and explained them (although not always brilliantly) perhaps it’s Cos I assumed from the start that these ppl know it’s unlikely for ppl to watch this and automatically delete social media.
@@mauve9266 most people I knew deleted their social media after watching social dilemma actually. That may not be everyone but that was interesting to me. I actually got rid of everything except KZhead months ago, before I saw the video.
Star Hill ah fair enough. I think it’d take a lot for most of my friends to delete their forms of social media 😂 I’m good without all of them except KZhead I may have a small addiction
@@mauve9266 I completely get that. I use KZhead to search for so many topics that bring value to my life, but it also is still addicting. I’m confident in my abilities to quit addictions, as I’ve quit nicotine & alcohol & even instagram! It’s sad to think that I spent a decade on IG & much other social media. All it did was make me feel deeply inadequate.
I can't be on social media for my mental health, and let me tell you, making and maintaining friendships in 2020 without being on social media is HARD. Edit: when I say in 2020 I'm not even referring to the pandemic -- it has been like this since I got off social media a few years ago
Yikes, I felt that hard. I'm a teenager and some of my friends opt to have social media rather than a phone number. At one point my mom was trying to talk me into downloading Instagram when I just simply not interested in the app. Now to get photos in the yearbook you have to send it to my school's social media page. I only have youtube right now, but in the next few years I want to start an Instagram exclusively for selling my art. It's wild what time some of my friends spend online though.
same i wish people would just text me when they wanna tell me something but instead its all online like, i don't want to follow you on instagram i just wanna talk :( i got pressured into downloading instagram and trust me, it isn't worth it.
Kael likes Leaks it helps to just tell ppl to text you. I’ve found that most ppl don’t care and get used to it as they don’t find it that inconveniencing
Liam Luckey perhaps you could make a separate account purely for talking with your friends or vice versa just to look at random posts
@@basicallyperidot5299 I really only use KZhead, all the Instagram I use is mainly just with friends and artwork
feels like this is one of those films that wants you to fix systemic issues by using the system which is not a great take huh
THIS!!
I deleted ALL my social media accounts even those that were inactive since years ago after watching this documentary and reading the book. I left KZhead were I make a conscious effort to engage only in positive comments, my WhatsApp to talk to my family and my email. It’s been 3 weeks. I’m so much happier now. And productive!
Lol drinking a bottle of wine "after a long week" its Tuesday, Tiffany 🙃❤
Every day feels like the end of a long week these days lmfao
@@tiffanyferg as someone who is also graduating in December- I feel that 😪
Aw, happy early graduation!
i went to high school with the girl who played the oldest daughter lol when i watched this i was like omg i know her lmaooo
She's so beautiful c:
there are two problems that i think ppl are conflating when they whinge about "echo chambers". The first is that "polarization" doesn't seem to be a simple as ppl following only those who agree with them, but is a result of internet users in certain demographics having low information literacy; who are therefore susceptible to fascist rhetoric and radicalization. To say this is simply "polarization" is to normalize fascist ideology. (another consequence of this narrative is letting the transnational groups responsible for pulling conservatism into straight-up fascism continue to do so under the radar) The second thing not being recognized is the slow death of local news. It's like no one has even noticed that its not actually normal to have an information diet consisting solely of national and international matters. I think being updated on local news has a grounding effect that has not really been recognized in online spaces. (it feels as though ppl are being pulled out of their communities and forced to exist only in some sort of internet cult) news media has not always been this monolith ppl take for granted. (interestingly local news is also something being attacked by right wing interests) tl;dr the problem is not polarization its indoctrination
Big yep about the death of local news! It’s a major problem
I couldn’t agree more. I live in Scotland, UK and I could probably tell you more about the upcoming US elections than I ever could tell you about my own local elections. That’s because despite living in the UK, KZhead algorithms still feed me a diet of US news and politics. I’m actually quite concerned about my Dad who is effected by the crap KZhead recommends and his lack of understanding of computer algorithms. He’s a Trump supporter (he thinks it’s funny that Trump is such a loose cannon) and he is often talking about Trump sorting out these crazy far left liberals. With Scotland’s social democratic politics and things like a national health service, free higher education, etc, I have to remind my Dad that he is one of those crazy liberals lol 🤦♀️.
You really hit it on the head!! I notice this at my gym all the time. 4/7 of the TVs have a national news station and only 1 of them is local
@@tiffanyferg do you think this might be a topic you would cover at some point?
The lack of information literacy is suuuuch an issue ! So true
Tiffany Ferguson has to be the most organized youtuber of them all
Omg far from it but thank you! 💛
Can you do a video on “aesthetic”. Why do people wish to fit into boxes of personality that interests them when they can just be themselves
I feel very certain that the use of the black fist imagery was a deliberate and frankly insidious choice. There's an enormous push right now and for the last several years to blame the 2016 Democratic loss and current shakiness of the Democratic party on "radical leftists" (people like BLM or Antifa) who "discourage voting" (are openly critical of the voting system and call for greater change). This is unfortunately working extremely well in terms of getting people to not be critical of a system brimming with voter suppression and instead getting them attacking innocent victims of that system.
Yea...I felt like the "extreme center" using the blm fist to prove their point was incredibly dismissive of people's frustration with inequality in America. Kinda pushing the narrative of "the big, scary, radical leftists" when people just want...human rights? I know there's a lot of pushback to new ideas, but I also think a big part of that is those ideas being misunderstood. A documentary that seems to advocate for "the truth" shouldn't be perpetuating misunderstandings about a mostly positive movement. (Then again, the solution at the end would be seen by many as socialist, so maybe they're just trying to appeal to a wider audience? Idk)
I disagree. When it was discussed that Cambridge Analytica used users data to spread targeted information to manipulate people's behavior in the 2016 election, the post using the Black Lives Matter fist seen in the documentary is meant to be an example of such manipulative targeted Facebook ads. You don't have to officially be a BLM member, to use BLM imagery to make manipulative misinformation ads. The BLM fist is in there as an example of exactly what type of manipulation occurs online to trick people to act against their interests because it appears a trusted organization is giving particular advice. And in fact, the information shows that Russian groups were in fact making BLM posts to rile up people to fight more. So I wouldn't take it as the documentary taking a dig at BLM directly.
@@malvo4 That's an interesting possibility, and I certainly hope it's accurate to what the documentary wanted to express. I just also hope that was portrayed with enough clarity to avoid people seeing it and getting the wrong idea.
@@ScarletRose1994 The thing is even though people align themselves with the stated intentions of X organization or Y movement, there are also people who are bad actors who make other people look bad. And the ambiguity of the internet doesn't tell someone if this post is truly an expression of this groups ideology, a person who is trying to project their own issues onto a group making the group look bad, or someone who is trying to actively make the group look bad by tricking people. I have literally seen all three happen. Ultimately, people have to recognize that there are people seemingly on "our side" that aren't helping the movement with their behaviors or actions, regardless if this person was genuine or not. And there are people from the outside looking in who interact with this bad behavior and come away from that interaction believing that the whole group is bad with twisted intentions. That person who had that bad interaction can't tell if that person is genuine or not either. Getting back to BLM, it is three things that are constantly being conflated together; it is a statement, a movement, and an organization. And sadly when I see some people make specific criticisms of the organization of BLM, people suddenly make the conflation that they are criticizing the statement BLM and completely disregard the person making the criticism. And thus the conversation quickly goes down the toilet with one person believing the other person is a klan member who forgot their hood, and the other person in their mind has confirmed that people in the movement are irrational. And people get polarized more. Seeing how that interaction can quickly go sideways, it is really simple for someone who wants to instigate those types of interactions on command on a platform where no one really knows who anyone is and if the stated beliefs are really their true beliefs.
I definitely agree. As well they suggested that most, if not all, recent social unrest has been a direct result of media polarization, and failed to acknowledge that social unrest and demands for change are sometimes very necessary and the internet can be a platform for viewing other political systems and communicating with each other in order to demand more from our government.
I JUST got assigned to watch this documentary for a class, Tiffany are you spying on me?
I feel like you can’t really blame the documentary makers for having mostly white men in their film just after stating that the industry is disproportionately white and male 🤔 If it was equal representation it would no longer be a representative sample of the industry they were trying to portray.
Exactly. Jeez.
Exactly
That's true. But I think her point was that it would have been a better idea to include some other experts and not just people from the industry. I still agree with you though. For some people around me this film was kind of really new and shocking information and the fact that it was told by those same people who were part of it was the most powerful way to convey that there is a real problem for us to solve as a society.
The problem with the tech bros and the lack of recognition of how bad the far right actually is, is that they themselves are a lot of the time far right sympathizers masked in liberalism. Or are just straight up far right. Why we can't just across the board demonize fascism is maddening. Re: echo chambers, in the US we have this strange idea that we need to hear everyone out even when they're promoting racism and fascism when we don't need to do that. We know where these people stand, they've said it enough times. And aside from the individual responsibility of listening to people who want to hurt us, social media companies love to make excuses for these people and ideas to keep them on the platform even when they violate terms of service. It's Absolutely Wild.
THIS. When we debate fascist and racist views in the mainstream media and online, we treat them as if they are worthy of our time and therefore legitimise them. I often wonder if the UK and US would currently have such far-right leaders and policy outcomes if we had never given such views the time of day.
@Fight MMA source?
@Fight MMA never said i did, also you still did not give any evidence.
@Fight MMA as usual, the trump stans don't give any sources to support their claim.
People I know were like “omg you HAVE to watch the social dilemma it’ll MESS YOU UP.” I put it on and was like wait, I already learned about this on Adam Ruins Everything years ago lmao
I learned it from the Privacy Policies of Social media.
For more information about bias in algorithms I recommend the book "Invisible Women". Terrifying but so enlightening.
That book should be required reading in high school!
@@Theheavydress yes!
a book written by a TERF about women and feminity? no thanks lol
ahhhhh this makes me so mad this book is full of exclusionary tactics why are you recommending it
Also, for someone disabled like me, tech is my best option to connect with people because Lord knows it’s really hard to make/keep friends otherwise.
Same. 😞
THANK YOU FOR POINTING OUT THE FIST ICON - that bothered me IMMENSELY when I watched this docu.. honestly you covered everything I felt about viewing TSD- great analysis and summary 👍
the family we followed in the documentary... idk was a bit weird. I kinda liked it but then also hated it in parts. felt a bit cheesy.
same, when the daughter broke the cookie box to get her phone out, i was so dissapointed in the script. Her behavior just means that she is being raised badly. Believe me, I had my phone taken when I was her age, but I didn't steal it, even though I was really upset, and all of my friends had a simmilar expiriences.
@@natalischko I don’t know, I thought it was pretty accurate. I work in a secondary school and last year we were told we could no longer confiscate pupils phones as a punishment and lock them away because of the levels of stress and anxiety it causes to the pupils. I have heard stories from other teachers about pupils throwing classroom furniture and physically assaulting staff to stop their phones being taken from them. Do not underestimate how addictive social media can be and the detrimental effect it has on young people.
saying "let's regulate tech giants" as if they aren't the biggest lobbyists second to oil companies LOL
Social Dilemma in a nutshell: haha phone bad book good
I'm so glad this came up in my algorithm! Or am I? Should I be mad about this? I'm so confused.
You should watch her other stuff. She’s gooooood.
Every time you hear solutions that are about individuals there's someone (organization, company, government) evading their responsability in the problem instead of working on the solution.
I've read Jaron Lanier's "You Are Not a Gadget" a few times, would recommend.
I've watched many talks of him convincing people to leave social media. Maybe reading the book might actually get me to do it
Not to be the tech will solve everything. But blockchain technology could theoretically give the power back to the individual where basically they could own there own data and decide where it goes and literally make money off of it in the same way that the big companies already are. It’s not a total solve but it could help. Also Did Facebook literally come out and say they bought Instagram because it was competition. We have anti-trust laws why aren’t we using them!
Yessss! I'd love to own my data and get paid every time it gets used
You there reading the comments! Have a nice day and stay safe in these times. :)
💛
Okay. On the facial recognition thing. They can’t tell the difference between me with glasses on. And me with glasses off. So like. I don’t get how people are like “yes this is 100% reliable”
Clark Kent logic
Love how we do not mention how indispensable these apps are, more and more, and will be. so as you said it is way more important to work on changing them instead of just "delete it"
An interesting concept is the idea of productivity minus social media. We are encouraged to get off social media to then work hard to contribute into the capitalist society. Also another thing which stood out to me is how social media as you said is treated as 'bad don't use it but also do use it because its essential', there are so many jobs in marketing and social media that are high paying so if I want to break off from social media I can't really because it serves as a CV for entering into these jobs
Great video! I just would like to point out that the Raised/Clenched Fist is actually a universal symbol that has been used for over a century in MANY different political movements (from my knowledge, it has been traced all the way back to France in the mid XIX century), especially those movements tied to resisting the government and fighting for workers rights. The Black Power Movement adapted it later on since it was pretty common occurrence to make use of it in these types of social causes. It was probably thought of by the film crew as a safe symbology to use in a piece of fiction since it can't be conflated with one specific movement and it's common knowledge that it represents resistance and defiance of the people. As someone who isn't American, I feel like many Americans have a tendency to claim 'This symbol is nowadays used for solely this issue!', when it's still present in many other countries for a varied number of purposes. For that reason, I believe that's a pretty americentric argument to use. It is true, however, that it's mainly present in leftist groups. It's interesting to use it to display a centrist perspective when it's for the most part used by the left-wing. Just leaving this here in case you'd like to research it on your own! There's very interesting articles out there that explain its history and how it came to be used in the BLM movement. Keep up the good work! As a film and psychology student I love your channel and think you do an outstanding job bringing light to these topics. Hope you have a wonderful day!
I feel like this doc was basically only good information for boomers who are completely tech illiterate. I watched it w my 55 year old parents ad they weren't event surprised by anything. Felt like the tech guys' apology tour.
You don't know how badly I needed this video. I needed a break from uni stress. Thank you for helping me take my mind off things for a while.
Omg Tiffany I was hoping you’d talk about this after I listened to ur podcast episode where u mentioned watching it!!!! I’ve never been this early, I clicked SO fast
Netflix: *does a movie on social media* Tiffany Ferguson: Let me scrutinize the shit outta that.
Hey Tiffany! Just wanted to say that your Internet Analysis work is stellar. I'm a Communication Ph.D. student (who has been actively avoiding The Social Dilemma haha), so I love how you tackle important Communication/Information Science concepts and theories. Like seriously, I want to start sending my students to you for additional learning! Super stoked for your next video.
THANK YOU for mentioning the individual versus collectivist problem. The burden of this 100% falls on institutions to adopt better practices. This entire documentary was a clusterfuck of them wanting to make money, relate with gen z, encourage better habits with regard to social media (but not really?), and so on. Inspiring guilt in the individual is convenient but not the answer.
I had to write a paper for my master’s level translation class on translation algorithms, and Jaron Lanier was the only person who had actually written specifically on the topic. And I just fell down a wonderful rabbit hole of listening to his books on audio, deleted my facebook just to try it, had a wonderful time getting really deep into my studies and going outside for walks and all the works.... and then this thing came out, and I watched it while I almost died laughing. It felt so prophetic. But yeah, Jaron is the best, please to do a video on that book you have been assigned, when you are done with it! I would love to hear your take on his thoughts.
Tiffany i just discovered your channel a few days ago and im loving all your content, is so natural and clear with very honest and accurate opinions
Everytime someone talk about the ‘irony’ I remember the tiktok that goes as “aw you caught me I simultaneously exist in society while critiquing it”
I have nothing wise to add, but hey, here's engagement. :) You deserve it, these analysis videos are awesome! Already looking forward to the next one.
Just in time for lunch hell to the yeah! Good luck with your last semester!!
I literally just said the same thing!
I love your videos. You're easily the most informative (and socially well-opinioned) commentator I've seen. Thanks for the thoughtful work!
Just need to comment to say: this is the best sponsorship I've ever seen from a KZhead sponsorship -- 50% off 6 bottles of wine?! So thank you for stocking my pantry for like $9/bottle, what a deal.
An especially terrifying example for oppression by algorithms are the A-level results in the UK this year. Because of COVID, the finals exams didn't take place, and instead the results were calculated by an algorithm which factored in stuff like the student's previous results, what the teacher thinks they would have gotten and the average grades of their school. That of course led to all kind of injustice, e. g. students from private schools automatically got better grades than students from public schools in poor areas, simply because the historic average grades at those schools were better. As far as I know there was the option to resit the exams at a later date, but it's still really scary that they let an algorithm decide on such important grades.
ahhh im super stoked about every internet analysis video of yours! so great to watch your channel and you as a person grow :)
I was apprehensive to watch your video because I liked the social dilemma and I wasn't sure what you would say about it, but once again, thank you for your super thorough analysis. Very well done and lots to think about!
the amount of work and organization that you put into your videos is amazing and much much much appreciated
YES been waiting for this!!! so excited to watch this on break. also congrats on being so close to graduating- i remember my last semester. cheers!
Thank you so much for adding captions
💛💛💛 thank you for watching!
HoH here 🙌 captions are great
Captions help ADHD viewers, too. Thanks!
Appreciate these in depth analysis of yours. I still believe you’re such an underrated youtuber. Keep doing the good work that you do girlie ❤️
Your final thoughts really hit home to me. I think creating change in the world requires such a fine balance of individually changing our behaviours but also demanding that institutions change as well. I find it very difficult as an individual to figure out how to balance those two things.
After watching this documentary I felt many different emotions about it and couldn’t put my finger as to why I didn’t want to recommend this to people like I was seeing my peers do on social media. It wasn’t awful but wasn’t great. This pretty much sums up and puts into words my discomfort with this documentary. Thanks again Tiffany for being a wonderful voice of reason xx
I really love how you wrapped everything in a neat little bow at the end with a reminder that we need to keep the ✨corporations accountable ✨, love it.
I love the perspective you have to offer on this video. I've been binge watching your videos
Coming back to these videos now because I was also busy with university classes, thesis work and my internship. 2020 virus really screwed up. Anyway, I’m happy because now I get to sit back and binge Tiffany’s videos. Haha
The one question was left with, after watching the documentary, was something you brought up numerous times. What can we do about it? I was extremely disappointed that these so-called experts, who created many of these problems, never offered any sort of solutions.
I think that is because there isn’t any one solution. There was talk in the documentary of taxes and new laws being introduced, companies being held ethically responsible, but over all the best advice they gave, right at the end in the credits mind you, is for individuals to monitor their own social media time by not using addictive features like notifications and not falling in to echo chambers by making sure you are getting information from a range of sources.
i feel so bad that i fell for the film’s manipulation tactics as someone who studied film lol. i will say this film did feel like a “we live in a society” kind of take. but i wonder if our defensiveness is bc we’re so intrenched in social media? I definitely think it was tone deaf at some points but i wonder if it’s now my knee jerk reaction to scoff at something that scared me. like; it’s more comfortable to dismiss some of its points than to engage with it.
Thanks for covering this! I had no desire to watch the docu-series because I had a feeling I knew about the general gist of the doc, so much nicer watching your take on it instead!
Such a brilliant video. I am intentionally off of Netflix precisely because of its addictive nature but this conversation is so hugely important and reverberates even without seeing the doc.
Congrats on being so close to finishing school!
You're back!! I'm sorry I haven't even watched it yet but like I'm just so glad to see you back!
😲woah I got a heart! Well that's crazy.
You are like the only KZheadr I don't mind watching through sponsorships. You always seem so connected to the product you are selling and I really appreciate that you put effort into your sponsorships. I have actually gone to buy quite a bit of the stuff you sponsor! Also, I really hope you post a vlog or have a video discussing your whole college experience after you graduate. I love that you have a nontraditional student success story and I think more of that should be discussed. Congrats on graduation -- you deserve it!
Watching old movies or listening to older people speaking about no phones makes me euphoric. It’s deeper than we thought. People in pre internet are connecting, going to the library to learn etc. Kids weren’t political, nothing was over stimulating. I hate phones
EU handles privacy (and many other things) way better than the USA. It is one of the props of being in the EU. Facial recognition - it is not only about algorithms, the darker the object on the photo is the fewer details it shows.
Yesss!! Right on time! Just got done with school :) your videos make my day!!
Thanks for covering this! I couldn’t finish watching, because the whole documentary read too much like those bad fear-mingerinf anti-drug ads they would play for us at school.
I don't mind waiting for longer well researched videos. 😊 Love watching these internet analyses.
Had missed you❤️❤️so glad you’re back
The irony of Tiffany still needing to eat.😒
Love you, love your opinions and your thoughtfulness, and love your videos!! You are one of the most talented content creators, and I always appreciate that you try to do what's right, and say how you feel. You kick ass!!
Dude, yes!! Thank you for vocalizing a lot of the critiques I had with this film. I knew you, as a media person, would call out a lot of the ironies and not be so easily impressed by the (pretty common knowledge) points they were making.
Thank god for this vid, Tif!! 💕 I feel a bit lazy to watch the doc 😳
Love your videos and internet analysis series! I thought that the doc had some thought provoking moments, but heavily relied on the audience’s emotions to get the reaction they wanted. All scare tactics and visual representations vs helpful advice. I just know through having friends who work at Microsoft/Google that there’s a lot more that they’re NOT telling us, stuff that’s even worse so really it’s all surface level. But as much as the doc would make you want to delete social media, it’s this paradoxical dichotomy between usefulness and toxicity, so I really think the key is actively working on maintaining a healthy balance with social media (which is something I am passionate about). Thought it was a bit silly to show a narrative of three identical white guys standing in a control room and tactfully pushing out stuff a teenage boy would want to see 😂 oh well those are some of my thoughts on the subject matter! Love what you do!
I literally just watched the movie the other day and im glad youre covering it, i like hearing your opinions
love this time stamp format, had to come back to this while i was working and i felt like i was in 2005 scene selection on my dvds
Okay here’s some real talk: there will be no such thing as “good tech” under capitalism. Also this isn’t a social media issue- it’s an issue with capitalism and mental health meshing together. I recommend the work of the philosopher Mark Fisher who talked a lot about this issue.
I enjoyed the content of the documentary but the dramatized parts were just unbearable 😭 unrealistic and funny which made it less impactful
I've been waiting for updates for so long... FINALLY!!!
just watched the documentary the other day for my media studies class (surprise, surprise) and this video has perfect timing!