Overall, it was quite an interesting documentary detailing the harmfulness of social media and what social media has come to signify. The narrative was told through a series of interviews split up by a more dramatized section that was scripted.
I found the interviews to be quite interesting as they were people who had created the social media platforms like the CEO of Pinterest and the guy who created the like button on Facebook. However, I was less fond of the more dramatized sections because they felt very corny and kind of choppy in the sense of fast camera movement and they drew me out of the documentary more than anything else.
I recognize that their overall purpose was to give viewers a character to empathize with and to portray what the interviewees were talking about in terms of real Teenage life. Unfortunately, the Narrative was so over-dramatized that it didn't quite feel real.
Something one of my group members actually brought up which I found interesting, was the point that the dramatized sections were more to show how older generations see the younger generation and their obsessive attachments to their phones and technology. As a member of Gen Z who received the phone in high school, I can definitely attest to the incessant need to know where my phone is at all times.
However, I don't think it has to do with being obsessed with social media and my image online. Instead, my desire to have my phone on me 24/7 is more for connection purposes with family and friends. I'm the type of person to have location sharing on for my friends and family so that I know where they are and that they're okay.
Due to a series of events within my childhood that I won't get into, obviously, though that was a consistent feeling of being lost and hopeless for a prolonged period of my younger years. Those emotions have stuck with me, and so having my phone on me provides a comforting knowledge that if I needed to get in contact with my mother or my sister I could, and I would know that those I love are all right.
I did really enjoy how the interviews were set up within the documentary. The interviewers would ask the subjects those questions and then they would splice together the answers so they were all answering the same question at the same time which was really interesting to see the different responses.
It was intriguing and honestly kind of heartbreaking to witness how out of control these programmers feel about the things they've created. All of them stated that they don't let themselves or their families go on social media hardly at all because they know first-hand how addictive it can be, and when asked if there was a reasonable chance that the image of social media could be stopped or changed, they didn't know.
The creation of social media and its influence on the lives and mental States of the younger generation is out of control, and not even its creators know how to stop it. At this point, it is a runaway train, and the conductors have jumped off.
If social media was to be changed into something for the better, something massive would need to happen. I don't know how one would go about making that change, but at the rate it is going, the situation seems like it is heading toward a peak. Technology and its evolutions have grown so exponentially, that surely at some point in the near future, Society will either reach a point of no return, or Some literal or figurative disaster will strike and a change will need to be made one way or another.
This documentary invoked an interesting thought practice. I took a step back and looked at how much time I spent on my phone and my computer. To be honest, it is far more than I'd like. Between school work, keeping up with friends on social media, and watching YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, I spend probably at least 10 hours a day on technology.
In recent years, I've tried to combat that by finding time to focus on reading physical books and drawing and writing in an actual notebook rather than typing on my keyboard. I've thrown myself into needlepoint crocheting and knitting so that I can unplug myself and step into the real world.
Since leaving my birth religion of Christianity, I have since found my dose of spirituality in nature and the natural world. I go on walks and leave my phone in my pocket or my bag so that it is still Within Reach if I need to be accessed, but so that it is in the back of my mind rather than at the Forefront of my focus.
This documentary raises a genuine dilemma that many people need to think about. Something needs to be done, though I don't know what can be done at this point in time. In the not-so-far-off future, I believe something will happen, good or bad.
That thing will provide an ultimatum for change that leaves Society no choice but to look at where technology is and where it is going. What does the future of technology look like for Humanity and Society? Are we going to be constantly plugged in with virtual reality headsets or augmented reality glasses or something of that sort? Will they reach a point where we can no longer see the world as it truly is but only through the lens of a virtual landscape, and what will that mean for our concept of reality?
I've rambled on for nearly a thousand words now so I will leave it at that, but more people should be talking about this in a substantial way where action can be taken. The world needs to change, and people need to wake up before we reach that point of no return.
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