Social media has been a lifeline in 2020. As the ongoing pandemic closed the door on social spaces and life as we once knew it came to a drastic halt, many of us relied on online platforms to stay in touch with our loved ones.
Last year, Netflix dropped an original documentary, The Social Dilemma, which sounds the alarm on the extent of how social media is shaping our lives. It features a number of damning interviews with tech experts urging users to cut back on using the very platforms they helped develop.
Not only does the documentary focus on the ever-addictive nature of social media, spurred by clever algorithms that have the sole purpose of keeping our attention, it also touches on issues of misinformation, fake news and political polarisation.
For anyone who has an account on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, it is a sobering, must-watch. While you may feel like deactivating your online presence altogether by the time you finish, experts also throw in a couple of tips on how to use social media more responsibly.
