We try a completely different format for this episode, where we watch a documentary called The Social Dilemma, and respond to it with our friend and former guest for the Suffering Episode, Hanyu Chwe. Hanyu is a graduate student who studies network sciences. The documentary covers social media's insidious effects on our brains, interviewing a number of former Silicon Valley executives about the ways in which social media has led to an increased rate of teen suicide in girls, increased political polarization around the world, and the massive spread of fake news and misinformation. It draws a direct connection between the fact that radicalizing information tends to keep users on sites like Facebook and Twitter longer, which means more money for advertisers on those platforms. We talk about what we can try to do about these issues, both on a personal level (turning off notifications) and a government level (regulating the shit out of big tech).

Links:

The Social Dilemma Documentary (Netflix): https://www.netflix.com/title/81254224

Twitter thread Hanyu linked to research on what news sources are most polarizing: https://twitter.com/DavMicRot/status/1312466129168691200?s=20&fbclid=IwAR3Uzt6VgpIrWCXheyGeOqQOy3ejEBCwevnxVb-7Cq_p5UGsAAtlS0QJLpQ

White paper called 'Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook':  https://education.biu.ac.il/sites/education/files/shared/science-2015-bakshy-1130-2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR33dhIIcdVssbVezLjsewaQy9_Xq3HLbV0xJF9K0xclEJSg4nxHNAJphOg

Music is The Beauty of Maths by Meydän.