In the second day of “Critical Lens” Outdoor Cinema sessions, a group of young people joined at Saline 34 backyard to watch a documentary “The Social Dilemma”.
The film highlights the various problems associated with the global massive use of social media. Namely, former employees of large technology companies (Google, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and others) talk about several negative consequences of their products, such as the consequences on young people’s mental health, the problems with addiction to technology in all age categories, the dangers to democracy, the spread of fake news and misinformation, the danger of social unrest and crises as well as the business model that underpins it.
Although the focus is primarily on the negative aspects of the functioning of tech giants, at the very end of the film, certain suggestions are made on how their harmful effects can be reduced, without a complete ban (adequate government regulation, the effort of every person to reduce their use to a “healthy” measure, the development of media literacy and critical reflection, etc.).
The aim of the activity was to encourage reflection and discussion on the phenomenon of social media, which strongly shapes our reality. At the very beginning of the session, the participants were introduced to the concept of “Critical Lens” outdoor cinema sessions, followed by their mutual introduction and motivation for participation in the project. They were also asked to write down certain questions during the film to discuss at the end of the session. These questions were divided into 3 clusters based on different topics (democracy, ethics and social media). After watching the film, the participants were divided into 2 groups, in order to reflect on the questions posed together, through dialogue and discussion. Then, participants briefly presented and compared their answers.
These were some of the insights gathered through our conversation:
How can social media be used in a positive way, to promote progressive change and democracy?
“There must be rules that regulate social media campaigns (ex. transparency on their algorithms), in that way the echo chambers can be eliminated and the factors that serve polarization.”
How can a social media campaign be able to influence opinions?
“Echo chambers, division in the society, excluding the ones with the different ideas and putting pressure; the focus on a topic that actually cause shift from the real problems.”
How to tackle fake news and hate speech online?
On one hand, “It is very difficult to give an unambiguous answer to this question. On the one hand, one logical solution would be adequate government regulation of social media (through the definition and prohibition of problematic content), and on the other hand, this raises other questions related to “Who has the right to regulate this space?” and “Does this mean that this regulation will depend on the political factors that run a particular country, which can change for several years?”
How to foster individual and institutional critical use?
“Through workshops similar to today’s, seminars, debates, various forms of non-formal education that strengthen critical awareness among social media users. Also, one of the solutions would be to introduce computer literacy and critical thinking to an important part of the school curriculum in public schools.”
Could we build an alternative infrastructure or is the power of Big Tech too large to battle?
“We can use alternative methods to get information that is important to us.” and “Through the small steps of each person, we can reduce the use of large social media to a reasonable measure”
In conclusion, there are many aspects of social networks that should be taken with caution, with a healthy approach to balance between online and offline word, and with a clear stance on critically assessing information spread online. As we have seen before, and Cambridge Analytica documentary shows this as well, online platforms such as Facebook can easily play a role in fabricating content directed at shaping people’s minds, which ultimately can create division and polarization within society, shaking the foundations of democracy. Therefore, we leave you this advice: get informed, check your sources and double-check between sources. And most importantly, disconnecting from social media from time to time can be a good way to take care of your mental health.
This activity was developed within the frameworks of projects Young Demo (P. Nº:SEP-210833021) and EU4Youth2Act (P. Nº:2023-1-IT03-KA220-000154855 ), co-funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ program and CERV program.
