This documentary dives into the psychological underpinnings and the manipulation techniques by which, it claims, social media and technology companies addict users. People’s online activity is watched, tracked, and measured by these companies, who then use this data to build artificial intelligence models that predict the actions of their users. Tristan Harris, former Google design ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, explains in the documentary that there are three main goals of tech companies:

1. The engagement goal: to increase usage and to make sure users continue scrolling.
2. The growth goal: to ensure users are coming back and inviting friends that invite even more friends.
3. The advertisement goal: to make sure that while the above two goals are happening, the companies are also making as much money as possible from advertisements.

Harris summed this up with the warning: “If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product”, paraphrasing earlier insights from Television Delivers People, Tom Johnson and Andrew Lewis.^[1]

Harris likens the manipulation tactics used in technology to magic: how do you persuade people by manipulating what they see and how can this psychology be integrated into technology?

Another interviewee, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at NYU Stern School of Business, brings up the concerns of mental health in relation to social media. There has been an increase in depression and suicide rates among teens and young adults since the early 2000s^[2] and Haidt states that this pattern points to the year social media was made available on mobile phones. The dangers of fake news are also discussed in the documentary. Harris argues that this is a “disinformation-for-profit business model” and that companies make more money by allowing “unregulated messages to reach anyone for the best price”. According to a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, fake news on Twitter spreads six times faster than true news.^[3] Wikipedia is mentioned as a neutral landscape that shows all users the exact same page without tailoring it for the individual or monetizing it.

Orlowski uses a cast of actors to portray this in the dramatization of the issues covered in the film. The narrative features a family of five, portraying various perspectives of social media usage and its influence on their daily lives. The main character, Ben, is a teenager who falls deeper into social media addiction under the manipulation of the Engagement, Growth, and Advertisement AIs. Cassandra, Ben’s sister, believes that one can stay connected to the Internet without a cellphone and she represents individuals free from the manipulation of social media and technology, unlike other members of her family. Isla, the youngest daughter in the family, represents how teenage girls fall into depression and lose their sense of identity due to social media.^[4]

One scene in the narrative shows the family at the dinner table. The mother proposes that everyone keep their cell phones locked in a Kitchen Safe prior to eating dinner but when a notification buzzes on someone’s phone, Isla gets up from the table and tries to open the Kitchen Safe. She resorts to shattering the Kitchen Safe with a tool after a few failed attempts, retrieving her own phone but damaging Ben’s phone screen in the process. In return for a new phone screen, Ben promises his mother that he will refrain from using the phone for a week. At the end of the scene, Cassandra is seen sitting alone at the dinner table. Halfway through the agreed time period, Ben breaks his promise and progressively becomes addicted to social media. The AIs behind the screen previously analyzed that pushing “Extreme Center” political content on his social media page has a 62.3% chance of long-term engagement for Ben. Once Ben starts watching one video recommended by the AIs, he becomes so immersed in the content containing propaganda and conspiracy theories that it affects his daily life, leading him to skip soccer practice and disregard friends and family. Ultimately, towards the end of the film, Ben gets involved in an “Extreme Center” rally that escalates and becomes violent. He gets pinned down and detained by the police when he tries to make his way to Cassandra, who spots Ben in the crowd on her way to school.

The interviewees restate their fear about the role of artificial intelligence in social media and the influence these platforms have on society, arguing that “something needs to change.” Aza Raskin, a former employee at Firefox and Mozilla and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, explains that Silicon Valley started around the “idea of humane technology,” but companies have strayed away from the original intentions of technology.

In the ending credits of the documentary, the interviewees propose ways the audience can take action to fight back, such as turning off notifications, never accepting recommended videos on YouTube, using search engines that do not retain search history, and establishing rules in the house on cell phone usage.