If You Are Not Afraid of Big Data — You Should Be
Experts sound the alarm in The Social Dilemma
By now, everyone over the age of 21 and literate has to know the dangers of social media. The new Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma, sheds a light on the algorithms used to keep us enslaved to our social media networks despite the known risks.
Those risks, according to the National Center for Health Research, include an increased risk of anxiety, depression, and social isolation. The average internet user spends 2.33 hours per day on one of the top six most popular social media platforms.
Will we change our behaviors? It is unlikely, and social media networks are betting 52.7 billion dollars based on 2020 statistics, on our unwillingness to change. I have long realized the dangers, but there was one fatal flaw in my thinking. I am not an avid consumer, and live a relatively minimalistic lifestyle, by choice. So, my assumption was that the equation wouldn’t work on me.
The equation that I assumed these platforms counted on in that advertisers pay them money to show me highly targeted ads, therefore creating the multi-billion dollar business of social media. You may pay zero attention to ads, and so you think you are immune to toxic advertising, right?
