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66-449: The Social Dilemma is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe , and Vickie Curtis. The documentary covers the negative social effects of social media and is interspersed by a dramatized narrative surrounding a family of five who are increasingly affected by problematic social media use . The Social Dilemma premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival , on January 26, 2020, and

132-409: A decline in mental and physical health. Numerous reasons for doomscrolling have been cited, including negativity bias , fear of missing out , and attempts at gaining control over uncertainty. The practice of doomscrolling can be compared to an older phenomenon from the 1970s called the mean world syndrome , described as "the belief that the world is a more dangerous place to live in than it actually

198-419: A former director of Facebook, spoke up on the alarming goal of the company: updating the app with increased addictiveness for a consistent boost in engagement. Another interviewee, Tristan Harris, former Google designer, compares the addiction level to a "Vegas slot machine" as users "check their phones hoping that they have a notification, as it's like they are pulling the lever of a slot machine hoping they hit

264-470: A human representation of himself, and they stare at each other. Narrative casting was led by Jenny Jue. The Social Dilemma centers on the social and cultural impact of social media usage on regular users, with a focus on algorithmically enabled forms of behavior modification and psychological manipulation . The film depicts an array of related themes, including technological addiction, fake news , depression, and anxiety . One interviewee, Tim Kendall,

330-562: A more critical way" and "a nuanced explanation of the present ethical problems [to] help people benefit from new technologies without having to completely shut them down or ban them for their teenage children". Notable criticism was directed toward the fictional narrative surrounding the family and the AIs. Casey Newton at The Verge pointed to certain directorial decisions, such as "the ominous piano score that persuades every scene" as giving it "the feeling of camp ". Nell Minow stated that "even

396-490: A new phone screen, Ben promises his mother he will not use his phone for a week, but the AIs, confused as to why he is suddenly inactive, decide to draw him back in by sending him a notification that his ex has started a new relationship, prompting Ben to break his promise and doomscroll in an attempt to cope. The AIs, deducing he is a centrist , begin recommending him radical centrist views to keep him engaged, which quickly devolve into propaganda and conspiracy theories by

462-487: A pathway to both problematic smartphone use and problematic social media use . Social media companies play a significant role in the perpetuation of doomscrolling by leveraging algorithms designed to maximize user engagement. These algorithms prioritize content that is emotionally stimulating, often favoring negative news and sensationalized headlines to keep users scrolling. The business models of most social media platforms rely heavily on user engagement, which means that

528-413: A producer at 20th Century Fox in 1943. There he brought the newsreel aesthetic to films, producing a series of movies based upon real events using a realistic style that became known as semidocumentary . The films ( The House on 92nd Street , Boomerang , 13 Rue Madeleine ) were imitated, and the style soon became used even for completely-fictional stories, such as The Naked City . Perhaps

594-515: A production company of the same name. The influence of New Journalism tended to create a license for authors to treat with literary techniques material that might in an earlier age have been approached in a purely journalistic way. Both Truman Capote and Norman Mailer were influenced by this movement, and Capote's In Cold Blood is arguably the most famous example of the genre. Some docudrama examples for American television include Brian's Song (1971), and Roots (1977). Brian's Song

660-561: A professor of psychology at the University of Virginia , states that FOMO is likely to be correlated with doomscrolling due to the person's fear of missing out on crucial negative information. Obsessively consuming negative news online can additionally be partially attributed to a person's psychological need for control. As stated earlier, the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with the popularity of doomscrolling. A likely reasoning behind this

726-563: A social psychologist and author, highlights the influence of social media on depression and anxiety, especially in younger adolescents. The documentary reports statistics on depression, self-harm, and suicide leading to hospitalization, specifically in American teen girls, resulting from social media use. The number of hospitalizations remained stable until around 2011 and rose a significant 62 percent in older teen girls (ages 15–19) and up 189 percent in younger teen girls (ages 10–14) since 2009 in

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792-428: Is a mode of representation. Educator Benicia D'sa maintained that docudramas are heavily impacted by filmmakers' own perspectives and understanding of history. The impulse to incorporate historical material into literary texts has been an intermittent feature of literature in the west since its earliest days. Aristotle 's theory of art is based on the use of putatively historical events and characters. Especially after

858-411: Is as a result of long-term exposure to violence-related content on television". Studies show that seeing upsetting news leads people to seek out more information on the topic, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. In common parlance, the word "doom" connotes darkness and evil, referring to one's fate (cf. damnation ). In the internet's infancy, " surfing " was a common verb used in reference to browsing

924-504: Is increasing, and that 38% of people admitted to sometimes or often actively avoiding the news in 2022, up from 29% in 2017. Some journalists have admitted to avoiding the news; journalist Amanda Ripley wrote that "people producing the news themselves are struggling, and while they aren't likely to admit it, it is warping the coverage." She also identified ways she believes could help fix the problem, such as intentionally adding more hope, agency, and dignity into stories so readers don't feel

990-414: Is shaping how the world gets its information and understands truth. Our hope has always been to work on big issues, and we now see the "social dilemma" as a problem beneath all our other problems. The film's graphics , animation , and visual effects were made by Mass FX Media and produced by Netflix . The film's music is composed by Mark Crawford, "a Primetime Emmy-nominated composer and filmmaker" who

1056-489: Is sometimes attributed to Aza Raskin by the elimination of pagination of web pages, in favor of continuously loading content as the user scrolls down the page. Raskin later expressed regret at the invention, describing it as "one of the first products designed to not simply help a user, but to deliberately keep them online for as long as possible". Usability research suggests infinite scrolling can present an accessibility issue. The lack of stopping cues has been described as

1122-438: Is that during uncertain times, people are likely to engage in doomscrolling as a way to help them gather information and a sense of mastery over the situation. This is done by people to reinforce their belief that staying informed, and in control will provide them with protection from grim situations. However, while attempting to seize control, more often than not as a result of doomscrolling individuals develop more anxiety towards

1188-456: Is the biography of Brian Piccolo , a Chicago Bears football player who died at a young age after battling cancer. Roots depicts the life of a slave and his family. This list is ordered by release date. Doomscrolling Doomscrolling or doomsurfing is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of news , particularly negative news, on the web and social media . Doomscrolling can also be defined as

1254-462: 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: Harris summed this up with the warning: "If you're not paying for

1320-522: The Huffington Post found that participants who watched three minutes of negative news in the morning were 27% more likely to have reported experiencing a bad day six to eight hours later. Comparatively, the group who watched solutions-focused news stories reported a good day 88% of the time. Some people have begun coping with the abundance of negative news stories by avoiding news altogether. A study from 2017 to 2022 showed that news avoidance

1386-631: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center notes that humans are "all hardwired to see the negative and be drawn to the negative because it can harm [them] physically." He cites evolution as the reason for why humans seek out such negatives: if one's ancestors, for example, discovered how an ancient creature could injure them, they could avoid that fate. As opposed to primitive humans, however, most people in modern times do not realize that they are even seeking negative information. Social media algorithms heed

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1452-400: The University of Sussex conducted a study in which participants watched television news consisting of "positive-, neutral-, and negative valenced material". The study revealed that participants who watched the negative news programs showed an increase in anxiety, sadness, and catastrophic tendencies regarding personal worries. A study conducted by psychology researchers in conjunction with

1518-438: The anti-democratic "Extreme Center" movement, radicalizing Ben and affecting his daily life to the point of near-isolation. Ultimately, Ben attends an Extreme Center rally that devolves into violence when similarly-radicalized counter-protestors arrive. Cassandra learns Ben is there and searches for him, but both are detained by riot police . At the end of the narrative, the AIs merge into one entity while Ben's avatar becomes

1584-414: The COVID-19 pandemic, and has also been discussed in relation to the climate crisis . A 2024 survey conducted by Morning Consult , concluded that approximately 31% of American adults doomscroll on a regular basis. This percentage is further exaggerated the younger the adults are, with millennials at 46%, and Gen Z adults at 51%. Infinite scrolling is a design approach which loads content continuously as

1650-489: The IFG, the brain "selectively filters bad news" when presented with new information as it updates beliefs. When a person engages in doomscrolling, the brain may feel under threat and shut off its "bad news filter" in response. In a study where researchers manipulated the left IFG using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), patients were more likely to incorporate negative information when updating beliefs. This suggests that

1716-698: The US. The same pattern is shown in the rates of suicide, which had increased 70 percent in older teen girls and 151 percent in younger teen girls compared to 2001–2010. According to Haidt's interview, people born after 1996 have grown up in a society where social media usage is the norm, thus resulting in consistent exposure to overwhelming content from a young age. Jeff Orlowski , who is mostly known for his work in Chasing Coral and Chasing Ice , began production on The Social Dilemma in 2018 and concluded it in 2019. When asked where his inspiration came from during

1782-536: The actual locations in which the historical events occurred. A docudrama, in which historical fidelity is the keynote, is generally distinguished from a film merely " based on true events ", a term which implies a greater degree of dramatic license, and from the concepts of historical drama , a broader category which may also incorporate entirely fictionalized events intermixed with factual ones, and historical fiction , stories generally featuring fictional characters and plots taking place in historical settings or against

1848-609: The backdrop of historical events. As a portmanteau , docudrama is sometimes confused with docufiction . However, unlike docufiction—which is essentially a documentary filmed in real time , incorporating some fictional elements—docudrama is filmed at a time subsequent to the events portrayed. The docudrama genre is a reenactment of actual historical events. However it makes no promise of being entirely accurate in its interpretation. It blends fact and fiction for its recreation and its quality depends on factors like budget and production time. The filmmaker Leslie Woodhead presents

1914-460: The bare facts of an event in history to tell a story. Some degree of license is often taken with minor historical facts for the sake of enhancing the drama. Docudramas are distinct from historical fiction, in which the historical setting is a mere backdrop for a plot involving fictional characters. The scholar Steven N. Lipkin considers docudrama as a form of performance through recollection which in turn shapes our collective memory of past events. It

1980-496: The best price". In the end credits, 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. The documentary uses a fictional dramatized narrative to illustrate the issues discussed, centering around "a middle-class, average American family" whose members each interface with

2046-527: The brain to greater quantities of unfavorable news and may restrict the brain's ability to embrace good news and discount bad news; this can result in negative emotions that make one feel anxious, depressed, and isolated. Health professionals have advised that excessive doomscrolling can negatively impact existing mental health issues. While the overall impact that doomscrolling has on people may vary, it can often make one feel anxious, stressed, fearful, depressed, and isolated. Professors of psychology at

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2112-592: The content users engage in and display posts similar in nature, which can aid in the act of doomscrolling. As per the clinic director of the Perelman School of Medicine 's Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety: "People have a question, they want an answer, and assume getting it will make them feel better ... You keep scrolling and scrolling. Many think that will be helpful, but they end up feeling worse afterward." Doomscrolling can also be explained by

2178-444: The development of modern mass-produced literature, there have been genres that relied on history or then-current events for material. English Renaissance drama, for example, developed subgenres specifically devoted to dramatizing recent murders and notorious cases of witchcraft . However, docudrama as a separate category belongs to the second half of the twentieth century. Louis de Rochemont , creator of The March of Time , became

2244-618: The docudrama dilemma in the following manner: [instead of hunting for definitions] I think it much more useful to think of the form as a spectrum that runs from journalistic reconstruction to relevant drama with infinite graduations along the way. In its various mutation it's employed by investigative journalists, documentary feature makers, and imaginative dramatists. So we shouldn't be surprised when programs as various as Culloden and Oppenheimer or Suez , or Cabinet reconstructions refuse tidy and comprehensive definition. Docudramas producers use literary and narrative techniques to flesh out

2310-566: The excessive consumption of short-form videos or social media content for an excessive period of time without stopping. The concept was coined around 2020, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic . Surveys and studies suggest doomscrolling is predominant among youth. It can be considered a form of internet addiction disorder . In 2019, a study by the National Academy of Sciences found that doomscrolling can be linked to

2376-589: The factors of the situation. The narrative depicts Ben and Isla as increasingly affected by social media and internet addictions, driven by the Engagement, Growth, and Advertisement AIs, represented by anthropomorphized tech executives in a "behind-the-screen" control room, who find ways to keep their users as addicted to social media as possible, while only viewing them as depersonalized avatars , with little concern for theirs or society's well-being. The narrative starts with Isla ignoring her mother's requests to set

2442-492: The fear of missing out, a common fear that causes people to take part in activities that may not be explicitly beneficial to them, but which they fear "missing out on". This fear is also applied within the world of news, and social media. A research study conducted by Statista in 2013 found that more than half of Americans experienced FOMO on social media; further studies found FOMO affected 67% of Italian users in 2017, and 59% of Polish teenagers in 2021. Thus, Bethany Teachman,

2508-406: The film "asks fundamental and existential questions" of humanity's potential self-destruction through its own use of computer technology, and praised its "exceptional" use of confessions from leaders and key players in the social media industry. Elizabeth Pankova of The New Republic noted "none of the information in the film is particularly new" but argued what made The Social Dilemma effective

2574-490: The film a positive review, stating it was "remarkably effective in sounding the alarm about the incursion of data mining and manipulative technology into our social lives and beyond". Mark Kennedy of ABC News called the film "an eye-opening look into the way social media is designed to create addiction and manipulate our behaviour, told by some of the very people who supervised the systems at places like Facebook, Google, and Twitter". Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com noted that

2640-433: The film holds an approval rating of 85%, based on 66 reviews, with an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Clear-eyed and comprehensive, The Social Dilemma presents a sobering analysis of our data-mined present." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100, based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Devika Girish from The New York Times gave

2706-468: The film would have benefited from featuring more diverse voices. Docudrama Docudramas typically strive to adhere to known historical facts, while allowing some degree of dramatic license in peripheral details, such as when there are gaps in the historical record. Dialogue may, or may not, include the actual words of real-life people, as recorded in historical documents . Docudrama producers sometimes choose to film their reconstructed events in

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2772-409: The film's oft-denounced dramatizations, John Naughton of The Guardian commented on the narrative's focus, stating that "the fictional strand is necessary because the biggest difficulty facing critics of an industry that treats users as lab rats is that of explaining to the rats what's happening to them while they are continually diverted by the treats (in this case dopamine highs) being delivered by

2838-466: The film's panel at Deadline Hollywood ' s Contenders Documentary event, Orlowski said that he has "always been curious about big systemic and societal challenges". He came to believe that "invisibly, a handful of designers in Silicon Valley are writing code that is shaping the lives of billions of people around the planet". Orlowski, on the film's FAQ page, states: We were drawn to tell

2904-417: The film's persuasive techniques, Laura Alvarez Trigo of PopMecC stated, " The Social Dilemma manages to construct a Manichean narrative with a very elusive and misconstrued evil side" but pointed to the film's own resemblance to the propaganda and manipulation it criticizes, stating the film could have benefited from "providing the audience with the necessary tools to engage with the platforms that they use in

2970-428: The first 28 days of release. It won two awards out of seven nominations at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2021. The film is approximately 94 minutes long and can only be accessed on Netflix. However, a free 40-minute version can be viewed by requesting it through the film's official webpage. The Social Dilemma received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes ,

3036-529: The habit. The act of doomscrolling can be attributed to the natural negativity bias people have when consuming information. Negativity bias is the idea that negative events have a larger impact on one's mental well-being than good ones. Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, notes that due to an individual's regular state of contentment, potential threats provoke one's attention.  One psychiatrist at

3102-594: The helplessness which leads them to tune out entirely. In 2024, a study by the University of Oxford 's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism indicated that an increasing number of people are avoiding the news. In 2023, 39% of people worldwide reported actively avoiding the news, up from 29% in 2017. The study suggests that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East may be contributing factors to this trend. In

3168-480: The internet differently: Ben, a teenage high school student who falls deeper into social media addiction and online radicalization ; Isla, an adolescent who develops depression and low self-esteem from social media's unrealistic beauty standards ; Cassandra, an older teenager who does not have a mobile phone and is depicted as being free from online manipulation; and their mother and stepfather, who try to curb their children's screen time but do not fully understand

3234-652: The internet; similarly, the word " scrolling " refers to sliding through online content. After 3 years of being on the Merriam-Webster "watching" list, "doomscrolling" was recognized as an official word in September 2023. Dictionary.com chose it as the top monthly trend in August 2020. The Macquarie Dictionary named doomscrolling as the 2020 Committee's Choice Word of the Year. According to Merriam-Webster,

3300-478: The jackpot". Misinformation and fake news are commonly spread on social media, and users are unable to distinguish between fake and real news, resulting in differences in ideology and societal division. The immersion of users in this app, who are thus exposed to limitless information, according to Kendall, could potentially lead to tension within society. The Social Dilemma also discusses how social media can cause depression and give users anxiety. Jonathan Haidt,

3366-470: The left IFG may be responsible for inhibiting bad news from altering personal beliefs; when participants were presented with favorable information and received TMS, the brain still updated beliefs in response to the positive news. The study also suggests that the brain selectively filters information and updates beliefs in a way that reduces stress and anxiety by processing good news with higher regard (see optimistic bias ). Increased doomscrolling exposes

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3432-560: The longer people stay on their platforms, the more advertisements they see, and the more data is collected on their behavior. This creates a cycle where emotionally charged content—often involving negative or anxiety-inducing information—is repeatedly pushed to users, encouraging them to keep scrolling and consuming more content. Despite the well-documented negative effects of doomscrolling on mental health, social media companies are incentivized to maintain user engagement through these methods, making it challenging for individuals to break free from

3498-460: The most significant of the semidocumentary films was He Walked by Night (1948), based upon an actual case . Jack Webb had a supporting role in the movie and struck up a friendship with the LAPD consultant, Sergeant Marty Wynn. The film and his relationship with Wynn inspired Webb to create Dragnet , one of the most famous docudramas in history. The particular portmanteau term "docudrama"

3564-399: The possibility of a decline in its users, Facebook refused to answer or give any comment on the subject. Mozilla employees Ashley Boyd and Audrey Hingle noted that while the "making, release and popularity of The Social Dilemma represents a major milestone towards [the goal of] building a movement of internet users who understand social media's impact and who demand better from platforms",

3630-512: The product, you are the product", paraphrasing earlier insights from Television Delivers People , Tom Johnson, and Andrew Lewis. 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. The film also discusses the dangers of fake news . 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

3696-617: The situation rather than lessen it. Doomscrolling, the compulsion to engross oneself in negative news, may be the result of an evolutionary mechanism where humans are "wired to screen for and anticipate danger". By frequently monitoring events surrounding negative headlines, staying informed may grant the feeling of being better prepared; however, prolonged scrolling may also lead to worsened mood and mental health as personal fears might seem heightened. The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) plays an important role in information processing and integrating new information into beliefs about reality. In

3762-443: The smartphones that the experimenters control." Facebook released a statement on its About page, stating that the film "gives a distorted view of how social media platforms work to create a convenient scapegoat for what are difficult and complex societal problems". CNBC reported that social media users were doubting if they should continue using Facebook or Instagram after watching The Social Dilemma . However, when asked about

3828-439: The stories of our changing glaciers and changing coral reefs because they were powerful signs of a huge global issue facing humanity: climate change. When we started talking with Tristan Harris and the Center for Humane Technology , we saw a direct parallel between the threat posed by the fossil fuel industry and the threat posed by our technology platforms. Harris calls this "the climate change of culture", an invisible force that

3894-432: The table, followed by her increasingly becoming depressed after her appearance is criticized on social media. After Cassandra criticizes Isla and Ben's problematic smartphone use , their mother proposes locking everyone's phones in a safe so they can have dinner together, but when one phone receives a notification, Isla tries to open the safe and ultimately breaks it open with a tool, damaging Ben's phone screen. In return for

3960-562: The term was first used in 2020. The term continued to gain traction in the early 2020s through events such as the COVID-19 pandemic , the George Floyd protests , the 2020 U.S. presidential election , the storming of the U.S. Capitol in 2021, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine since 2022, all of which have been noted to have exacerbated the practice of doomscrolling. Doomscrolling became widespread among users of Twitter during

4026-428: The user scrolls down. It eliminates the need for pagination thereby encouraging doomscrolling behaviours. The feature allows a social media user to "infinitely scroll", as the software is continuously loading new content and displaying an endless stream of information. Consequently, this feature can exacerbate doomscrolling as it removes natural stopping points that a user might pause at. The concept of infinite scrolling

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4092-411: The wonderfully talented Skyler Gisondo cannot make a sequence work where he plays a teenager seduced by extremist disinformation, and the scenes with Vincent Kartheiser embodying the formulas that fight our efforts to pay attention to anything outside of the online world are just silly." Pranav Malhotra called the narratives an "uncritical" presentation of a dystopia lacking nuance. In a rare defense of

4158-558: Was "the purveyors of this information: the remorseful, self-aware warriors turned conscientious objectors of Silicon Valley". Pranav Malhotra of Slate stated the film "plays up well-worn dystopian narratives surrounding technology" and "depend[s] on tired (and not helpful) tropes about technology as the sole cause of harm, especially to children", while also failing to acknowledge activists and commentators who have long criticized social media, citing scholars such as Safiya Noble , Sarah T. Roberts , and Siva Vaidhyanathan . In an analysis of

4224-514: Was coined in 1957 by Philip C. Lewis (1904-1979), of Tenafly, New Jersey , a former vaudevillian and stage actor turned playwright and author, in connection with a production he wrote, in response to the defeat of a local school-funding referendum, for the Tenafly Citizens' Education Council addressing "the development of education and its significance in American life." Lewis trademarked the term "DocuDrama" in 1967 (expired, 1992) for

4290-545: Was nominated for an ASCAP Award for his work on The Social Dilemma . With the use of "human-produced" and mechanical sounds, as Crawford explained in The Social Dilemma interview, he displayed the alarming impacts of social media through this soundtrack. The Social Dilemma premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival on January 26, 2020, and was released worldwide on Netflix on September 9, 2020. The documentary went on to be viewed in 38,000,000 homes within

4356-479: Was released on Netflix on September 9, 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic . It received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its message and use of interviews with established tech experts but criticized the narrative and lack of nuance in addressing technological problems. The Social Dilemma covers the psychological underpinnings and manipulation techniques by which, it claims, social media and technology companies addict users. People's online activity

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