From the Executive

The Social Dilemma

 I often wonder how different the recent COVID-19 lockdown would have felt in any previous decade. Consider how different our lives would have been during the last six months without access to streaming services, social media, video chats and online shopping. Even five years ago it would have been unlikely that we would have been able to run live, synchronous classes as successfully as we have using Google Meet. However, throughout our modern history, technological advancements have also brought their fair share of negative and sometimes disastrous consequences.

I’m sure I’m not alone in realising an increase in my use of social media during lockdown. Many more hours of down time at home combined with an increased desire to connect to others remotely has created the perfect social media storm. I don’t envy my Year 12 students who constantly face this limitless distraction. You know the story. You sit down to do some work but first you have to check your emails. Then you check your phone notifications on three different social media platforms. Then you check your emails again in case you’ve received any emails while checking your phone. Then you finally start work only to get distracted when your phone vibrates. It only vibrated once, not twice, so you know it must be that juicy Messenger group chat and not the family group on WhatsApp, definitely worth checking. An hour goes by and you’ve done literally 20 minutes of actual work, yet convince yourself that you deserve a break. And on and on it goes…

We must not be too hard on ourselves, our children or our students. After all, these platforms are specifically designed by experts to keep us interested and addicted in the same way slot machines somehow manage to succeed in convincing people to squander their life savings with a sequence of lights and catchy jingles. It is essential, however, to at least know what we are up against.

As a starting point I urge all students and families to watch Netflix’s The Social Dilemma. It has been described by many as “the most important documentary of our time”. It uses a series of relatable examples to demonstrate how social media companies use algorithms to manipulate users and feed their addiction. It reveals that if you’re not paying for the product then you are the product, highlighting the way that personal data is used to target advertising. The people who literally created these platforms confess that for these reasons, they do not let their own children use them!

Thankfully, the documentary ends with some practical suggestions for curbing our usage. While the idea of instantly closing accounts seems drastic and unrealistic, hopefully these realisations will begin a discussion that will help our children and students to take back control of their online, and offline, lives.

Mr Adrian De Fanti

Dean of Staff - Learning and Innovation