Data Entry #1
Provide a brief (2 to 3 paragraph) critical analysis of the film “The Social Dilemma” - Active viewing activity & reflection - Do you see any of your own personal media habits mirrored in the film, if so which ones?
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I think that Benoit (2015) in his book Understanding the Teacher Self talks about problems of positivism related to Stephen Covey’s self-improvement books. The Go Program some schools in Quebec unofficially subscribed to in the past was, according to Benoit, an easy way out of how teachers are supposed to teach students in an authentic manner, because Stephen Covey’s method of behavior modification is a general, scientific, positivist approach which does not address the needs of the students who have lived their lives in the context of unique social cultural settings that define them, which Benoit calls ‘narratives’.
I think that the criticism that Benoit lays on positivism in connection with the Go Program and Stephen Covey can equally apply to the AI machines that seem to control the behavior of smartphone users. The whistleblowers in the documentary The Social Dilemma (2020) go against AI machines and the business models of Google and Facebook because these critics, just like Benoit, wish to argue for the humane and democratic use of algorithms and AI intelligence for the benefit of humanity; unfortunately, these machines have been used to dehumanize users and deprive humans of their fundamental freedom to think on their own terms.
To draw an example from my personal life, I must say that it is sad to note that humans are always thirsty for love from the people surrounding them—which is called tribalism in the documentary. The other day, I uploaded a melancholic photo of myself without a smile and with disheveled hair on Facebook, just to make sure that I am who I am and not a person who wants to please his or her friends on Facebook. I would say that I was developing my own ‘narrative’ by showing a photo like that. However, some of the viewers commented on it by saying that I would require a better look with a comb. This comment made me think a lot about our smartphones and Facebook and Google. I don’t want to fit into their standardized mould, but unfortunately that is the sordid state of affairs that we are living in today. We want our friends to look nice and be ‘presentable’ to us on Facebook, so I cannot blame my friend because she was just following this media trend and smartphone etiquette. I hope Benoit can lead us away from such dystopia and teach us how to develop our own narrative by allowing us to think critically about humane society as well as by analyzing the sociocultural influences of our society.