Ethical Considerations

Recently I watched The Social Dilemma. It is a documentary and drama about social media and the impact it has on us as a society. It explores how some of the people who were involved in developing and creating various social media platforms, have decided to leave their jobs, the industry or speak out about the ethical issues they felt arose whilst working for these companies.

‘Nothing vast enters the life of mortals without a curse’ 

Sophocles

The people that were interviewed spoke of how they didn’t realise or think about the consequences that social media would have. When they started out, it was very focused on the good and positive that these platforms created- i.e. being able to contact relatives who lived miles away. It seems that less thought was given to the negative impacts and implications. So, without looking at the ethical considerations, they were not fully prepared for the future.

I found the actual content of the documentary quite worrying. Algorithms have been created by humans but they have been created in a way that now humans can’t change them. They work by themselves. The issue comes that these algorithms slightly change us without us realising. We are manipulated by what we see and what we have access too. We are shown what the algorithm shows us because it picks up on what we look at and for how long. From this data it then shows us other things that it thinks may interest us. Our data is constantly being collected but so many people aren’t actually aware of this.   

‘It is the gradual, slight, imperceptible change in your own behaviour and perception that is the product.’ 

The social Dilemma

 The interviewees raised this issue with their various companies, however not much has changed. Whose responsibility is it to solve this issue? If nothing else, ethically these companies need to become transparent about what is happening behind the scenes? We are now in a time where technology is everywhere, and it has amazing uses, but there are also serious problems and this somehow needs to be addressed.

For me this shows how important it is to think about ethical considerations and what the consequences of your actions could be.

Below is a video of how to start thinking about them when looking at research. 

Bibliography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vMOUlnT1K8 (Accessed 7/11/2020)

The Social Dilemma, Netflix (2020) 


Comments

  1. Serina Faull7 November 2020 at 09:59

    I have also watched the documentary, and I found it very overwhelming and daunting. All of those T&C's, cookies data that we don't bother read and just click accept... it predicts we will be too lazy, find it too tedious, to thoroughly read it all and un-click pre-ticked boxes. It is interesting that you have discovered that most people jump to praising the positives of Web 2.0, and not necessarily acknowledging the negatives. In my interviews, a third of the participants actually said they had taken a social media detox during the lockdown months. I think we all have to take control over what we accept and what we don't. If there is something that's popped up on instagram and you don't like it, or do not find it relevant, report it. There is now a button that allows you to do so. I try to do more in-person shopping than online. I try not to turn my phone up as soon as I wake up, give it an hour or so. I also try to read before bed, not endlessly scroll. Another great thing is to turn off notifications, I have done this for about two years. It made me realise my own empowerment over my phone, I had control. It did not torment me with pings, sounds, ringtones etc... Of course I still message people etc, but it's now me doing the initiation, not my phone.

    Sorry I am rambling! Hope you found my comment interesting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alys May-James10 November 2020 at 11:28

      Hi Serina,
      Yes they really do reply on people not being bothered or having time to read things fully before clicking accept. I am also trying to keep my digital time to a minimum. All my notifications are off apart from calls and messages...which is really what a phones original purpose was. How times have changed! Thanks for your comment.
      Alys :)

      Delete
  2. Anonymous12 November 2020 at 04:48

    Hi Alys, I loved reading your thoughts on the Social Dilemma Documentary - I have also watched it and found it alarming in many ways, and yet unfortunately inevitable in others.
    It made me think, that if these huge social media companies did not realise to consider the ethical issues we are now experiencing with predictive algorithms etc, it made me wonder what ethical considerations I could be having around my inquiry that I have simply not thought of. It has made me spend some more time thinking carefully about any potential negative impacts my research project could result in.
    Thank you !
    Lauren :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alys May-James14 November 2020 at 03:40

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Alys May-James14 November 2020 at 03:41

      Hi Lauren,
      Yes it's made me so much more aware of how much I could be missing! Everyone has different experiences and so it's challenging to think of things that haven't affected me but could affect other people.
      Thank you!
      Alys :) x

      Delete

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