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Parents' Guide to

The Social Dilemma

By Jennifer Green, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Eye-opening docu charts social media dangers, offers advice.

Movie PG-13 2020 89 minutes
The Social Dilemma Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 13+

Based on 19 parent reviews

James M.
James M. Adult
January 24, 2023
age 13+

Over-Dramatized and fear mongering.

In my opinion, there are many things wrong with this movie that makes me believe Director Jeff Orlowski already had his mind made up when beginning work on this movie. One bit that made me think this was when they talked about female suicide rates, but conviently left out mention of male suicide rates, which have been much higher than female rates since the start. (possibly because the rates weren't as steep.) The opening tries to imply social media turns you into a violent extremist. Only made to appeal to moms and boomers who want their opinion proved correct.
Matthew R.
Matthew R. Adult
February 15, 2021
age 17+

IMPORTANT MOVIE

If you’re an American wondering how our country became so divided so fast, WATCH THIS MOVIE. In fact every adult who uses the internet needs to see it so they understand what’s happening every time they go online. My advice is to watch it first so you can decide whether your kid should watch it. It's PG-13, however the potential implications are dramatic and different kids may process it differently.
See all 19 parent reviews

What's the Story?

THE SOCIAL DILEMMA follows former Google designer Tristan Harris and others on a quest to educate the public about the way social media is constructed to manipulate users and foment addiction, radicalization, and polarization. Now running the Center for Humane Technology, Harris is one of a handful of former tech designers and innovators interviewed in this documentary who shed light on the constantly updated algorithms that help sites predict and manipulate our online behavior to drive more engagement and bring in advertising dollars. The result is addictive technology that even these experts say they have a hard time quitting, and that can have seriously detrimental psychological effects on individuals. Some of their points are dramatized in a fictional narrative. The interviewees also talk about how, on a global level, social media has been weaponized by bad actors to destabilize democracies and spread misinformation. The way our individual feeds transform to reaffirm our existing beliefs is leading to distinct spheres of realities online, to the extent that people can no longer agree on what's true or factual, sowing division and chaos. The experts are worried, and in this documentary they explain why and what we can possibly do about it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (19 ):
Kids say (24 ):

Mark Zuckerberg isn't mentioned by full name until late in this documentary, but his company's outsize influence on the world of social media is felt all over the film. The featured talking heads here have mostly left top tech companies like Facebook, Google, and Twitter after having helped build them up, and now seem to suffer from a collective guilty conscience. That only adds to how convincing they are about the existential threat social media poses, and their expertise pulls back the curtain on the methods. "We're all lab rats," one person suggests in a documentary full of similarly worrying statements that leave the impression that social media is to blame for many -- if not most -- contemporary individual and societal ills.

Director Jeff Orlowski visualizes some of the talking head commentary in animated sequences and a dramatized fictional narrative about phone-addicted teens suffering from negative online commentary and being manipulated by artificial intelligence (played by Mad Men's Vincent Kartheiser) to dive down outrage-driven rabbit holes. These sequences may help illustrate the ideas for some viewers, but they aren't totally necessary. As expert voice after voice predicts more addiction, psychological afflictions, polarization, radicalization, and echo-chamber ignorance, it's impossible not to see the immediate relevance of their warnings. They leave us with a few recommendations and suggestions that may not be enough to turn the tide without public pressure for top-down regulation, but The Social Dilemma makes it clear that we ignore them at our own peril.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what they found to be the most revelatory and the scariest pieces of information in The Social Dilemma.

  • Experts recommend setting your own social media limitations on notifications, apps, daily usage, and more. What limits have you set for yourself? How well do these work?

  • Social media is talked about as both a utopia and a dystopia. How so?

  • Social media is also talked about as "an existential threat" to humanity. Why? Do you think the threat is overstated or not? How come?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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