By Hannah Armentrout—
On Wednesday November 2nd, Jeff Orlowski came to Miami University’s Hamilton campus to
speak about his hit documentary called “The Social Dilemma.” This 2020 Netflix documentary
was watched by 38 million people in the first month of release during quarantine and discusses
social media and its implications on society. In the documentary, Orlowski interviews employees
from Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. These employees speak out about tactics these
companies are using to get their users addicted to their platform and make money.
Jeff Orlowski’s visit took place in Parrish Auditorium, located in Phelps Hall. The turnout was
quite successful, with over fifty people in attendance. Orlowski’s visit was set up Q&A style to
allow the audience to participate and ask him questions. Matthew Smith, a professor at Miami
University Regionals, was the host who asked the majority of questions, aside from the audience.
Here are some of the most interesting questions of the night:
Q: How did you get employees from Silicon Valley to speak out about these companies?
A: Orlowski went to Stanford and built connections with his peers who ended up working for
companies like Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. They contacted him in 2017 and said,
“Something else is going on with these companies.” When his friends would try to speak out
about their concerns about the companies they were working for, they would get shut down and
ignored. Orlowski also said that getting people to speak on the record was challenging. They
interviewed various employees privately and did not show them in the documentary. However,
there were employees that were willing to be whistleblowers due to their ongoing concerns about
the companies they were working for.
Q: Did you face any repercussion or threats from making this documentary?
A: Orlowski said that he received “startling” mail, but other than that, nothing serious. He was
sure to fact check his documentary to avoid any issues with the companies mentioned in the
documentaries.
Q: Do you have any advice? What can we do to be aware of the negative implications of social
media?
A: Orlowski encouraged the audience to get off social media. He said that he used to be addicted
to Facebook, so he weened himself off it. Since then, he has had more free time and still interacts
with his friends and family through text message and Facetime. He also encouraged the audience
to be intentional with their social media time if they choose not to stop completely. One can do
this by setting time limits on their social media apps and being sure to not mindlessly scroll.
Orlowski also said, “Be aware of the algorithms and fight back.” When he learned about the
algorithms Facebook used to get their users on the platform, he stopped falling for them. One
example of this he mentioned was Facebook telling their user when one of their friends posts a
picture. Facebook will send their user a notification about it, to get their user on the platform
again. Once Orlowski realized this, he stopped letting those notifications convince him.