• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Catholic Review

Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Menu
  • Home
  • News
        • Local News
        • World News
        • Vatican News
        • Obituaries
        • Featured Video
        • En Español
        • Sports News
        • Official Clergy Assignments
        • Schools News
  • Commentary
        • Contributors
          • Question Corner
          • George Weigel
          • Effie Caldarola
          • John Garvey
          • Father Ed Dougherty, M.M.
          • Guest Commentary
        • CR Columnists
          • Archbishop William E. Lori
          • Rita Buettner
          • Christopher Gunty
          • George Matysek Jr.
          • Father Joseph Breighner
          • Father Collin Poston
          • Robyn Barberry
          • Hanael Bianchi
          • Amen Columns
  • Entertainment
        • Events
        • Movie & Television Reviews
        • Arts & Culture
        • Books
        • Recipes
  • About Us
        • Contact Us
        • Our History
        • Meet Our Staff
        • Photos to own
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • CR Media platforms
        • Electronic Edition
  • Advertising
  • Shop
        • Purchase Photos
        • Books/CDs/Prayer Cards
        • Magazine Subscriptions
        • Archdiocesan Directory
  • CR Radio
  • News Tips
  • Subscribe

‘The Social Dilemma’

January 27, 2021
By Effie Caldarola
Catholic News Service
Filed Under: Commentary, For the Journey, Lent

This is the movie poster for the Netflix documentary “The Social Dilemma.” (CNS photo/Netflix)

My brother has been a faithful member of Alcoholics Anonymous for decades. He’s the guy who opens the church and brews the coffee for the weekly meeting.

But since March, his meetings have been on Zoom. So he had an idea. On Zoom, he could meet anywhere, right? So why not go somewhere new. He looked up AA meetings on Google, wrote to a group in County Mayo, Ireland, and asked if they’d share their meeting link. Voila! There he was, at a meeting in a little village in Ireland.

Technology and social media are amazing. What would I have done without texting, emails and Zoom during isolation, with kids far away and a new granddaughter in October? It’s great to keep up with friends on Facebook. Twitter and other platforms provide lots of news. It’s a blessing in so many ways.

But we’re increasingly aware of the dark side of social media. The urgency became obvious when our U.S. Capitol was attacked by insurrectionists who based their violence on lies about our election and absurd conspiracy theories propagated by a constant diet of social media.

“The Social Dilemma” is a documentary made before our recent terrorist attack. Available on Netflix, it includes interviews with many of the brilliant people who brought us Google, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and other sites that occupy so much of our time. The warnings they present are sobering. I have friends who have quit Facebook after watching it.

Social media sites know everything about you, or at least that’s their goal. And with every click, every “like,” every message you view or ignore, they learn more about you. It’s a constant process, a never-ending attempt to lure you into more — more scrolling, more addiction, more hours spent on their sites.

When they see what you like, what you click on, they give you more of the same. That’s how some people fall into a rabbit hole of increasingly more frightening misinformation and conspiracy. So you’re interested in the “lizard people conspiracy?” Or you’re sure there’s a “deep state” running things? Wait, says the site, there’s more!

The film provides a realistic portrayal of how a young person might become radicalized by social media, something we’ve come to associate with jihadis. But now that we’ve seen our own home-grown terrorism, we realize how powerfully persuasive social media can be even to susceptible adults.

Addicting us is what social media has to do to sell their product, and to sell the products their sites sell. It’s built into their algorithms.

And what is social media doing to our kids? We’ve heard of young teens seeking plastic surgery so they could resemble the “influencers” they follow on Instagram.

The statistics on the skyrocketing rates in the last decade of suicide, depression, self-harm and anxiety among teens are terrifying, and those rates are rising fastest among the youngest teens. Meanwhile, teen pregnancy rates are dropping. On the face of it, that’s a good thing, right? But it’s a sign of a frightening trend — teens are increasingly living their lives on screen, rather than in in-person relationships. This is not healthy.

Solutions? The “Social Dilemma” offers some technical and regulatory ones, but also practical advice. Don’t give your kids smartphones until they’re well into their teens, and then be vigilant. It’s very important to get your own news from a variety of well-regarded sources. And monitor the time you spend scrolling.

Perhaps a good question to ask as we look forward to Lent: How much time do I spend daily in prayer versus how much time on social media?

More commentary

Analysis: Is the U.S. church’s Hispanic Catholic hope slipping away?

Chance encounter showed Brooks Robinson’s Catholic spirit

That Time We Met Brooks Robinson

Celebrating 19 years of marriage

How can I help?

Question Corner: Does insufficient faith keep us from being healed?

Copyright © 2021 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

Print Print

Primary Sidebar

Effie Caldarola

Effie Caldarola writes for the Catholic News Service column "For the Journey."

View all posts from this author

| Recent Commentary |

Analysis: Is the U.S. church’s Hispanic Catholic hope slipping away?

Chance encounter showed Brooks Robinson’s Catholic spirit

That Time We Met Brooks Robinson

Celebrating 19 years of marriage

How can I help?

| Recent Local News |

New chief advancement officer for Archdiocese of Baltimore sees role as support for ministry

Archbishop Lori will ordain 14 permanent deacons Sept. 30

PIE Back to School Breakfast aims for $200,000 for scholarships

Baltimore’s beloved Brooks Robinson, Catholic convert, dies at 86

Frank Bramble, 75, put his business skills to charitable use throughout archdiocese

| Catholic Review Radio |

CatholicReview · Catholic Review Radio

Footer

Our Vision

Real Life. Real Faith. 

Catholic Review Media communicates the Gospel and its impact on people’s lives in the Archdiocese of Baltimore and beyond.

Our Mission

Catholic Review Media provides intergenerational communications that inform, teach, inspire and engage Catholics and all of good will in the mission of Christ through diverse forms of media.

Contact

Catholic Review
320 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
443-524-3150
mail@CatholicReview.org

 

Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Recent

  • New chief advancement officer for Archdiocese of Baltimore sees role as support for ministry
  • GOP presidential candidates debate abortion, immigration at Reagan library
  • Biden makes history joining striking auto workers on picket line
  • Fire in packed hall turns wedding joy into tragedy in northern Iraq, killing more than 100
  • ANÁLISIS: Se nos escapa la esperanza hispana como agua entre los dedos
  • Analysis: Is the U.S. church’s Hispanic Catholic hope slipping away?
  • Papal commission asks synod make safeguarding a bigger priority
  • Archbishop Lori will ordain 14 permanent deacons Sept. 30
  • CARA study shows positive signs of Catholic belief in Eucharist, but underscores need for revival

Search

Membership

Catholic Press Association of the United States and Canada

Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association

The Associated Church Press

© 2023 CATHOLIC REVIEW MEDIA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED