The Old Times

‘The Social Dilemma’ Documentary

I hadn’t watched ‘The Social Dilemma’ before and as someone coming new to the study of social media, it was quite an eye opener. In addition to interviews with former ‘Tech Bros’ from the well-known social media businesses, the documentary included a thread of drama which showed how the algorithms manipulate the behaviour of users. While some of the content was alarming, I felt a degree of comfort that my ‘addiction’ to my phone and a number of apps is not the result of a personal failing but comes from manipulation from the app designers to make their products compelling and often captivating.

Generally, I use social media and the associated apps pretty regularly and have done so since the mid-2000s when I signed up to Facebook. In recent times I have been an avid watcher of TikTok and user of ChatGPT – I even used AI to create an icon for the Digital Media Student team’s WhatsApp group. The ability of digital tools to give – and create – riveting an unputdownable content and images means that many of us have become enthralled by these fascinating tool. ‘The Social Dilemma’ opens the door to the flip side of what is, on the face of it, something positive and useful.

The film highlights a series of issues which will concern many but the ubiquity of the products in our daily lives means that many of us – myself included – dismiss the concerns that knowledge of what lies beneath the user interface arouse. These include:

• data harvesting
• surveillance capitalism
• misinformation
• political polarisation
• mental health crises (especially among young people)
• the erosion of democracy.

The central claim of the film is that social media platforms are designed to maximize engagement and profit, to exploit human psychology in ways that destabilise society. Indeed, arriving home I read on various sites reports of a claim from the leader of the Reform UK Party – echoing a claim from the US President made during the Presidential election of 2024 that migrants to the United States were eating the pets of the country’s citizens – that migrants to the UK are eating the swans in London parks despite there being no evidence of this. It feels likely that as a result of seeing it online, those vulnerable to this message may come to believe this claim to be true despite there being no evidence that this has ever happened and denials from park authorities.

Even in my own neighbourhood, St Neots, the local paper – The Hunts Post – reported this week on the possible dangers of uncontrolled use of Social Media in a report on the ‘St Neots Homepage’ Facebook group. I was a member of this group myself until I left a couple of years ago due to the unpleasant nature of the discourse on the group, both this – and the claims of swan eating – appear to back up the film’s signposting to the exploitative nature of social media towards its users.

Two of the ‘Tech Bros’ featured in the film were former Social Media executive Tristan Harris, a former design ethicist with Google and computer scientist, virtual reality pioneer, Jaron Lanier. Both have shown concern at the manipulation of users by their industry with Lanier going so far as to write a book called ‘Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now’.

Harris has adopted a less radical approach than Lanier – despite their similar takes on the affect of social media on individuals and communities and has launched the ‘Center for Humane Technology’ whose website claims: “Center for Humane Technology is a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that the most consequential technologies actually serve humanity. We bring clarity to how the tech ecosystem works in order to shift the incentives that drive it”. (www.humanetech.com)

My take aways from the film are:

• However useful, social media is not a neutral tool
• Social media tools are designed to attract attention and manipulate behaviour
• The documentary shows the potentially toxic mix of engaging design to misinform and polarise users
• The profit motive behind social media presents risks to democracy, mental health and human relationships
• Finally, the key message is that if we don’t find ways to humanise and detoxify the design of social media there are long-term risks to each of us in terms of our ability to control our own lives

Review of Class Time

What is User Experience (UX) design? And what is User Interface (UI) design?

In digital design, user interface (UI) refers to the interactivity, look, and feel of a product screen or web page, while user experience (UX) covers a user’s overall experience with the product or website. (https://www.figma.com/resource-library/difference-between-ui-and-ux/)

The Miro boards can be found using the link above.

Ding Dong

After a discussion in the group and populating the Miro boards, we moved to an exercise to design a door bell – with UX and UI in mind – this also presented an opportunity to demonstrate my very poor drawing ability:

And, in true Blue Peter style – well, I *am* a child of the 60s – here’s one someone else made earlier:

Post Session Activity

Find examples of annoying user experiences. Suggest solutions to these. (at least three examples, you can use the same product for all examples if it is very annoying)

• Pop-up Ads on Mobile Apps/Websites: Reach Newspaper websites (includes many local papers as well as The Daily Mirror and Daily Express newspapers). Adverts cover the content, forcing users to close them before continuing. Sometimes the tiny “X” is hard to tap, leading to frustration. Solution: Use non-intrusive advertising such as banner ads or optional video ads with clear skip options. Prioritise user control over interruption.
• Unclear Navigation in Streaming Platforms: Amazon Prime TV Streaming (I can never find Neighbours on a Monday!) The platform hides basic actions (e.g., “Continue Watching” buried in menus). Users spend time searching instead of enjoying content. Solution: Provide intuitive navigation with clear labels, persistent menus, and quick-access features (like Netflix’s “Continue Watching” row).
• Password Reset Processes: Almost EVERY website! Long, complex password rules and unclear feedback (“Password invalid”) create frustration. Solution: Offer clear guidance (e.g., live strength indicators, explain rules upfront), allow password manager integration, and support alternatives like magic links or biometric login.

Find examples of screen based great examples of user experience design and say WHY it is great. (at least three)

• Spotify (Music Streaming) is great because it gives me personalised recommendations (“Discover Weekly”) and feels like the app listens to me as much as I listen to it! There is seamless transitions across devices (phone, desktop, smart speaker) and clean, consistent interface that foregrounds music.
• I like Duolingo (Language Learning) because it uses gamification (streaks, levels, rewards) to keep learners motivated, lessons are short and interactive, perfect for micro-learning and the visual design is playful and non-threatening, reducing fear of failure.
• Finally, I recently started using Google Photos because of the automatic backup so I don’t need to think about saving photos, it is easy to do a simple search (e.g. “bike 25” shows every photo with a bicycle), it has a clean, uncluttered design and makes managing my photos stress-free!