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Comment by rogerdoger123 | Hacker News Reader

The problem is that many people, including my wife, are OK being shown ads. After watching the documentary, I uninstalled Instagram and logged off Facebook as I hated the thought of being manipulated. My wife (and her friends for that matter) though concerned over the impact to kids, was back on Instagram about an hour later. "I'm ok with all these ads, some are useful".

So though it should help parents navigate this better for their kids sake, I'm not sure it will impact everyone as much as we think it might.

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I think that advertising is the main problem. Most issues caused by social media ultimately originate from this way to generate money out of wasting people's time. Cut that source of revenue and suddenly there is no longer any incentive to get people addicted, encourage outrage, promote misinformation/clickbait, etc.

Related: http://jacek.zlydach.pl/blog/2019-07-31-ads-as-cancer.html (I totally agree with all of it)

I think you may be right. I've always hated ads, but never thought about why.

They have never done anything good.

If I need something, I can search for it. If I don't need it, I don't want an ad to try to instill some desire in my heart.

If something is really useful, word-of-mouth is a good way to learn about it.

What would it be like to live in an ad-free society (that still promotes healthy mutually beneficial capitalism)? Is it even possible?

I will never understand how parents can be okay with ads that target children. It's like giving their children's minds to a stranger with candy.

Targeted ads are a relatively new phenomenon - many people (especially older generations/parents) just don't understand how poisonous they are. 70 years ago parents were okay with their kids smoking cigarettes in school. Ads and tobacco and sugar and whatnot are not good for the consumer, but they're addictive and lucrative, so they will be pushed on us until we stop buying.

1. People need to be educated on the manipulative and detrimental effects of ads, which is difficult because

2. There is a concerted effort by advertising companies to keep people in the dark in order to keep milking more money out of them.

Hopefully it won't take a generational mental health epidemic (as smoking was to lung cancer) for us to regulate Big Tech. We're already seeing depression/anxiety/suicide rates skyrocket, teen/young adult quality of life dropping, people of all ages addicted to dopamine gambling systems, etc.

I agree that many (most?) people will be back at their phone within hours, even after watching The Social Dilemma. At the same time I find Jaron Lanier's comment compelling; even if only a few percent choose to get of algorithm-driven platforms after watching the movie, it is enough to wedge out room for a different conversation, and before long "everyone" knows at least one or two people who have taken a conscious choice to distance themselves from surveillance capitalism.

In addition, even though most people will be back on Instagram in no-time, the movie offers a new reference point and some common ground to talk about the undeniable consequences linked to social media, without being instantly labeled a freak or conspiracy nut. Most people need time to digest information like this, and might come around further down the road.

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