5 Shows On Netflix That Uncover The Dark Side Of Social Media

Social media is a trap! That’s right. Once you’re on it, you can never leave. Even if you muster up the courage to delete your social app, the dark side of social media will make sure your data remains on those servers forever, keeping you in the radar for corporations like Google and Facebook to target wherever possible.

Scary, right?

We don’t mean to dishevel you, but being on social media does have its consequences. While on one hand, these platforms offer ease of communication and connectivity across the globe, on the other hand, they have this bleak underbelly which stores information about you, information that can change your content consumption and purchase patterns without you even knowing it.

How do we know all this? Through these shows and documentaries which uncover the dark side of social media that we often ignore while using such apps.

1. The Great Hack

The Great Hack is a chilling documentary that makes you realize how Facebook and YouTube ads were used to brainwash an entire nation to change the results of an election. The documentary follows how Cambridge Analytica used data from popular social platforms like Facebook to change how people thought and what they believed. It’s scary because even as you watch it, you realize that your data is being collected by the second and you cannot stop it unless you actually let go of all the social networks you’re on.

2. The Social Dilemma

Despite understanding the positive and negative aspects of social media, people across the world keep using them, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. These platforms keep us connected when we cannot connect in real life, so they have to be good, right?

Wrong. The Social Dilemma talks about how social media is taking over consumer behaviour patterns and how engineers and marketers are constantly changing how people consume content and purchase products on the internet. The documentary features high profile tech whistleblowers who have been associated with corporations like Facebook, Google, Instagram, and more, and the way they talk about how these platforms and their strategies are changing the world, and not in a good way, you’ll realize how important privacy is, and how we have none left.

3. Black Mirror

What happens when you immerse yourself in social media so much that you stop noticing the world around you? What happens when your social media status is more important than how the world perceives you? Black Mirror explores all this and more through fictional stories in dystopian worlds where characters are found stuck in a life where their gadgets and technology are changing their lives – sometimes even ruining them. Black Mirror can be called a satire depicting the world we live in, or a truth bomb for everyone so dependent on tech and social media. But whatever you call it, you still will have to prepare to digest the haunting stories told in this show.

4. Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer

You know how cat memes and communities are a thing? Yeah, don’t screw with them. Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer is a testament to this very fact.

A true-crime documentary series, this show explores how a bunch of amateur sleuths found a video online that lead them to a virtual manhunt across the globe. It’s both disturbing and exhausting as you realize that the internet of things isn’t all that amazing and that you cannot predict what happens when you stumble over to the dark side of the virtual world.

5. FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

If you know about the Fyre Festival, you probably also know how much of a disaster it was. The hype of the festival built up when a promotional video with top models and influencers went viral talking about Pablo Escobar’s island where a luxury music festival was going to take place. Tickets were sold out within 48 hours but the real issue that no one saw coming was the fraud that leads to people being stranded on the said island with no food, water, or luxury festival insight. Watch the documentary to see how “social images” of a brand can so differ from its real operations, and how people flock to adapt to those images without knowing the facts, a testament to the truth that social media has created a world where your social image matters more than the life you’re actually living.

Which one of these have you watched, and what do you think of these shows and documentaries? And if this article has left you overwhelmed, watch these shows to elevate your mind and creativity with Netflix. Tell us about your experience in the comments.