The Cost of Convenience

A great deal of time in director/writer David Donnelly’s documentary The Cost of Convenience is spent reviewing the history of the Internet, social media, and smartphones. He goes on from there to discuss the negative impact of the Internet on the culture at large and on the mental health of individual users. He interviews an assortment of expert witnesses, from human rights attorneys to psychologists, and even gets an OG Facebook investor to chime in.

There is an interview with a self-described “tech addict,” which is a misuse of the clinical definition of addiction. Dr. Hillarie Cash, who runs a digital detox company, is featured.  Dr. Cash, of course, makes her living from the clinic,  so there’s arguably a possible conflict of interest in her making arguments for the ailments they treat. To all appearances, the treatment seems to be “go outside and touch grass.”

“…discusses the negative impact of the Internet on the culture…”

There is a definite Luddite bent to the film. A great many unsupported assertions are made that could be challenged. However, most of the presented facts do bear up under inspection. No argument there. The film is replete with experts breathlessly intoning statistics about the gamification of social media and how it will rot your mind and steal your data. We know that corporations are presenting content meant to be compulsive so they can collect data about you for individually targeted marketing. Private data online is no longer a reasonable expectation. Those same companies are busily consolidating power. None of this is news. The filmmakers aren’t wrong about the disruption that has been caused, but they stop there. This is a complaint without an answer.

An assumption pervades that pre-Internet modes of attention span and gratification delay were “normal,” and there’s hand-wringing over a drift away from that normality. “Screen time” is approached here with the same overwrought frenzy as Cannabis was in Reefer Madness. There’s even a clip from Terminator 2 to illustrate the fear of a “skynet” AI system deciding humans are redundant. This all would have more value if some thoughts had been offered outlining a path to a healthy approach to what the internet has to offer.