Literature Research Essay

Netflix’s 2020 film The Social Dilemma presents the dark side of social media. While many social media users log in to feel connected, big tech companies are buying, selling, and extorting their time leaving them less connected from the people around them. In short, a disastrous form of consumerism pervades the device that everyone carries in their pockets. Though seemingly disparate, the Victorians experienced a similar phenomenon. Commercial culture, a product of industrialization, was new to the world in the 1800’s as social media is a young industry in our millennium. Christina Rossetti and William Morris spoke out and offered solutions for their generation. “Goblin Market” (1862) issues a warning against the consumerist lifestyle, and “The Beauty of Life” (1882) suggests a return to an artisanal way of life. In this paper, I apply their ideas to the problems we face with social media. To combat the grip that social media has on the world, we need to return to the art of friendship while ignoring the allure of the unmerciful digital marketplace