Program Context
Each year, The Common Experience selects a title for the Bruin community to read, listen or watch together centered around a common theme. Our mission is to ignite campus-wide discussions on compelling social issues and inspire action within the Bruin community.
Goals of The Common Experience program include:
- To share and understand diverse perspectives in a respectful way
- To build a community of intellectually engaged learners
- To explore the role we play in creating a just society
- To consider critical action steps that can be taken in response to your common experience at UCLA
2021-2022 Selection: The Social Dilemma
The 2021-2022 Common Experience theme is The Impact of Technology: Identity, Media, & Society. The Social Dilemma, a Netflix documentary, has been selected as the UCLA Common Experience title for the 2021-2022 academic year for its hard-hitting exploration of social media exploitation.
The Social Dilemma highlights the often-unspoken effects that technology and social media have on individuals and society at large. In the COVID-19 era, we navigate digital spaces now more than ever. This film addresses the sense of urgency for regulation of the business model powering these platforms in order to build a healthy information ecosystem. This selection will spark rich dialogue among students, staff, faculty, and alumni about the intersectionalities of our identities and how social media impacts societal issues of privacy, mental health, democracy, and equity on campus and beyond.
Those interested can access the documentary through the Netflix website with a paid subscription to the site.
To access resources about The Social Dilemma, including a facilitation guide with guided thematic discussion questions, and supportive text visit our Additional Resources page.
