Tech companies know when ‘you’re looking at pictures of your ex’

Tech experts who helped to create the apps we use day in day out have since opened up about just how much of your online behaviour they track – and it turns out it's just about everything.

The Social Dilemma is a groundbreaking documentary that dropped on Netflix, revealing to audiences the inner workings of their most used apps. From Google to Facebook and Instagram, the creators behind some of these big hitters opened up about just how much of what you get up to on your devices is monitored and used to keep you online.

"If you are not paying for the product. You are the product". These were powerful words used by former Google design ethicist and leading voice throughout the film, Tristan Harris. He explained in simple terms the ethics behind sites - that while they may seem like a simple way to see what your friends are up to or source new information, they are essentially "competing for your attention".

The technology ethicist named some of the world's biggest social media apps and how their business models are all set to keep people engaged on their screens. Other experts chimed in to explain that while many of these services we deem to be free, they are in fact not, it's just that they are in fact paid for by advertisers – ultimately, our attention is the product.

The documentary explains the way in which these booming tech companies, in order to be successful, need to have accurate predictions. How they do that is with a hell of a lot of data, which they gather through constantly monitoring our online behaviour.

Jeff Seibert, Twitter's former executive and serial tech entrepreneur, explained just how this works. He said: "What I want people to know is that everything they're doing online is being watched, is being tracked, is being measured. Every single action you take is carefully monitored. and recorded."

"Many people call this surveillance capitalism," Harris explains. He added: "Capitalism profits off of the infinite tracking of everywhere everyone goes by large technology companies whose business model is to make sure that advertisers are as successful as possible."

When explaining just how much tech companies monitor, Seibert said they have the capability to see not only when you look at something but also how long you're looking at it for. This helps them to understand users' emotions on a deeper level when they're feeling lonely or even in depressive states.

"They know when people are looking at photos of their ex romantic partners," the tech entrepreneur explained. "They know what you're doing late at night. They know the entire thing."

If one thing became clear in The Social Dilemma, it was that technology companies have more unprecedented amounts of information about us than anyone has ever had before. The more we continue to use these apps, the better they get to know their users and the more time they can guarantee we spend using their platforms.

To uncover more about the online world and the intelligent minds behind these apps, you can watch The Social Dilemma, exclusively on Netflix. It's full description reads: "This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations."