All language subtitles for CantFeelNothing20241080pAMZNWEB-DLDD20H264-playWEB_track4_eng[_23498]

(faint music & talking)

(atmospheric music)

This is me when
I'm feeling nothing.

No joy. No sorrow.

No pain.
Just nothing.

Maybe that's just
what scrolling on your phone is.

But according to my therapist,
the

problem is that the
numbness is spreading.

I have been working with
patients for 20 years now,

and formerly they've come in
to the session rooms,

complaining about
strong emotions.

That they have this anxiety
or depression,

feeling abandoned
and feeling alone,

but now they have the opposite.

They don't feel
anything anymore.

They are, what do you call it...
some kind of flatliner.

What is happening?
It's not just me.

So many people
sense that something

is messing with their emotions.

I want to find out why.

(jaunty string music)

My job is to make
prime-time science and

tech documentaries
for public television.

Can you guys wear these?
Is that like a thing?

For years, I've covered stories
all over the world of tech.

So I decide,
as I travel the world

reporting on stories
about the internet,

I'll seek my own answers.

I'll film how cutting-edge
technology hacks our emotions.

Every single one of them.

(dischordant music)

(marching band)

The thalamus is not
consciously controlled.

Yes!

Big response in the brain.

Kiss my ass.

Who are the people
that change the way we feel?

And I'll smash you.

And how can I make
myself feel again?

(rain)

(alarm blip)
(car door closing/locking)

I don't get why
you're here filming us.

I am a troll, and...

I'm like a low-down,
dirty troll.

And it doesn't make
sense to me why

you'd be here filming me or him.

And I just... I don't get it,
so...

We can do it,
though. If you wanna

come and film me,
talking about this

and let me keep going on and on,
I can do that, too.

But we're not... I don't think
we are what you're looking for.

Unless we totally are,
and I just don't know.

If some scientist told you,

"Hey, go film some low-down,
dirty dude at a video store,

because he's gotten a few people
to fall for his trolls."

Great! But it still just doesn't

make any sense
to me. That's all.

I don't know why you're here.
Why are you here?

(pensive music)

At the dawn of the internet,

trolls were some of
the first to recognize

the power of
manipulating emotions.

While other early
users of the web saw it

as a way of exchanging
simple information...

(faint talk)

... the trolls recognized
how powerful

pushing emotional
buttons could be.

Andrew is a prime example
of a present-day troll

with an almost scientific
approach to pissing people off.

(ping)

So I can say something like,

"LOL, kid." Just throwing in the

word "kid" will
get their attention.

Here on the word "baby doll".

"Maybe someday...

... you can cook
breakfast for me...

... in the kitchen..."
You can do this thing.

"... where you belong."

(atmospheric music)

He shows me around the adult
video shop in Orlando, Florida,

where he works as manager.

(atmospheric music)

Andrew's also
a semi-professional wrestler,

which he sees as an extension
of the trolling lifestyle.

(body impacts)

Why are all the
world-class trolls

that you know also wrestlers?

When you're a pro wrestler,

you are playing
these psychological

games with people
and their emotions.

And that's what
you do as a troll.

In wrestling, it's the
same thing. It's just...

A lot of it is make-believe,
but you're

making people believe,
basically.

(body impacts)

Slam!

Yes! Yes!

(atmospheric music)

Andrew sees himself as something

of an expert in
channeling anger.

To see what this could do
to someone, I meet with Kim.

She had been personally trolled
by Andrew for more than a year.

I met him online in a
Facebook chat room.

He was trolling everyone
and playing tricks on everyone.

Just trying to get a negative
reaction out of the group.

Do you sometimes feel like your

emotions are being
totally messed with?

Yeah,
it's so frustrating the way

that he just has to
engage with people

by pissing them off,
offending them.

"I was thinking,
let's do another women's

march. The last one
was so effective."

"What do you say,
ladies? How about

we go out tomorrow and march?"

"Or are you too
busy drinking wine?"

Trying to get
attention in this way,

almost drawing power
from annoying other people

and keeping himself in your
thoughts almost gives him power,

almost dominating.

(faint atmospheric
music)

This guy did not get
enough attention as a child.

(graceful orchestral
music)

Andrew is an OG internet troll.

He sees himself
as an avant-garde

artist, working pro bono.

But at the same time,
other parties

see the potential capital gains

of messing with
people's emotions.

In China, I see this become
the basis of entire industries.

Our company was China's first to

professionally
produce internet stars.

We are the first company to
specialize in beautiful women...

Let me start over!

I enter a large factory complex.

The hundreds of people working
here are the opposite of trolls.

While trolls master anger, these

workers craft a very
different product.

Shengxi Entertainment is a
live-streaming talent agency.

From a complex
with countless fake bedrooms,

the company's entirely female

talent livestream
their lives 24/7.

Thank you, Mr. Luo,
for the donation!

Is it about to stop?

How did starting this company

become such a
moneymaker for you?

Currently, our office employs
more than 200 livestreamers.

We "manufacture" new
livestreamers in this facility.

They stay here and are trained
for anywhere from 1 to 4 months

and work in the 20+
livestream rooms in our office.

Ultimately, we set them up
to livestream from home

after we mold them into form.

Steps 5, 6,
and 7 are a bit tougher.

Ankle out for 5.

For 6 you need to look
as adorable as possible.

7 and 8...

No, the hands are up higher.

(upbeat electronic
music)

Do you think we can move this a

little bit over
here? Is that okay?

Jin is the biggest star
at the love factory.

No makeup.

She's a master at
making people far and

wide develop strong
feelings for her.

I want to know how she does it,
so I ask her manager, Emma.

Our goal for Jin
He is to develop

her into a top-tier
livestreamer.

So we manage her quite strictly.

Wow!
Thanks so much for the donation.

Mr. Honey!
I didn't see you come in.

It feels so good
to have you guys all here!

When Jin He first came to us,
she was

on our minimum salary
of $120 per month.

Now she receives
$30,000 to $45,000

worth of donations every month.

Look, another one of my
darlings is here. I'm so happy.

Revenue is generated
from direct donations from fans.

Thanks for the
generous gift from

Mr. Honey. You're a great guy.

Thanks for the gift from
Mr. Piao. Yes, give it to me!

(faint water flowing)

(rustling)

The company plans
for you... As you know,

originally it was to
make you a singer,

but the new plan
is focusing more

on becoming a big livestreamer.

Nowadays, livestreamers
are more profitable

than all but the biggest
traditional celebrities.

I don't mind.
I'm OK with anything

as long as I can
still make music.

(faint talking)

(shrill school-type bell)

Today's lesson is a journey into
the world of naive rich people.

I'm sure you all
want to increase profit

by getting rich guys to visit

your livestream
rooms more often.

Some of you have
beautiful features,

so we go the "beauty route".

Others of you
aren't very pretty.

You might opt to go
for a more "innocent" style

to give the user a feeling
of a pure "first love".

Regardless,
it's crucial to determine

which users are big spenders.

Otherwise,
don't waste your time.

Remember, time as
a livestreamer is very valuable.

A real rich guy won't
be bragging about

his money in your
livestreaming room.

Anyone doing
that is full of shit.

Here are a few characteristics
of rich users.

They're lonely. They're looking
for a spiritual connection.

He comes in,

and he lurks in the
livestream room for a while.

At first he's just
observing you.

But then you suddenly say the

right thing,
sing the right song.

Then the donations start coming.

Ignore the people
who are all talk.

(pensive music)

A real rich guy
won't start small.

Their first
donations will be big.

I want to talk about your

feelings. How does
Jin affect them?

I do think that
virtual relationships

can replace real-life relations.

She makes me feel warm, and
I think the feeling is mutual.

It definitely can replace
real-life relationships.

(city soundscape)

In South China, I meet another
one of Jin's most loyal fans.

I have a present here that Jin
He gave me. It's a spicy sauce.

Beef and pickled
peppers hot sauce.

It's true that I already ate
all of the sauce.

But I would never throw it away
like some normal hot sauce.

I'm keeping it
preserved in this box.

She isn't even in
my real life at all,

but she still does this for me.

It truly touched my heart.

It makes me feel like she
really looks at me as a friend.

(city soundscape)

I'm now only $10,000 away
from being a "7th-level fan".

I've already given Jin He
about $75,000. Yeah...

(guitar music)

Thanks.
That one's for you, Mr. Long.

Maybe it isn't surprising that

there's a huge
demand to feel loved.

But actually, it seems there's a

market for every
emotion conceivable.

Even the ones we try to avoid.

(faint atmospheric
music)

Veles, Macedonia,
became famous in 2016

as the fake-news
capital of the world.

(train passing)

(atmospheric music)

Some say that the
town played a critical

role in the election
of Donald Trump.

(atmospheric music)

The work done here made local

fake-news kingpins very,
very rich.

(atmospheric music)

Fake news is something
that we engineer

to get maximum
clicks and attention.

It's easy to make
news for people

like Trump voters, for example,

because they are
rednecks in some way.

People who'll click
on almost everything.

Another category of people
who are easy to work with...

... is feminists.

(atmospheric music)

It's easy to manipulate
passionate people

because they truly
believe in something.

The local gold rush was financed
by Google.

They placed ads on
the fake news sites.

And the income was
a lifeline for average

Macedonians struggling
to make ends meet.

Including Elena, Alex's protégé.

(cycling)
(faint sirens)

It's surprising to
learn that Elena is a

doctor and surgeon
at a local hospital.

(atmospheric music)

She's also an activist,

who in the past
protested against

fake news in her own country.

But now she's in debt
and only sees one way out.

Can I sit here? Or not?

- Sit down.
- Or sit down.

Generally,
you need some European states,

Western-European,
definitely America,

because their clicks are
worth more, they pay more.

Fear is the key to choosing
the subject you write about.

You need to consider
human psychology.

People have a long history
of living in fear.

Yes.

The general key is
to exploit this fact.

You find a trending fear...
Let's call it "trending fear".

And you report on it.

And you work on
that subject. Yeah.

You just find a fear out in the
world. Find a fear, that's it.

The more mysterious
you make it sound,

the more paranoia
it will create.

Elena's task is to find
something scary to write about.

But it actually isn't so easy.

Most scary topics already have

fake-news people
writing about them.

(atmospheric music)

I found a Facebook group.

Look at these people, they're
so... How should I put it...

They're so into it. They live

with these thoughts,
these fears.

They believe that
there's a looming

danger,
that something bad will happen.

These people are paranoid,
and that's exactly what I need.

Elena probes the recesses
of people's insecurities.

She finds fear and reinforces it
in the articles she writes.

A trail behind an airplane.

Is it just water vapor?

Or maybe it's a
perilous chemical

cocktail that
controls our brains.

(waves crashing)
(gulls calling)

In California,
I meet up with Elana.

She had shared the articles that
Elena in Macedonia wrote online.

This is the air we breathe
that this is affecting.

If you think it's natural clouds

over your head...
If only you knew.

We're breathing it,
and it's going

into our lungs,
messing up our lungs,

and then going into our blood

and then moving to the brain,
where it can,

because of the nanoparticles,
easily

go through the
blood-brain barrier.

(car running)

Oh yeah,
that looks like a trail.

It's unusual,
because it's just sitting there.

I can say it's scary.
Of course it's scary.

And now they can
use the 5G-6G system

to beam into us

and make us complacent,
make us angry,

make us have certain thoughts...

So they can
affect our emotions?

Emotions,
thoughts and behavior.

That's what they claim.

So the point of
the chemtrails is to

influence our emotions
and our thoughts?

Yeah, the endgame is that,

along with full-spectrum
dominance over the planet.

Full control over
every aspect of

life on Earth. That's
what they want.

(pensive music)

Maybe she's a
conspiracy theorist,

but I recognize
what she's feeling.

(pensive music)

Even if her theories aren't
the right answer,

it is true that
forces around the

world are messing
with our emotions.

Including some of the most
brilliant minds of our time.

(gentle pulse sounds)

I'm at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.

Hate.

(gentle pulse sounds)

To see how the world of computer
science approaches emotion,

I meet with Dr. Rosalind Picard.

Can you show me anger now?

That's not allowed.

She's the founder of the field
of affective computing,

a branch of
computer science that

researches how to
influence human emotion.

(swooping high
electronic tone)

She's showing me a sentograph, a

machine that
measures your emotions

based on the way
your fingers touch a button.

It's the very first
machine ever made

for measuring
someone's emotions.

Grief.

And the first one of these
represents anger.

Invented by the scientist
Manfred Clynes,

the sentograph assumed

that the body channeled emotions

in a universal and
measurable way.

Wow!

It was one of
Rosalind's inspirations to

start an entire field
of computer science.

Originally,
I defined affective computing as

computing that relates to,
arises from

or deliberately
influences emotion

and more broadly
affective phenomenon.

And when you are crafting
the computer interactions

so that you are mindful
of the person's affective state,

what it's likely to be
and what you wish it were,

then it's an example
of affective computing,

trying to directly influence

those emotions
with the computing.

What started with the
sentograph has now

evolved into endless
new technologies.

Your pupil would
get a little bit larger.

Billions of dollars
are being invested

in the companies that make them.

The seven core
emotions are joy...

They're building a
future where paying

customers can see
what people are feeling.

At all times.

This is the future. Everybody
is going to read your emotions.

Do you think,
now that people can

measure emotions
with such precision,

that more people will mess
with our emotions?

People did this
before the technology.

They just watch
what provokes people.

Uh, if I pull the girl's hair,
does that provoke her? No.

If I kick her in the shin, that

provokes her. I'll
keep doing that.

There are people
who just like to get reactions.

Now that you can
get them at scale.

(distorted old recording
of speech)

I can't help but
think that affective

computing companies
have a curious way

of looking at our emotions.

One that traces
back half a century.

Emotions are centered
in the lower part of the brain.

The thalamus is not
consciously controlled.

In the 1950s,
one of the most famous

psychologists in the world,
B.F. Skinner,

was experimenting
with how to use

technology to condition
people's behavior.

In the process, he created a new
way of seeing human emotions.

An emotion to me
is like a need. Fear is

a heightened probability
of running away.

Anger is a heightened
probability of attack.

Emotion,
as far as I'm concerned,

deals with changes
in the probability of

engaging in certain
kinds of behavior.

(loud clicking/switching)

And we're going to
try another pigeon

now,
and I will try to pick out...

To Skinner,
emotions were only interesting

when they encouraged
subjects to act.

The bird has been already
conditioned to eat

when the magazine sounds
and the light flashes.

For most of history, feelings
were dark and mysterious.

But what if they were brought
into the world of science?

Perhaps by stimulating
certain emotions

you could control a
subject's behavior.

There we go, all the way around.

I doubt there's a
risk that affective

computing will
induce brainwashing.

There are so many stages
that the brain has to go through

before a decision is made,
that if

those stages are
not lined up and met,

you're not going
to be influenced by this.

And yet,
what social creatures do

all the time is
influence each other.

That's what it means
to be a social creature.

You're embedded
with other members of

your species and
try to influence them.

(dog barking)

You know what,
the dogs are actually here.

In Los Angeles, I arrange
a meeting with Dr. Paul Zak.

He's the cofounder of a firm

that helps clients
take advantage

of the insights of
affective computing.

There's the dogs. Hi there.
Look at that.

- This is Dozu. Wanna say hi?
- Sure.

Hello. Oh, look at that.

Paul is about to give
me a demonstration

of his company's technology.

Look at these sweeties.

For this,
he's joined by Loni Edwards,

one of America's leading
dog influencer agents.

So, there's a ton of money
in the industry.

(playful music)

The most high-level way to
bring joy out of a fellow human

is to have something
that makes them happy.

In the industry I'm in,
pets make

people happy. Dogs
make people happy.

So having them in the content
really brings out joy.

(playful music)

- Gracie...
- Good boy. Roxy's here.

Good girl, good boy.
Good girl!

- No, no, no!
- Stay.

- Good dog!
- Good girl.

Perfect, that's it. Gracie.

While Loni and the
team have done well,

they're still
interested in learning

how they can generate
even more views and income.

For this, they turn
to Dr. Zak's technology.

It can help them
figure out which of

their dogs make
people feel the most joy.

And why.

(heavy curtains
pulled back)

(faint atmospheric music)

I watch as Loni and Dr. Zak
read results from two subjects

wearing biosensors.

Big peak.
Big response in the brain.

(faint atmospheric music)

(heavy curtains
pulled back)

Flight attendants
are holding them.

- Did that impact at all?
- No.

Seeing actually inside the human
is next level. So exciting.

(heavy curtains
pulled back)

85 out of 100. Outstanding.

We look at the second-by-second

data, 91. It's out of 100,
right?

Your brain is just
working the whole time.

I believe Paul when he says he

isn't trying to
brainwash people.

But still, something seems off.

So here's where
we're seeing nothing.

Curtains are closed,
curtain opens, big peak.

Big response in the brain.

You know, it's like seeing your

infant child or your
romantic partner.

It's that good. We
are in love with these

dogs though we've
never seen them before.

By the end of the evening,
Paul uses science to show

that Gracie Doodle brings people
the most joy.

(atmospheric music)

Whether they like it or not.

(atmospheric music)

That's amazing.
That's so interesting.

I look into the very image
of modern mind control,

and maybe it's not so scary.

(atmospheric music)

I ask myself, maybe there's part

of us that wants
to be controlled.

What's going through your head
right now, Robert?

I'm thinking about
how totally screwed

I am and how I'm at your mercy,

and there's not a
darned thing I can do

about it. This is
something I ask for.

I honestly have no
idea what's gonna

happen,
or what you're gonna make me do.

Oh look,
a camera. Let's turn this on

and see if we can
see his dumb face.

There's his dumb face!

He looks very pensive.
He looks nervous.

(laughing)

He's just sitting right there.

Just sitting and
watching and terrified.

(gentle rhythmic music)

Sometimes you meet
someone who gives you

a new sense of
clarity and perspective.

I'm the one and only Tech Dom,

the mistress of
hi-tech domination.

Mistress Harley
holds the trademark

for the term "tech domination"

along with countless other
iterations of the term.

I'll take care of
this right away.

Yes, you will!

I go to Beverly
Hills to meet her

along with her manservant,
Dick Jones.

From her home, she shows me
the surveillance footage

of the thousands of men
she controls over the internet.

She says that you
don't need whips and

chains to truly
dominate a human being.

Through using technology
to control their emotions

she can dominate
people on a deeper

level than was
ever possible before.

Starting with her
tool of preference.

I'm Mistress
Harley's slave. I'm a

complete loser,
totally pathetic and weak.

I do anything
Mistress Harley tells me to do.

If she tells me what to eat
or to make a confessional video.

She controls what I wear,
so she doesn't

let me wear clothes
when I'm home.

She makes me wear this collar.

She controls my privacy,
so she can

make me make
confessional videos.

She has cameras in my home.

I have one here in my room. I
have another one in my bathroom.

I'm getting one
for my living room

so I'll have no privacy at all.

The only freedom
I have in my life is

stuff she hasn't
decided to dictate to me.

Otherwise I just do
whatever she tells me to do.

If you think about
the physiological

sensations of
shame or humiliation,

they're very similar to the

physiological
sensations of arousal.

To make somebody feel shame,
you need to get to know them.

Not everybody is ashamed
of the same things.

Some people are ashamed
of being called a slut.

Other people are proudly sluts.

So the more you
know about someone,

the easier it is to figure out
what they are ashamed of.

And gathering data
on someone will

give you great
insight into that.

Google knows how
to sell you peanuts.

I know how to make you feel bad.

You're bad,
and you should feel bad.

I want you to go
find something heavy,

because every time I
sink a pool ball in this table,

you're gonna smash your dick
with that heavy thing.

Oh, there's goes one.
Punch yourself in the nuts.

Aha?

There's another one.
Another one. Another one.

Are they hurting yet? Are they
all big and swollen and painful?

Oh, keep hitting them.

Punish your nuts.
Punish your nuts.

Punish your nuts.

Because I always win.

You always lose!

I'm trying to
comprehend what I see.

What Harley does doesn't
seem to be much different

from the other
tech stories I film.

She manipulates
emotions in order to

completely dominate
the human being.

She's just a lot
more honest about it.

I can see everything he's doing.

He doesn't know
that I'm watching him,

but I could speak to
him at any moment.

This must be how God feels.

(sinister playful music)

(low ambient music)

That's fascinating. So...

A lot of similarity
but then a couple

of interesting
individual differences.

Ale had the 4,
the corrugator muscle,

the furrowed
eyebrow plus a little

bit of the upper eyelid raise.

Very strong 23,
which is that tightening

of the lip,
the buccinator muscle.

Facial-action coding
turns emotions and

feelings into a
simple set of numbers.

All discernible through
scanning a face.

(low ambient music)

It's the cornerstone
of tech that

reads and manipulates
our emotions.

Joy, love, sorrow.

Just a number

that's the same for everyone
in all places and all times.

I think it's heated
because people feel

that emotions are sacred
qualities of their identity,

or what we used
to call the soul.

And they're... that...

I am the only one who can be the

arbiter of the meaning
of my emotions.

There's this feeling like, my

passions are just
uniquely who I am,

and that's sacred.
And it turns out that's wrong.

A machine can
only understand our

inner world by
reducing it to numbers.

But I can't help but think
it can't be right.

If our emotions
are just numbers,

then the right formula
can make us feel anything.

We're going to try
another pigeon now.

And I will try to pick out some
particular pattern of behavior

and make it a more frequent part
of the repertoire.

My thoughts were
turned to B.F. Skinner.

After years of experimenting on

pigeons,
he discovered something.

Behavior can be molded
pretty much any way you want.

You've talked about the need
for a technology of behavior.

Yes, well,
we certainly do need one.

All the great problems today
need a behavioral solution.

How are we going to get people
to stop breeding so much,

to cut down on the
consumption of goods

that we're running out of,
supplies.

Stop glutting the environment.

Stop beating each other up
personally or internationally.

These are all
behavioral problems

and have to be solved
by something like

a behavioral technology,
it seems to me.

He became obsessed
with creating a

machine that could
build a better world

by controlling
everyone's behavior.

A playpen has been selected for
our experimental environment,

because it is one to which
the child is well-acquainted.

The unfamiliar
additions include a

food dispenser
loaded with snacks.

The Skinner Box was meant to

revolutionize the
raising of children.

By keeping a child
confined to this space,

they could be connected at all
times to a powerful technology

capable of molding
their behavior.

It is best to
separately establish

the function of
the light and sound

as stimuli which reliably signal
an upcoming reinforcement.

What if children could always be
connected to a machine?

A device that could
use light and sound

to shape the way they act,
think and feel.

No recurring group of activities
immediately preceding the action

of the light and sound
is singled out for reinforcement

in order to avoid
the building in

of an unwanted form of behavior.

Skinner dreamed
of a day when this

technology would
take over the world.

(faint orchestral music)

Maybe Russia wasn't quite what
B.F. Skinner was dreaming of.

(marching band)

The airborne brigade made a big

contribution to
the Soviet Union!

(low piano music)

Human emotion is the biggest
battleground in this war.

How do you make
the youth of a country

proud of their nation,
of their military?

Well,
with a tool like TikTok, you

can make them feel
anything you want.

Ivan is the fake
name of a social-media

entrepreneur in Saint
Petersburg, Russia.

The hashtag with my name
gets 1.5 billion views.

I'm basically a
household name here.

Our company has a lot of talent.

These guys behind me can sing,
dance.

They're sexy, cool, goth.

Ivan creates TikTok content

funded by the
Russian government.

(low piano music)

Like, yeah, Russia!
Awesome!

He shows us some videos
that represent his work.

You're 10,
scrolling through TikTok.

Then you suddenly
see one of your favorite

stars reading lines
we wrote for them.

Russians are the genetically
strongest, most sincere

and most persistent
race in the world.

Don't be scared
now. History shows

everyone else was
always afraid of us.

Strength and justice is rooted
in our superior genetics.

It may seem crude,
but there's an art to it.

Russia is full of
fire and power.

This word is the
flame of victory.

Let's raise Russia's flag.

We also have talent for the
really young target groups.

(dramatic orchestral music)

We're making a public
service announcement

for TikTok. Do you
know what that is?

Of course.

Let me get you
something to stand on.

Who doesn't need a stand?
Who's the tallest one?

- I need a stand.
- Me too.

OK, step up.

- World of Tanks.
- Our poor tanks.

These are all American tanks. In

our video you
shoot at these tanks.

An average kid is
watching hundreds, even

thousands of videos
on TikTok every day.

Never before have
human beings watched

videos at this speed and volume.

The kids don't even
remember anything they

watch. But they're
left with feelings!

(dramatic orchestral music)

(shooting galley shots)
Fire!

Fire! Fire!

We are proud patriots!

Fire!

My own son? I'd never allow him
to touch a phone.

I'd do my best to
keep him away from it.

Because I want my children
not only to have brains -

- but also to be
capable of using them.

Why am I showing
you these things?

Maybe I'm just looking
for someone to talk to.

This is our world now, not
just in Russia but everywhere.

This is it. This
is all there is.

(low playful music)

I feel like I've hit a dead end.

Everyone I've met
seems to be perfectly

happy living their
lives on the internet.

Am I all by myself?

I think maybe I need to talk
to someone else.

Near where I live in Copenhagen,
Denmark,

I meet with therapist
Morten Fenger.

(faint city sounds)

He's one of Denmark's
leading experts on

how the internet
affects our emotions.

He's passionate and committed to
raising awareness of the issue.

I feel sorry for mankind

and for people, parents,
children, everyone,

because the telephone has
hijacked your brain, your mind.

You're not yourself anymore.

What shall I do? I tell people,
come on, wake up.

But they will not wake up. They
prefer to be on their... phones!

I'm... I'm so annoyed by this,
frustrated.

What shall I do? I keep telling

people,
get away from the telephone.

They will not listen,
they prefer the telephone!

What is happening here?

What shall I do? I still keep
on fighting, but I'm exhausted.

I'm so tired of being this
expert nobody will listen to.

Every day, people come in
and out of Morten's office,

feeling exactly
the same way I do.

Maybe they're better at talking
about the problems than I am.

Is it okay for us to film, or
would you rather we go outside?

I'm okay with
you staying here.

I can stay? Okay. Then,
all right.

Welcome, Jonathan.

I feel sad about
not trying to see

what else the
world has to offer.

One thing that scares me is

that it just feels better to be
on the computer my whole day.

Is there anything in
the real world better

than what a modern
computer can offer?

I can go through the whole

emotional spectrum
in 10 minutes.

I experience everything,
even faster than that.

It's a totally cold
and empty feeling.

I feel the same way,

no matter if I'm happy, angry or
affected by it some other way.

It's like...

... like an addiction.

This feeling that I get.

So, like, how does it happen?
Why are we feeling numb?

So you have this
concentration of the

feeling of joy,
of anger, of anxiety.

Everything is so concentrated.

The internet creates
feelings for people.

They have all the
feelings served to them.

They just have to eat them

and then after a while,
they feel empty again.

They don't create the feelings

themselves. They
don't know how to do it.

It's the first time in history,
they

have experts to create feelings.

So you have experts creating
feelings on the internet.

That's the new stuff.
You aren't accustomed to that.

(sombre music)

Do you have some personal reason

for your thoughts
on the internet?

The job or challenge
for me as a father is:

Every day is a struggle
to keep their attention with me.

Getting them connected to me
instead of the internet.

I feel like every day
I lose ground to the internet.

I feel defeated by the internet.

They've taken away
my children from me.

They have abducted them,
or kidnapped them.

So... I'm in great despair.

(traffic on wet road)

We're all exhausted.

But what about the people who
exhaust us? How do they feel?

I'm sort of lonely, and...

I'm forced to be independent,

obviously. And I
always have been.

I've known for years that I have

these values and
the strong belief

of having a family and coming
home and taking care of everyone

and having dinner on the table
and feeling love inside and out.

You give what you get.

(atmospheric music)

- Hello.
- Hey, Mom.

I saw the video you
sent the other night

with the eyes popping
out of the head.

I never saw anything
like it before... No.

The other internet things I saw
were very... disturbing to me.

Some of the other... things.

I kind of feel like
maybe sometimes

you guys aren't
looking hard enough.

I have this talent...

I don't even know
your artistic ability.

You've said you've
done all sorts of art.

I've never seen anything
that you've done.

Right.

(rain)

Do you think there's like
something behind the trolling?

I don't know.
Just maybe part of it is...

... things that I don't
want to confront

about myself or that
I hate about myself.

That does what?

It's hard to explain, man.

I mean,
there's gotta be a reason

for all the trolling, right?

That's the thing,
though. I'm not

necessarily
super-mean to anyone.

(rain)

I mean, I like getting
attention... I guess.

Not as much anymore. I don't
care as much anymore, but...

(rain)

This might be what
messing with other

people's emotions
does to a person.

But I'm starting to
see an entire world

that runs on
manipulating emotions.

(traffic)
(atmospheric music)

Yiwu, China, is the
e-commerce capital of the world.

This is the place that brands
and sells the Chinese products

flooding the internet.

(atmospheric music)

People in this part
of China once made

money by making
things in factories.

Now, they work with emotions,
trying to

prod people into
buying stuff online.

Just in.
Order now and get a free case!

Interact with the livestreamer,
and you might get free gifts!

Buy now and get a free
pair of socks. Just do it now.

For a boomtown,
the feeling here is melancholic.

Nearly everyone who arrives
in Yiwu fails at breaking it,

returning home to the
countryside to live in poverty.

Are you ready?

More established streamers help

newcomers learn
the tricks of the trade.

Even if sometimes,
it's a little bit of a struggle.

I'm going to kill you!

"What product are you selling?"

No one's hired
me to do that yet,

I'm just opening my account now.

- He just opened his account.
- It's my first livestream.

I used to have a workshop making

purses,
but now the economy is failing

and my business has collapsed.

It's OK to tell them
that you're nervous and scared.

I want to see if I can...
improve my life through TikTok.

You're here because you've heard

about the
opportunities on TikTok.

We all know it's hard to make

money nowadays
in the real world.

It's the same all
over the world.

There's nothing
left in the real world.

Your idea to come over to TikTok
really deserves a thumbs up.

Lee is a seasoned
trainer in Yiwu

with a company that's instructed
hundreds of newcomers.

But to me,
he seems kind of burned out.

Many people come here
with a desire to make money.

People who owe money,
who need money

quick. People who
have run out of options.

Us e-commerce livestreamers...

90% will fail.

These products are quite pricey

if they buy them in a store.

But if they buy
them in your room,

they get a good deal!
So TikTok is a special place!

- What is your own dream?
- My own dream?

Actually...

We all have our own desires.

But I'm tired.
You asking this question...

It's a question that
really affects me.

I've endured one year.

I haven't seen my
son for one year.

If only my life
situation was better,

I could have just stayed home
with my family.

This is the honest truth.
I'm hurting my son.

Yiwu seems like a
city of broken dreams.

But I still want to see
what success looks like.

What about the
people who do land

contracts working
on the internet?

To make it in a place like this,

what special something do
you need to bring to the table?

What I do is all about
making something shocking.

It's about showing
a test of strength.

(atmospheric music)

(birdsong)

I got into this because of
problems with internet gambling.

A lot of young people
are doing it now,

often drawn in by
internet scam websites.

I saw it as easy money.

That's why I decided
to enter this industry.

Time to spin the wheel.
Good luck to all of my viewers.

Let's hope it's red, so I can
get more of your donations.

Doesn't look good for me.
It landed on black.

Black is a punishment for me.
Red is a reward for you.

This is how we spinning-wheel
livestreamers are doing it.

3 liters of red wine.

I'm not sure I can
drink this in one go.

Thank you for all the donations.
Thank you, everyone watching me.

Thanks, bosses.

Time to drink.

(atmospheric music)

(birdsong)

Mom, Dad, bring a bucket.

- What?
- A bucket.

This isn't enough to floor me.

This is normal.

Today is a special occasion.
It's really special.

I haven't been
streaming for a month.

If you're drinking for us,
please stop.

No, no no. Not at all.

- I do this on every livestream.
- Don't drink any extra for us.

A normal day is
5 liters of liquor.

You're going crazy
with the drinking.

Today, they make you drink
10 drinks. Tomorrow, 50.

- I'm in control.
- The next day, it's 100.

200 drinks,
is that enough for you?

I can handle that.

People are calling me all the

time,
trying to make me stop you.

I say that I've tried,
but you keep livestreaming.

It's not about that.

I know what I'm doing.

No matter what you do,
it's hard to make money.

We can't make it if you're dead.

There's so much left.

My dad says there's 1
liter left. I think it's half.

This is a family operation.

This is my mother
cracking raw eggs for me.

My hard work has resulted in
getting a work contract.

The platform signed a contract
directly with me.

TikTok pays me directly
to livestream for them.

(atmospheric music)

(birdsong)

I think I finally
feel something.

I feel despair.

But then I realize

this feeling is shared
by nearly everyone I've met.

(atmospheric music)
(calling)

In Macedonia,
the fake-news writer

Elena tells me she feels stuck,

navigating between
different lives.

It's sad, because people who
share fake news are earning more

than I could earn as a surgeon.

Everyday life is just a fight
to have a decent life.

You can't just sit here,
thinking

about the meaning of life

if you don't know
if you can afford to

pay for your semester
or feed your family.

After a while, you're just...

You just ask yourself, why not?

I'm just one more
fish in the sea.

(crowd chanting)

I was protesting
against fake news,

corruption and
everything in my country.

Students must wake up to
the problems in civil society!

It was all for nothing.
You see all the politicians

that are just telling lies every
day, and nothing is changing.

After a while you say, I really

love my country,
but I love me more.

I love myself more.

Nobody attends the
real world anymore.

They prefer the
telephone all the time.

They're just like zombies.
What shall I do?

This woman posted
this heinous picture of her

just super-pregnant, alien-like
pregnant with two twins.

And she saw fit to post
a before-and-after pic.

I'll just go right into it.
I wrote, "Oh, fucking gross."

"You women are
becoming assholes on

this thing nowadays.
Just being honest."

Maybe she'll see it and respond,

or other people
will see it and...

... they'll start...
talking to me.

(dramatic orchestral music)

11 million impressions.

(atmospheric music)

- I can see you're tired
- My heart feels tired.

I know. This is going
to be a tough month.

Actually I'm not giving you a
day off in the coming months.

Once we've earned enough,
we can rest.

Until then it's every day?

Yes, seriously, a day off can't

happen. You'll be
this tired every day.

Welcome, everyone.

Welcome.

Today... No songs today, guys.
No songs.

We can just chat a bit tonight.

I know you're tired
and had a tough day,

but how could you
go on camera like this?

If you're going to be like this,
just sign off now.

We need to talk
about your attitude.

Are you OK, Jin?

Tired.

(atmospheric music)

Morten, you've been treating
internet addiction for 20 years.

Is there a big thing
that you've learned?

The biggest horror for me
in my profession is

when people come
to me for my service,

they actually prefer the
internet to being alive.

When they have to
create their feelings

themselves, it's too difficult,

so they prefer to stay
in the artificial world

with these artificial feelings
making them feel empty.

People want
structure and control.

They want a power and balance.

They don't want to be free. They

want someone to
tell them what to do.

In some ways, there's a
liberation in submission.

I see that people prefer to feel

nothing,
to be left without feelings

because it's easier.

They don't want to
be in the real world

because it's too flat,
too ugly, too gray.

It's a much better
life on the internet.

(near silence)

I can remember
a time when I felt

things stronger than I do now.

Sometimes, when I'm scrolling
away in my bed, I ask myself:

Is this just how it's
going to be now?

(hopeful music)

Or is there a way out?

Back in Copenhagen, I'm
trying to digest what I've seen.

(hopeful music)

I go back to my normal job
as a science reporter.

So,
what percentage of Copenhagen's

fecal matter is processed here?

On this plan, it's about 70%
of Copenhagen's sewage water.

What have you
learned through working

here? The most
interesting thing.

How many resources
we can take out of

the water and bring
back into society.

So you can make a lot
of good things of out shit.

(hopeful music)

I decide I want to
make something

nice out of
everything I've seen.

So I invite Morten to my editing
suite to get some advice.

Alright! You did all of these
feelings, all these emotions.

Fascinating. Good movie.

Over there, propaganda, TikTok.

Oh yes. A huge phenomenon,
TikTok.

What's it called,
the Chinese version?

Douyin.

I don't know what I learned,
so much.

I went out to find
all these people,

and I guess all I saw was
that for every emotion we have,

there's someone really good on
the internet at manipulating it.

Yeah,
some kind of wizard out there.

Yeah, there's like a wizard
for every emotion,

completely changing the way
we feel it and overloading us

and warping that emotion.
I saw that.

They crap on our feelings.
They control us completely.

Right, and... you know.

You don't think it would be

practically
and academically sound for me

to give this film
a happy ending,

like a hopeful
ending in some way.

Let me think about it, David.

I think that
there are always two ways to go.

One way is to change people's
understanding of the world,

and the other is
where you tell them what to do.

So, you can be a prophet saying,
"Say no

to the internet because
it will harm you."

The other way is that
we have a much better solution.

You can be with your loved ones.

Go out and have
feelings right now.

Just go out. It's so simple.

The model for a
better world is to be in

real life. It's already there,
for free.

You just have to be with
people you love. Just do it.

(cars passing)

I return to Florida to help
Andrew pack up his house.

He's getting ready to drive to

Vermont to move
in with a girlfriend

he met on the internet.

(car driving)

(atmospheric music)

There comes a point in time

where you wake
up next to no one.

So much that it...
becomes like the

normal. It's comfortable enough,
but...

She actually makes me feel like
I deserve somebody so nice.

The curious thing
is that this nice

girl was not just any nice girl.

She was a very
specific nice girl.

This guy did not get
enough attention as a child.

(door knocking)

(door opening)

Hey.

(faint kissing)

- I love you.
- I love you too.

Do you see me as a low-down,
dirty...

No, no.

But I see your social-media
presence and whatnot as...

A slimeball?

No, just sort of
irritating at points.

And it's just like,
come on, man. Just be yourself.

Because I know
that's not who you are.

(romantic orchestral music)

Oh!

(heavy breathing)

You did it. I'm proud of you.

Is this the hardest thing
you've had to do in your life?

- It's definitely not.
- Exactly. So let's keep going.

But usually the hard
stuff has a reason.

The reason for
this you'll find out.

(heavy breathing)
(faint romantic music)

- So close.
- I just don't care about it.

Well, what do you care about?
That's something to explore.

Can I please not do it?
I'll do anything else.

Feeling terrible is recovering
from surgery.

There's nothing
you can do about it.

There's something wrong with me.
I'm sick or ill. I can't do it.

No, you just let your mind
get the best of you.

That's fine.

And you say,
"I can't do this!"

If you said,
"I can do this," and

took your time and
smiled through it,

it would be more enjoyable,
it would move quicker.

I'm sorry if, "Come on, you
can do it," is upsetting you.

I don't know how
else to motivate you.

I just don't want
to do this anymore.

- Will you do it for me?
- I guess, yeah.

So come on, let's go.

(indistinct dialogue)

(romantic music)