Though first produced in 2014, Generation Like is an incredibly insightful and forward-thinking look at the social media phenomenon.
This culture has now become a dominant factor in the lives of young people. Human interaction has become impersonal and driven almost entirely by the need for immediate justification. The number of likes teens get on social media posts can determine their inner self-esteem. Among other negative effects, this activity has led to a rise in levels of cyberbullying.
How does all of this affect the mental and emotional development of our teens? This movie touches on that question only slightly. It’s mostly about how modern apps manage to feed this cultural beast. In the most profound transformation in the history of advertising, corporate structures now want us to be addicted to likes, follows and retweets. The more likes and users it gathers on a particular platform, the more annual revenue it generates. Lured by the promise of self-empowerment, young viewers took the bait.
In some cases, users can actually enjoy their own share of the win. Popular teens can become social media influencers, earning lucrative income from corporate sponsorships and video views. The more extreme, demeaning, or dangerous the post, the more likely it is to earn advertising dollars. These influencers changed the definition of fame. Some users who have been fascinated by the platform since childhood are now the new bosses of the company, earning 20 million in their early years.
The filmmakers interviewed journalists, advertising experts and ordinary kids who found meaning (and, in some cases, jobs) using social media. This is largely an optimistic portrait of the culture most of us share. But it manages to touch on the dark side in a few fleeting moments, like the profile of an eighth-grade girl whose mother admits her daughter’s most popular photo is a full-body bikini shot. This is a general level of nausea that both mother and child are willing to tolerate.
