Most Powerful Women Summit 2024: Social (Media) Studies - A Conversation With Emmy Award-Winning Documentarian Lauren Greenfield
Lauren Greenfield, Emmy Award-winning Filmmaker Interviewer: Maryam Banikarim, Fortune
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00:00Let's turn our attention to a topic that is really already playing a role in shaping the next generation of leaders,
00:07and that is social media and how it impacts our brains, our happiness, and our lives more generally.
00:13The Emmy award-winning filmmaker Lauren Greenfield explores social media's influence on teens in particular
00:21in her new docu-series, which is called Social Studies.
00:25It offers a really intimate look at a diverse group of L.A. high schoolers,
00:30revealing how social media shapes their lives from really joyful moments to quite harrowing consequences.
00:37Marion Banikarim will talk with Lauren in just a moment, but first, we've got a glimpse of this series for you to watch.
00:46Social media is kind of like the only way to communicate.
00:48It's the only way you feel connected to anyone.
00:50I could be myself.
00:51I need a perfect body.
00:52I can't get rid of it.
00:53She was bullied.
00:54That makes you want to beat up somebody.
00:55It doesn't really end.
00:56It becomes everything.
01:01I always wanted to do this.
01:08I hoped to document the first generation that had grown up with social media their entire lives.
01:16Teenagers from Los Angeles agreed to share their private accounts and their digital experiences.
01:22School is starting.
01:24How many of you were asked to send a nude of yourself?
01:28If you put out content like Kim Kardashian did, maybe you'll get famous.
01:33My social media consumption is 12 hours a day.
01:38You edit your body to be something it's not.
01:41One of the major beauty standards is you kind of have to be Caucasian.
01:45People would just call you the N-word, so I took action, and they took my whole account down.
01:50It's frightening to see how sexualized some of these images are.
01:55I sort of don't want to look at my kids' TikTok.
01:58Gorgeous!
02:00The more time I spend on social media, the more anxious I feel.
02:04It is so scary that we are allowed to actually do this.
02:09Social media has a role in everything, doesn't it?
02:12It's hard to figure out what you want, but you know what social media is telling you to want.
02:16There's so much hate. It did affect me a lot.
02:18Social media took a toll on me, but I'm not alone in this.
02:24It's up to us to figure out how we can still be people.
02:29Hello, everyone.
02:30Just remember that we're going to take questions, so I'll start the interview,
02:34but this is when you should be thinking about your questions,
02:36and a mic will be brought to you if you raise your hand.
02:39So, Lauren, you worked on this project for two years.
02:431,200 hours of footage, 2,000 hours of screen time.
02:47How did you get to this point?
02:49Well, I think it all started with a friend of mine,
02:52and I think it all started with a friend of mine,
02:552,000 hours of footage, 2,000 hours of screen time.
02:58You were trying to explore what it was like for kids who grew up with a smartphone in their hand.
03:03What surprised you the most about this project?
03:06Oh, my gosh. A lot of surprises.
03:08I mean, I have been looking at youth culture for 30 years.
03:11My first book, Fast Forward, Growing Up in the Shadow of Hollywood,
03:14looked at some of the similar things, the influence of fame,
03:17the influence of materialism, the importance of image,
03:22and what I saw was just everything amplified to the nth degree,
03:27that a big part of childhood now is about getting fame,
03:31getting likes, doing branding, cultivating an image.
03:35I think the early loss of innocence, which was also something I looked at 30 years ago,
03:41but then just looking at how media was impacting,
03:43like cable TV and movies and music, which seems pretty benign now,
03:48now the loss of innocence comes when one gets their smartphone
03:54and basically the whole world is kind of coming at them.
03:57You told me that when you started, you had a 14-year-old son and a 20-year-old son,
04:01and you were surprised at how there was a difference
04:04between a 14-year-old's experience and a 20-year-old's experience.
04:07What does that mean?
04:09Yeah, that was really an inspiration for going back and looking at this thing
04:12because I saw that my 14-year-old was a different generation than my 20-year-old,
04:16that my 20-year-old used social media to talk to friends a little bit,
04:20but he was really a reader.
04:22And my youngest, we had constant battles about screen time.
04:26He gets all his news from TikTok.
04:29And I saw that it was an addiction.
04:32Well, I also saw him getting depressed from it during COVID when screen time increased.
04:37So I really wanted to look at what is this thing that they're looking at.
04:40And the unique part about the series is that the kids gave us access to their phones.
04:45And so we see all of that content in real time,
04:49and it's all in the kid's point of view, teenager's point of view.
04:53There are no experts. They're the experts.
04:56You not only got access to the kids and their digital habits,
05:00not just their social habits, you also got access to parents.
05:03How were you able to get them to open up to you in the way that you did?
05:07Because they're pretty open.
05:08I mean, I actually didn't start thinking the parents would be a part of it at all.
05:13I thought it would be more like Charlie Brown,
05:15where we just kind of see them in the background.
05:17But I think, first of all, I came into this as a parent, not knowing that much.
05:24And what I saw that was so shocking was how caring, loving parents
05:31are completely clueless about what's going on, often right next to them.
05:35Sorry, clueless about what?
05:37About this social media life, which I think is the biggest cultural influence
05:44on young people's lives, like bigger than parents, bigger than school,
05:48bigger than peers.
05:50And it's like a black hole where parents don't know what's going on.
05:54You talk a lot about sort of social media and comparison culture.
05:58And I thought that was a really interesting insight
06:01into what's driving a lot of the anxiety.
06:02What does that mean?
06:04Yeah, I mean, one of the things that's so toxic is the constant comparison.
06:09And teenagers have always dealt with insecurities.
06:13Am I popular?
06:15Can I be in the popular group?
06:17Do kids like me?
06:19Comparing against other kids in their friend group,
06:23against a popular group, against the kids in the school.
06:26Now young people are comparing themselves against every peer group
06:30in the world.
06:32And often those peers are FaceTuned, Photoshopped, manufactured, not real.
06:39So when it comes, and it's not just beauty,
06:43although beauty and body image was a huge thing,
06:46but also college pressure, also all kinds of comparisons.
06:53It's constant.
06:55Even one of the surprising things was that mental illness,
06:57in addition to exploding, is also a trend.
07:01Well, actually, you actually talked about suicidal ideation
07:06and how there was a Reddit that told you how to commit suicide.
07:10What was that all about?
07:12This is a little bit of a spoiler for episode five.
07:15Sorry.
07:17But yeah, I mean, I think what the algorithm does is it takes you,
07:22it kind of, and the teenagers are very aware of this,
07:24it kind of exploits your most private and delicate vulnerabilities.
07:31So it takes you by the hand and shows you how to do things.
07:36And sometimes that can be how to have a good eating disorder,
07:40how to be sicker, how to take action on suicidal thoughts.
07:45Kind of the worst things that we can imagine, it will take you there.
07:51So it's five episodes.
07:52I highly recommend watching it because, you know,
07:55it is a world we don't live in the same way.
07:58In episode five, Jonathan says,
08:00social media is our lifeline, but it's also a loaded gun.
08:04I think it's hard sometimes for parents or adults to understand
08:07what we're going through, even though they care.
08:09What role can parents play since it really isn't the world
08:13in which we grew up?
08:15Yeah, I mean, I think the first thing is parents need to know
08:18what's going on.
08:19I hope parents watch the series, watch it with your teenagers.
08:23We did an educational curriculum.
08:25We did a parent guide to spark conversation.
08:28Sometimes I hear from parents what Danny says in the trailer,
08:32which is I almost don't want to know.
08:34Actually, we really need to know.
08:36And I think teenagers are really relieved at parents and adults knowing.
08:41And I think that's why they kind of divulge their most private lives
08:45in this show so that people would know.
08:47So I think there's actually a lot that parents can do,
08:51but I also don't think it's fair to have it be on parents or on kids.
08:56I feel like I got into the battle with my son about screen time.
09:00I feel like that's the first thing we go to,
09:02is kind of blaming the victims.
09:04These apps are made to be addictive.
09:08We would not treat opiate addiction this way.
09:11And so to have it fall so squarely on the individual,
09:15I think does not work.
09:17We need collective action, both in schools, parent groups,
09:22regulation, corporate responsibility, all of it.
09:26There was another quote that struck me.
09:28One of the girls said, we're not doing well, but we can't get off.
09:31So it sort of goes to the addiction point that you're making.
09:33Yeah, I mean, I think that lifeline loaded gun is so important
09:37because it's part of growing up today.
09:42I mean, the show in a way is less about,
09:44it's not an issue film about social media.
09:45It's really about coming of age in the time of social media.
09:49It's also entertaining because the kids are so great.
09:52I don't want to scare you from watching it.
09:55But I think that what we see is that
09:58it's part and parcel of social life.
10:01And that's really important to teenagers too.
10:04So it's not a binary, like get rid of social media or keep it.
10:08It's the genie's out of the bottle.
10:10It's here, but it doesn't have to be the way it currently is.
10:13Okay, so I'm going to see if there's any questions.
10:15So if there's a question, please let us know.
10:18Why do you think the role of regulation is in this equation?
10:21I mean, every other media is regulated
10:24and it's just kind of shocking that this one is not
10:28and that also the tech companies have no responsibility for it.
10:31So I think regulation is important.
10:34But I also think that the engineering can be different.
10:38I was just watching the movie about Jim Henson
10:40and at the beginning of the children's television workshop
10:43when they brought on Jim Henson,
10:46the idea was to bring together people who know what kids love
10:51with people who know what kids need to learn.
10:54And that second piece was never there with tech.
10:57And it's always just been give kids
11:00what will create maximum engagement, maximum advertising,
11:04even if we know it's not in the best interest of young people.
11:07So growth at any cost.
11:09Okay, we have a question.
11:11Hi, I'm Laura Heisman.
11:13I have a 15-year-old daughter.
11:15And this, like my body's shaking right now
11:18because this hits me so hard.
11:21And my question is, with the kids that you spoke to,
11:25what can I learn from that about how to talk to my daughter
11:30so she'll share more about what's going on
11:33on Instagram and TikTok?
11:34I mean, I'm in marketing.
11:36I know what's going on in that.
11:38But I don't know what's going on enough.
11:41And I'm thankful when she opens up, but it's not enough.
11:45And I'm wondering if you learned anything
11:47from those conversations that can help me connect more with her.
11:51Thank you for your question.
11:53And I really appreciate your emotion.
11:55I think that knowing what's going on
11:59is actually a huge relief to young people.
12:01We premiered this show in Telluride Film Festival
12:04and afterwards, a 20-something and her mother came up to me
12:08and the 20-something said,
12:10it was really uncomfortable watching this with my mother
12:13because she knows nothing about my life,
12:15but I'm really glad she does now.
12:17And I found that too.
12:19There's one episode four, which is about sexuality
12:22and how kids learn about that.
12:24And one of the main educators is pornography.
12:27And one trend that really shocked me
12:31was BDSM and choking as a trend with teenagers.
12:37And hearing this from,
12:39we have a kind of focus group in the show
12:42where there's peer-to-peer conversation
12:44so that we can see if a problem is unique to one person or common.
12:49And really, we only include in the show the universal issues.
12:53And when I heard so many teenagers
12:55talking about this jaw-dropping trend,
12:58I went home and I asked my boys,
12:59like, is this real?
13:01And they validated it.
13:03She means, is the choking thing real?
13:05Yeah, and they validated it.
13:07And so I think,
13:09and I feel like it was a relief for them to talk about it
13:11because it's uncomfortable.
13:13And I think that that's why we did this parent guide
13:16because I think having conversations is so important.
13:19And also at school,
13:21one of the reasons we did this kind of roundtable discussion
13:24is the teenagers so wanted to talk about it
13:27and so wanted to know that they were not alone.
13:30Almost every teenager in the project said
13:34if they had a choice,
13:36they would rather be in their parents' generation
13:38before the phone.
13:40So 22 million Americans are age 15 to 19.
13:44They could be your kids, your employees, your consumers.
13:48What do you think we need to understand
13:50to really bridge this divide
13:52beyond sort of like reading the parent guide?
13:55I mean, I think we need to address
13:57what is a massive mental health issue,
14:00which has kind of been under the radar.
14:03I mean, the therapists that we've showed it to
14:06have started to cry,
14:08like there are not even enough therapists.
14:10So I think it's an urgent issue
14:13that we need to deal with.
14:15I feel like for this generation,
14:17the important thing is finding out about it.
14:19For the next generation,
14:21I think there is movement towards change.
14:24It's entirely possible.
14:25And I hope that that happens.
14:27Okay, so unfortunately,
14:29I know you're going to have a lot of questions.
14:31And actually, that's one of the reasons
14:33Lauren's staying for dinner.
14:35So I hope you find her
14:37because we've definitely been given the
14:39we're done with time.
14:41Thank you, Lauren.
14:43Can I add one thing?
14:45I just want to say we do need your help.
14:47This is an incredible room
14:49of marketing professionals.
14:51And young people don't watch Hulu and FX.
14:53They watch TikTok.
14:55We're doing a digital advertising campaign
14:57in getting the curriculum
14:59into every school in America
15:01and in really facing this issue.
15:03Sasha's here.
15:05So listen, I want you to find Lauren.
15:07I want you to watch the five-part episode.
15:09It really is the beginning.
15:11It's still rolling out now.
15:13And it's on Hulu and FX.
15:15And FX.
15:17Yeah, really good question.
15:19Common Sense Media recommends 14 Plus
15:22and gave it their highest approval.