Q&A with the director of the film putting social media under the spotlight for harming kids

“This is a different public health crisis. When I was 18 years old, 36% of US teens smoked. Essentially, 100% of US teens use social media. I don’t have the numbers at my fingertips, but around two thirds of teens use it more than three hours a day. It pushes previous crises into the background because it is ubiquitous for young people,” filmmaker Matthew O’Neill told our CEO Imran Ahmed in an gripping conversation about social media harms and his new documentary, “Can’t Look Away”.  Directed and produced by Matthew and Perri Peltz, “Can’t Look Away”: The Case Against Social Media” looks at how social media platforms are seriously harming young people, focusing on real families who have lost children to suicide, overdose, or sextortion through apps like Instagram and Snapchat. Based on reporting by Bloomberg journalist Olivia Carville, the film follows the families and lawyers from the Social Media Victims Law Center.  Matthew told Imran about his experience filming these families’ fight for justice and how they all wish they could have had “shame-free” conversations with their kids about social media harms.   “We hope that ‘Can’t Look Away’ can be a conversation starter so you can have shame-free conversations
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