Generation Like

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Generation Like

Image Source: huffpost.com

I recently watched the documentary "Generation Like" by Frontline on PBS. This first aired in February of 2018 and it focused on how teenagers now had the ability to directly interact with their culture, the media, and as well as build who they are as individuals through the usage of social media platforms. Although this episode was from four years ago, I still think that the views expressed in the documentary still hold true today, if not more. 

Back when this episode aired, it focused on Facebook and Twitter as the larger social media platforms for teens. It touched on YouTube for videos and also Instagram, but they were not the main focus. Within those four years, there definitely has been a shift in the social media platforms used by teens. I see TikTok and Instagram being their largest platforms at this time. As technology continues to evolve and more platforms get created, we will always see an ebb and flow in which platforms teens are choosing to use. I know when I was their age, it was MySpace and LiveJournal and those platforms are definitely not popular anymore. 

Social media is a large part of everyone's lives, but for teenagers, it now defines who they are. The amount of likes they get on a photo or video, determines how popular they are. Their friends are no longer just people from school, but from all over the world based on the content they view and interact with. It was really interesting to see how people with large amounts of followers team up with others to gain more followers. It really is a game to grow your own platform. The more followers you have the more opportunities that will open up to you. There are even parents involved in getting their children out on social media to showcase their talents. Parents and teens alike attribute this to success, fame, and money. 

I thought the documentary did a really good job of exposing how companies use social media and teenagers to drive their products. "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire" movie was an eye opening example of how a company used social media to drive interaction to get the word out about their movie. The more people who interacted with the content posted, the more it "spread like wildfire". The company meticulously planned when it would post and the followers of The Hunger Games trilogy did the rest of the work. The media has so much power over us without us even realizing it does it at times. 

I do not think that this aspect of social media is going anywhere. It continues to be the future and will always be evolving. Looking at today, more people are being recruited through social media to be ambassadors for brands and this includes teens. Teens are making careers for themselves doing this through TikTok and Instagram. I know some of my students think that they are going to go TikTok famous or YouTube stars. They feel this is a reality for them because they have seen it happen to kids their age. It will be interesting to see how social media evolves as the years go on and if this documentary is still relevant then. 

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