I’m a child of the internet. Although in my house it was dial-up until nearly college, I spent entirely too much time online. But luckily for me, it was the golden age of social media. MySpace was still active, Facebook was in its infancy, and Twitter wasn’t owned by Elon Musk. There was a real sense of community on each platform, and your profile spoke to your personality. Sadly, the social media landscape in our current time is mostly filled with rage bait, doxxing, and AI slop that Your Attention Please puts a spotlight on.
There’s a dark side to social media nowadays. Your Attention Please, a documentary from Sara Robin, seeks to shine light on a new digital epidemic, putting forth information that even someone who is an avid user of social media might not know, to warn the public about the real dangers anyone—from a pre-teen to an adult—can face. What was once a place for genuine connections and curiosity has turned into harassment, both online and in real life.
“Do you remember a time without cell phones?” is the film’s opening question to audience members. And for myself, as a 32-year-old adult, yes—but for many of Your Attention Please‘s subjects, most likely not. I remember not being able to Google something at super speed, or having to carry a digital camera and an MP3 player separately. There was nothing worse than running out of minutes on my Virgin Mobile prepaid phone, rendering it essentially useless. For someone in their formative years, a cell phone is a lifeline for their social life, where they are able to express their personality.
Robin makes an impact with her documentary by focusing on the families who are trying to make a change in the legality of these social media conglomerates, which presently face no legal liability for what their users post on their platforms. Their motivations stem from an unfortunate commonality: sharing the experience of losing a loved one to the negative impacts of social media. Robin uses photos, videos, and family memories of these children to show just how young they were while facing non-stop harassment.
Your Attention Please strives for change and reminds us to be kind to those on the other side of the screen. Featured most prominently is Kristin Bride, co-founder of the Online Harms Prevention workshop, who advocates for her son, Connor Bride, through social media reform. Her testimony before the Senate in 2023 was moving; sadly, her son committed suicide due to cyberbullying over Snapchat, receiving hundreds of anonymous messages filled with bullying, sexual harassment, and more. Although this documentary is difficult to watch at times due to its emotional weight, witnessing these perspectives gives a voice to the 46% of adolescents who deal with cyberbullying.
In one of the most powerful moments from Your Attention Please, these families stand up against big tech CEOs, armed with photos of their family members who were victims, forcing billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg to see their faces. Before the Senate, Zuckerberg denies that social media has any negative impact on teens. Yet, famously, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed the opposite—that the company knew about the harm it was causing its users but chose to withhold that information. Robin completely captivates audiences during this section of the documentary. Finally seeing CEOs like Zuckerberg, who profit off users of all kinds and motivations, face the consequences of allowing such behavior to happen is impactful.
It’s no secret that what social media has evolved into is a haven for anonymous bullies who gleefully harass anyone at any time. And with yet another big tech billionaire, Elon Musk, buying Twitter—now X—the popularization of monetizing posts has truly gotten out of hand, with negativity being what many users turn to for likes, views, and engagement. Even recently, an influx of women have had their images altered by his AI tech, Grok. It’s not hard to see why teens are having enormous mental health struggles when everything within their algorithm is meant to upset them. It’s a documentary that opens our eyes to the world that youth see online.
On the other side of Your Attention Please is how people are returning to real human connections through The Offline Club, where attendees lock their phones away and enjoy in-person activities. It’s a charming idea, but there’s still an element that comes across as exclusionary, with a limited number of these events happening around the world. The club found fame on Instagram and comes across more like a gimmick. The documentary is at its least compelling here, and shifts focus away from the urgent message of social media reform.
The documentary itself is made with confidence, with Robin doing her best to convey the urgency this topic demands. It’s balanced with real-world statistics, which are often jaw-dropping in the number of teens experiencing suicidal thoughts due to social media. It includes numerous experts on it’s vast topics like former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, and Tristan Harris Co-Founder of the Center for Humane Technology (CHT). The back-and-forth between alternating stories is handled mostly well, but given how tense Bride’s section is, the transitions can feel jarring.
But there has to be a fix, right? Your Attention Please shows these families, led by Bride, fighting back. But when Donald Trump became president again, their progress was cut short. Their work with the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) had passed in the Senate but was stalled with House Republicans due to fears that it would lead to censorship. Yet that hasn’t stopped the journey to change the responsibility these companies should have.
“Can social media truly be reformed?” is the lingering thought after the credits roll. Your Attention Please presents evidence of the real-world harm social media causes and of the enormous risk younger generations face when putting themselves online authentically. With government changes stalled and rising online hostility, it feels impossible for the early years of social media to return. But real human connection, driven by change, gives society a fighting chance against anonymous digital warfare.
Your Attention Please presents evidence of the real-world harm social media causes and of the enormous risk younger generations face when putting themselves online authentically.
