Parents' Guide to

Connected

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Docu connects love, death, and technology.

Movie PG 2011 80 minutes
Connected Poster Image

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What's the Story?

Autobiographical documentary CONNECTED delves into what it means to be connected in the 21st century. Writer/director Tiffany Shlain, founder of the Webby Awards, looks at how humans and technology continually change the way we connect on a global scale while also sharing the journey of her father's (Dr. Leonard Shlain) battle with brain cancer. Shlain looks at the links between human behavior, technology, and social issues to better understand how we tap into the connected culture to both create and destroy the best and worst parts of our world.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Shlain's effort to pay tribute to her late father while simultaneously showing us how we should think about the non-linear nature of connectivity is interesting. But there are times when it's hard to figure out some of the individual points she's trying to make thanks to the film's fractured presentation of visual images and personal life events. Others may not agree with the cause-and-effect relationships between events established here. But the movie's overall message is very clear: We need to take responsibility for what we do in the world, because everything we do will eventually impact someone (or something) else.

Narrated by Shlain and actor Peter Coyote, the film offers a historical exploration of connectivity while showcasing a collage of home movies, animation, archival video footage, and Web imagery to underscore the different ways that humans connect. It also highlights the intentional and unexpected consequences of these connections on the world. Many of these arguments are extensions of ideas introduced in the late Dr. Shlain's controversial books.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about what the movie has to say about technology. Is it a good thing? A bad thing? Both? How does it impact personal relationships?

  • How do you think technology will continue to increase (or decrease) the impact that small life decisions have on a larger community?

Movie Details

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