Father and child sit together smiling while looking at a smart phone.

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Parents' Guide to

LIKE

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Compelling docu digs into social media's pros and cons.

Movie NR 2018 49 minutes
LIKE Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 11+

Based on 7 parent reviews

age 18+
age 10+

Should be required before kids are allowed onto SM

Movie helps kids get perspective before they start to engage in the Social Media jungle

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: (7 ):
Kids say: Not yet rated

Thought-provoking and intriguing, this dig into social media's positives and (way more) negatives is perfect for watching with phone-mad tweens and teens. Particularly since the best expert advice it offers on short-circuiting social media's cons is to talk to your kids about what's really important in life -- and that if you're nagging kids about screen time, whatever gambit you're trying isn't working.

Not that it will necessarily be easy to get kids to literally put the phone down and watch what might look like a boring lecture (worse, the same one they may have already received from parents). LIKE is indeed full of the kind of talking heads that can turn some viewers off, but teens may be surprised to recognize themselves in what's being said. For instance, the way that breaking a Snapchat streak can make a teen feel like a friendship's going down the tubes ... or the way you might worry if you don't have as many streaks as others. Or the way we negatively compare our inside selves to the heavily curated outside picture presented by others. Or the fear of missing out that just as easily could be experienced as the joy of missing out. Kids may have to be convinced to watch this film, but what they see will make them -- and their parents -- think, and possibly even make changes for the better (surely the loftiest of documentary goals!).

Movie Details

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