Frontline (TV Series) Generation Like (2014) User Reviews

Likes: the social currency of this generation

[Mr-Fusion · 7/10 · 17 October 2017]

At face value, 'Generation Like' didn't hold any surprises. Pretty much everyone knows that the Internet, in its current form, is all about likes, clicks, what-have-you. I mean, that's common knowledge. But digging a little deeper, that's where things get scary.

The primary focus here is this: it's not the technology, but what companies are doing to kids *through* technology. Specifically, marketing. The younger age group knows that the goal with social media is to be your own media network, and it's a generation that is willing to do the work of the marketing department just for more likes. Selling out isn't selling out anymore, it's the brass ring. Sponsorship is the prize.

It's a new (terrifying) spin on conformity.

7/10

Pessimistic and overdramatic generalization of a generation

[majfoalbkeopaza · 5/10 · 7 August 2021]

First off, the good parts: this documentary is (relatively) short and to-the-point. It is skillfully edited and directed, and the subject matter is interesting and fascinating to watch, even though at times it can be kind of disheartening and sad.

Technical qualities notwithstanding, this film left a bad taste in my mouth due to its myopic and hyperbolic way of judging an entire generation (and by extension, the future of civilization) based on the behaviors of a small subculture of ambitious "influencers" and wannabe stars whom they follow around and interview. Yes, the people they interview are real people and they really do obsess over "likes", but no, they do not represent the entirety of their generation and acting like they do is just as stupid as pretending that EVERY young person in the 1960s was a hippie, or that everyone who lived in the 1940s was a patriotic WWII veteran. Every generation has its share of liberals, conservatives, rich, poor, narcissistic, altruistic, authoritarians, anti-authoritarians, attention-seekers, everyday people, etc, etc, you get the point.

The content itself is not uninteresting, nor is the analysis of how social media changes the landscape of corporate advertising/marketing necessarily unfair or off-base, but the way the whole thing is framed/edited/narrated just comes across as the same old curmudgeonly doomsday prophesying that seemingly has accompanied every major or minor technological innovation since the dawn of time. The people who made this documentary would do well to read the book of Ecclesiastes or maybe even just go spend some time out in nature or something, I don't know. Technology might advance at a seemingly rapid pace, but human nature just doesn't change THAT drastically from one generation to the next, in spite of the media constantly trying to convince people that it does. Both the old people terrified of change and the young people desperate to believe they're occupying the most special place in history need to stop fretting so much and realize they are more alike to the humans of past and future generations than they are different.