Frontline's Generation Like: An Analysis Of 'Generation Like'

Although it may seem as if Frontline’s “Generation Like” provides a solid argument to the current generation’s social networking habits, the argument falls short when addressing the generation as a whole. When describing the social networking habits of various teens, the documentary proved only a skewed, narrow view into the true habits of the generation as a whole. The documentary does not accurately represent the entire generation as the teenagers showcased could be viewed as internet extremists, a fact that the documentary failed to mention to its viewers. Along with misrepresenting the entire generation, “Generation Like” also managed to humiliate its teenage cast by asking them manipulated, craftily-worded survey questions, the documentary
The fact remains that the teens portrayed in the documentary could be considered extremists regarding their internet use rather than an average member of the generation coined “Generation Like.” Rather than providing the audience with a straightforward, truthful argument, makers of the documentary chose to stick to their argument that the current generation has been made oblivious by the internet and corporate marketing strategies on social media. The documentary also went on to claim that all teens are concerned about is with their personal reputation on the internet and if they have as many likes, views, shares, reposts, friends and followers as possible. It was appealed that these teens are shallow, oblivious humans who will do absolutely anything to become famous on social media. Although, through various faults throughout the documentary, the argument could not be held together as a solid, undeniable
This claim, made by “Generation Like,” was extremely skewed and manipulated when presented to the audience. In reality, the teens showed in the documentary did not accurately represent the majority of the generation who the documentary was exposing, because not all teens use the internet that much. Also, there was nothing to be said of the adults in the described generation, as some adults are also social media junkies, but rather the documentary creators decided to only expose teenagers as internet junkies. Adults on social networking also play a major role in the strategies of corporate marketing, not just teenagers. These adults are also concerned with how many likes, shares, follows and friends they can get, none of which was ever revealed by the documentary. If the documentary would have accurately represented the generation as a whole, they could have stuck closer to the truth and made a truly inspiring and powerful documentary. Although, without doing so, the documentary fell extremely short in respect to the inaccurate claims made on the current generation of