"Can't Look Away": Q&A with the Director of the Film Putting Social Media Under the Spotlight for Harming Kids
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In this August 29, 2025 Q&A published by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, co-director Matthew O'Neill discusses Can't Look Away and the Bloomberg reporting by Olivia Carville that inspired it. O'Neill contrasts the smaller share of teenagers who smoked cigarettes a generation ago with today's near-universal teen social media use, citing an estimate that roughly two-thirds of teens spend more than three hours a day on these platforms, to argue the scale of exposure is historically unusual. He says the film aims to prompt what he calls "shame-free conversations" between parents and children rather than blame, and calls on technology-industry leaders to direct their resources toward child-safety design. TechKids Foundation cites this Q&A as the filmmaker's own account of the film's intent and the comparisons he draws, not as independently verified research.
O'Neill contrasts a much lower historical teen smoking rate with today's near-universal teen social media use as a way of framing the current scale of exposure.
Cited in the Q&A as an approximate share of U.S. teens spending more than three hours a day on social media platforms.
"'Can't Look Away': Q&A with the Director of the Film Putting Social Media Under the Spotlight for Harming Kids." Center for Countering Digital Hate, August 29, 2025. https://counterhate.com/blog/cant-look-away-director-social-media-harming-kids/