From documentaries to the news, it appears the world is continuing to promote reduced social media and phone usage. Advertisements are catered to parents as well as teachers and are trying to convince them to implement harsh social media bans into their homes and schools. Although social media is painted negatively towards older generations, to younger generations no advertisement or campaign is enough to change their opinions. Most anti-social media movements fail when it comes to younger generations who do not care.

In numerous freshman seminar classes at Reno High teachers are surveying students on their opinions of social media as well as showing the documentary, The Social Dilemma. The purpose of the documentary is to get students off their phone, but most of the class was on their phones during the documentary. Students also seemed completely uninterested during the discussion. One prominent issue that was brought up was social medias’ effect on political issues. There are definitely students who are interested in politics, but for the most part, using politics as a means to turn teens against social media, is pretty useless.

Documentaries are not the only way that social media is being demonized. Many companies, such as Apple have implemented technology that limits a user’s time on certain apps. This is known as screen time, and although it does have positive features, for the most part, it is simply an obstacle. Many teens whose parents have limited their screen time have come up with ways to get around it, making it virtually pointless, and a waste of time. The idea that limiting social media use, or controlling it, will positively affect teens is one sided. Many adults do not understand the aspects of communication and self-expression that teens gain from the usage of social media.

Many anti-social media campaigns and technologies fail to achieve their goals. Bad software such as screen time and documentaries that feel like a waste of time and are simply annoyances to teens. Most arguments such as politics go straight over teens heads because it doesn’t seem to affect them. On top of technology and media being used more often in jobs and schools, to teens, it feels like hypocrisy when adults try to convince teens that social media is a bad thing. Anti-social media campaigns and technologies are ineffective because issues teens care about are not taken into consideration.