View the documentary anytime beginning Friday, October 29th at 8 p.m. until Saturday, November 6th at 12 a.m.
October 13th, 2021 – LIKE achieves the impossible: actually getting kids and teens to put down their phones for a few minutes. From Friday October 29th to November 6th Healthy Adams County will hold a special virtual screening of the documentary.
Please click on the following link to register for the movie https://watch.eventive.org/indieflix/play/6153a5ed12cdfa003e63491c
This take-action, inspiring film is the 2nd installment in the award-winning iNDIEFLIX Mental Health Trilogy, created to entertain, engage, and enlighten about issues surrounding mental health. Before Covid, 2 billion smartphone owners were checking their phones, on average, 150 times a day, and the enforced isolation and mandated screen time of the past year has only increased this figure. Research continues to confirm that having your head down, staring at the screen, chasing “likes” and seeking “followers” is the perfect recipe for low self-esteem, isolation and depression, as well as loss of focus and patience.
The filmmakers of LIKE inspire kids and teens to consider a life of JOMO (joy of missing out) as opposed to FOMO. They use their proven 4 E formula: entertainment, empathy, enlightenment and a heavy dose of empowerment, arming their audiences with easy-to-execute strategies to change their habits that very same day. Research and data is plentiful: happiness surges when we have digital balance, not overload; when we give ourselves time to look at actual trees, animals and all things nature, as well as interact – however we can – with other humans.
LIKE was ahead of the Social Dilemma curve in shocking its audience with its exclusive interviews from Silicon Valley insiders – including the co-creator of Facebook’s “Like” button – who break down the addiction-causing algorithms behind the apps. The medical and science experts explain the behavioral changes that come from chemical effects on the brain. But the 49-minute-long LIKE does not leave you with a sense of fear and foreboding. The core of the documentary is built around the kids and teens interviewed, and the empathy that they buildwith their audience as they look honestly at their usage and dependence on these tiny devices, consider the good that can come from and be transmitted via social media, and rethink the relationship to one where they are much more aware and in balance. Finally, a funny and engaging dancing panda meme at the end of the film perfectly illustrates the very sad rabbit holes our phones are sending us down, preventing us from looking up and seeing the world.
‘‘For this particular film, the prestigious awards and reviews we’ve received are NOT the measure of success. It’s the direct feedback the kids & teens…. they are experimenting with our tricks on how to use their smartphones INSTEAD of their smartphones using them… and winning.’ said Scilla Andreen, CEO and Co-Founder of IndieFlix and Director/Executive Producer of LIKE. ‘Through shocking kids and adults alike with the behind-the-scenes look at their favorite apps and making them laugh, we’ve been able to engage them enough to consider taking the road back to ‘real’ instead of ‘virtual’ life, by working towards self-regulation and a healthy relationship with their phones.”
As with all iNDIEFLIX films, screenings take place in (now virtual) community settings, usually followed by community discussion and Q&A. This peer-group conversation is a critical element to getting young and old to reflect on what they’ve just learned, and the changes that they’ll make as a result.
LIKE, and its Mental Health Trilogy Companions Angst and The Upstanders are staples in social & emotional learning programs in schools all over the world. Knowing that successful change depends on continuing the conversation beyond the screening date, each film comes with discussion guides, tip sheets a catalogue of additional resources, with a dedicated 8-week curricula for each film launching in 2021.
iNDIEFLIX Group Inc is a global education and streaming service that promotes and supports social impact films that create positive change in the world. iNDIEFLIX Education books online and offline community screenings in schools and corporations around the world, while iNDIEFLIX Stream offers a monthly subscription-based service to access thousands of high-quality shorts, features, documentaries, and series from around the world. https://www.indieflix.com/