The media industry is facing social scrutiny.
The UK announced on Monday that it would move forward with banning apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube from use by children under 16, following increased scrutiny over the impact of social media on young users.
The news comes just days after the first trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s Social Reckoning was released online. Like its predecessor, the film focuses on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, this time focusing on allegations that Facebook ignored internal warnings about the platform’s impact on young users and mental health.
Jeremy Allen White, star of Hulu’s hit series “The Bear,” spent five seasons portraying the extraordinary anxiety that comes with running a kitchen. After the show wraps this summer, his next project, “The Social Reckoning,” will tackle the root causes of anxiety in our time. At the final season premiere in Lower Manhattan, Star hailed the decision as a “great” step forward.
“It’s amazing how addictive it is,” White told Variety at Nine Orchards on Monday night. “I think there needs to be a fix. It’s never going to go away, but I think there needs to be boundaries and guidelines at some point. And I hope that we somehow go back to a more analog approach in life, because this is all happening so fast and it’s a little scary.”
Mr White, a father of two, said his children, ages 7 and 5, do not have their own phones or iPads, but they sometimes “play around” with their mother’s devices. Last fall, he told Variety’s Marc Malkin that when it comes to children’s adoption of social media, “I want to keep them as far away as possible.”
The daily challenge of managing screen time is a growing concern for American parents. More than 64% of parents allow their children under 12 to use a smartphone or tablet, but nearly half say smartphones do more harm than good, according to a recent Pew Research survey. (8 out of 10 people think the risks of social media outweigh the benefits).
But concerns about technology use are not limited to children. White’s co-star Ayo Edebiri admits he has “bad habits” when it comes to smartphones and dreams of a simpler solution: ditching them altogether.
“I really want a flip phone,” she said. “If I didn’t have contractual obligations and emails to respond to, I’d really be in Steve Martin, Bill Murray mode. Like, call and get a voicemail. We’ll talk tomorrow. I’m old enough to remember working jobs where there was work email, and when you’re done, the day is over. That’s my dream for society: real office hours again. I can’t be reached after 8 o’clock.”
Perhaps “The Bear” continues to resonate because it viscerally depicts and captures anxiety with a level of intensity and realism rarely seen on television.
“The things I do for myself help me,” White says of how she deals with anxiety. “But I’ll tell you, it’s something that’s always very easily accessible to me and certainly helps while filming the show.”
