Presented by Live Like Sam and Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA), the film will be shown at the Jim Santy Auditorium on Thursday, September 18, at 7 p.m. The screening is open to parents and teens ages 16 and older.
Described as a powerful and eye-opening documentary, “Can’t Look Away” exposes the hidden dangers of social media and its harmful impact on young users.
Holland Lincoln, a Utah chapter leader of MAMA and a parent advocate, brings both professional and personal insight to the issue.
“As a mother of three children and a former tech executive at some of these big tech companies, I find that it is really important for everybody to see this and understand just how detrimental social media can be on the mental health of our youth.”
MAMA Executive Director Julie Scelfo—also a parent and former “New York Times” reporter—will attend the screening and offer remarks following the film.
“We don't want to leave people sort of devastated at the end of this thing,” she said. “It's heavy — and we want to have a call to action and to see what you can do in your homes, what you can do in your community, and how we can sort of push our legislators at the state and the federal level to put some guardrails around social media and really protect our youth.”
The documentary follows families who have lost children due to social media-related issues and sheds light on the ongoing legal battles against major tech companies. These companies, the film argues, are spending millions — much of it on lobbying efforts —to resist regulation that could help protect young users.
Lincoln says the partnership with Live Like Sam is a natural fit.
“It is about money for these for these companies,” Holland said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” Monday. “It is about eyeballs. It is about the attention of children, and that they care zero about youth mental health. And it's pretty disturbing. It's pretty frightening. And I think it's that's why it's so suitable to have Live Like Sam there with us and the Mental Wellness Alliance — all these organizations in our local community that really care about youth mental health can stand up and say, ‘okay, we know that this company doesn't care about your kids, but we do.’”
Live Like Sam founder Ron Jackenthal agrees that meaningful change will require a collective effort, and that local communities have a crucial role to play.
“While these things are being fought on a federal level, we're trying to do our fight here locally,” Jackenthal said. “You know, when I look at what Live Like Sam stands for, we're creating critical mental and emotional health programming for our youth. We're also trying to seriously elevate the conversation that mental and emotional fitness should be at the same level of importance as physical fitness.”
Tickets to Live Like Sam’s annual gala on September 27 are already sold out, but the online silent auction remains open to the public. About a third of winning bids typically come from those who don't attend the event. You can find the link here.
