“Can’t Look Away” Documentary Reveals Social Media’s Hidden Costs, Calls for Urgent Global Reform

“Can’t Look Away”: The High Cost of Attention in the Age of Unregulated Social Media

In a digital landscape dominated by the relentless pursuit of engagement, Olivia Carville’s documentary “Can’t Look Away” arrives as a searing meditation on the ethical, economic, and regulatory dilemmas now confronting the tech industry. Far from a mere exposé, the film positions itself as a pivotal intervention—an urgent reminder that the business models fueling Silicon Valley’s meteoric rise are not just technological marvels, but also ethical minefields with profound implications for society.

The Human Toll Behind the Metrics

At the film’s core are the haunting stories of families devastated by the unbridled spread of harmful content online. These are not isolated incidents, but symptomatic of a system that, by design, prizes user engagement above all else. The Social Media Victims Law Center emerges in the documentary as a beacon of advocacy, fighting to hold platforms like Snapchat accountable for their alleged roles in facilitating everything from illicit drug sales to predatory exploitation.

What makes Carville’s work particularly resonant is its exposure of internal industry rhetoric—most chillingly, the description of young users as “herd animals” in leaked Facebook documents. This language lays bare the transactional view of human attention that underpins the sector’s growth-at-all-costs ethos. The film thus compels us to ask: How did we reach a point where safeguarding the wellbeing of the most vulnerable became subordinate to the logic of profit and scale?

Regulatory Shields and Corporate Responsibility

“Can’t Look Away” draws a striking parallel between today’s tech giants and the tobacco industry of previous generations. Both leveraged science and psychology to maximize consumption, often at the expense of public health. The documentary highlights Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act—a legal provision that has long insulated platforms from liability for user-generated content—as a pivotal battleground in the fight for accountability.

The efforts of advocates like Matthew Bergman, who challenge these legal protections, underscore a growing recognition that the regulatory frameworks of the past are ill-equipped for the complexities of the digital present. As the film makes clear, the tension between free expression and corporate duty is no longer an abstract debate; it is a daily reality with tangible consequences for mental health, trust in institutions, and the cohesion of communities.

Market Disruption and the Business Case for Reform

For business and technology leaders, the stakes are not merely reputational. The commodification of user engagement—once the engine of exponential growth—now risks becoming a liability as public scrutiny intensifies. “Can’t Look Away” captures a pivotal moment: the intersection of economic imperatives and collective responsibility. As regulatory momentum builds in regions such as the European Union, where data protection and digital safety are increasingly prioritized, the specter of market disruption looms large for companies slow to adapt.

Investors and executives are beginning to recognize that long-term value creation may depend as much on ethical stewardship as on innovation or scale. The social contract between platforms and their users is being renegotiated in real time, with implications for everything from advertising models to product design. This evolving landscape will reward those who can reconcile commercial success with a demonstrable commitment to user wellbeing.

Global Implications and the Future of Digital Governance

The questions raised by “Can’t Look Away” extend far beyond national borders. In an era of instantaneous information flows, the ethical failures of dominant platforms have become matters of international concern, prompting calls for new forms of global governance and transnational accountability. Countries that once championed the internet as a tool of liberation are now grappling with the unintended consequences of unfettered digital power.

Carville’s documentary stands as both a mirror and a warning, reflecting the contradictions at the heart of modern technology while offering a roadmap for reform. It challenges industry leaders, policymakers, and the public alike to rethink the terms of engagement in our digital lives—insisting that innovation must not come at the cost of our collective humanity. The film’s message is clear: the age of unregulated attention is unsustainable, and the time for principled change is now.