“Social Studies began as a radical experiment. I asked a group of teenagers in Los Angeles to do the unthinkable: share their phones — their feeds, their texts, their posts and photos — to allow me to document the impact of social media on their lives. Thirty teenagers, who have never known a world without the iPhone, agreed.”
Lauren Greenfield’s description of the premise of her latest project may sound dramatic, but for a group of individuals – teenagers, no less – to share their phones with a stranger does indeed seem a radical act. For our phones have become private, personal spaces, where entire worlds exist, of which we are extremely protective.
Greenfield’s aim is broadly to examine “what it means to grow up in the digital age”. The project, which initially documented one school year, first resulted in a five-part documentary series on FX and Disney+ that aired in 2024. It followed the teenagers and examined how their phone lives, and in particular social media, impacted their decisions, sense of self, and ideas of beauty and sexuality. As part of the project, Greenfield facilitated group sessions between the teens – without phones present – where they discovered the similar challenges they all faced.
Fotografiska in Berlin is now moving the project into an exhibition space, where photographs, installations and immersive environments will allow visitors a window into how social media can affect identity. Arriving at a time when many countries in Europe are considering a ban on social for minors, it will no doubt provoke much debate.
“The works here magnify what normally lives on a six-inch screen to the scale of the human body, slowing the ephemeral scroll so we can see it clearly,” says Greenfield. “An algorithm room lets you step into another person’s feed and fall down their rabbit hole, enabling empathy and compassion in what is usually an isolating silo.”
The works here magnify what normally lives on a six-inch screen to the scale of the human body, slowing the ephemeral scroll so we can see it clearly
Social Studies follows other long-term documentary projects that Greenfield has embarked on, examining how our pervading digital culture directly affects our lives. These have included looking at eating disorders, wealth and how the media portrayal of beauty affects kids and teenagers’ lives, while in 2014 she directed the much-celebrated ad Like A Girl for Always, which questioned why that phrase had become a negative.
Throughout her work, Greenfield remains thoughtful and non-judgmental, allowing her participants space to examine the nuances of our culture in a way that rarely happens, especially – ironically – on social media.
With the exhibition, she clearly hopes to widen the conversation much further, and encourage sharp contemplation: “The purpose of this exhibition, and of sharing the participants’ extraordinarily personal revelations, is to bring their experience into public view for parents, teachers, lawmakers, and most importantly, other young people — and to provoke the conversations we need to create a safer and more truly connected world,” she says.
“This is a reckoning — not just for the subjects, but for the society that handed them these tools, and let them become what Sydney called ‘the guinea pig generation’. As Ivy wrote in lipstick on her mirror: ‘Do you make mistakes, or do you make a change?’”
Social Studies is on show at Fotografiska, Berlin from September 26-January 12; berlin.fotografiska.com
