It’s clear how prevalent social media is in all of our daily lives — heck, you likely found this article on X, Facebook or the like — but a new docuseries is delving into exactly what life is like for hyper plugged-in teens, the world’s first generation of digital natives.
Premiering on FX tonight, September 27 at 10pm with its first two episodes, Social Studies is “a groundbreaking, character-driven documentary series” and social experiment that chronicles a school year in the lives of a diverse group of Los Angeles teens, who “open up their lives and phones to offer an intimate glimpse into how social media has reshaped childhood,” reads the official series description, per FX. “From battling bullying, grappling with beauty standards, coping with comparison pressures and racism, exploring sexuality, and making life-altering decisions, their compelling and relatable experiences take us on a raw, visceral and urgent journey through the challenges of growing up in the digital era.”
Directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Lauren Greenfield, the limited series will have five episodes total. The premiere, entitled “Social 101,” sees the California teens return to school post-Covid and share their phones and lives to explore the effects of social media.
Greenfield talked to ABC’s On The Red Carpet ahead of the series’ premiere, discussing how Social Studies differs from other coming-of-age chronicles of modern-day youth. “The things that they're dealing with about identity are what we always dealt with coming of age, the 'who am I?' But it's so hard to kind of find yourself when you're looking at others constantly," Greenfield said.
The director continued: “Kids have always compared themselves to the people in their class, the people in their clique, the people in another clique. But imagine comparing yourself to the whole world of people, and some people that are not even real, that photoshopped their bodies, that perfect their images, that use a ring light before they come on their socials. And that's the pressure that kids are grappling with every day."
To tune into tonight’s airing of the first two episodes of Social Studies, you’re going to need access to the FX network. In order to do that, you need to have either a traditional pay-TV service or a live TV streaming service that carries FX. In the case of the latter, Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV all carry FX as part of their channel lineup. The docuseries will also be available to stream with a Hulu subscription.
Check out the official trailer above before tuning into Social Studies tonight on FX.
