“I Know Your Secret” asks what social media does to kids

by V. S. Wells on April 18th, 2024 at 7:00 AM

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It’s a classic premise: a group of diverse strangers are drawn together to a mutual acquaintance’s house, where things quickly go awry. Everyone’s mutual friend is not who they thought; and yet, they seem to know everything about the people they have assembled.

In Some Assembly Theatre’s I Know Your Secret, social media acts as the driving conduit for people’s darker impulses. The psychological thriller, written after consultation with over 100 youth and starring a cast of under-18 artists, is like Black Mirror for young people: an exploration of the strange, sometimes scary digital landscape that youth now grow up in.

“For me, in real life, social media is a psychological thriller,” says Some Assembly Theatre founder Valerie Methot, who has been writing and directing youth-focused productions for the last 24 years. “These mega-giants have found a way to get kids addicted to social media, and then infuse ads to try to promote kids to spend money. It’s capitalism to a T.” (The only reason it’s not a psychological horror thriller, she adds, is because she wanted younger kids to actually be okay to come see it.)

Social media is hardly a new phenomenon, with platforms like Facebook, Myspace, and Bebo marking the teen years of many ‘90s kids. But Methot noticed a change in the way young people were interacting with social media during the Covid-19 pandemic, which caused her to start wondering more deeply about the current state of digital giants and addictive algorithms.

“Social media was something people relied on when the pandemic started, and was an important tool to connect people,” she observes. “Once we started to integrate back with face-to-face interaction, an uncomfortable thing was happening, where some people didn’t want to have face-to-face interaction—they’d rather choose to be online.”

There are, of course, benefits to having everyone in the world on a computer that lives in your pocket. Connecting with friends and family who live far away, being able to find like-minded people, or watching creators for entertainment are all valid perks of social media.

But, in speaking to dozens of youth from Grade 6 to 10 (ages 11 to 16), Methot found that kids also reported plenty of negatives from their social media usage.

“The biggest cons were: they said it is addictive; they get a lot of unwanted attention; and it’s hard to navigate all the hateful comments and negativity,” she explains. “Some of them talked about being scammed for money. A lot of them talked about getting their phones hacked…and a lot talked about anxiety.”

Despite this, few expressed worries about their personal information being online.

“That was the springboard into the creation of the play,” she adds. “I Know Your Secret really does bring attention to the dangers of social media that we don’t give attention to. I think it’s really frightening how relaxed young people are with social media, generally speaking.”

The play, co-written with a team of young people, explores some of the dangers of being too laissez-faire with sensitive information. And videos, created by Sally Zori, add a visceral digital element to the production, with blackmail and extortion delivered through chilling film. It’s a bit murder mystery, a bit Pretty Little Liars—but updated for the present day with everything from influencers to AI.

With two days of sold-out performances for schools and community groups, and two more days of performances for the general public, there’s clearly an appetite for more ways to talk about social media in a way kids can relate to.

But while it has a cautionary message at its heart, I Know Your Secret is far from an adult preaching to kids about the dangers of newfangled technology. By paying attention to what kids themselves are most aware of, she hopes to help reframe their relationship with social media.

“I wrote this play with young people, so it’s written in a language that engages them,” Methot says. “It’s so entertaining, it’s so fast-paced, it’ll have you on the edge of your seat.”