On Tuesday night TV3 was broadcasting Overexposed childhood, one Non-fiction devastating and deeply disturbing for everything it reveals in a clear and compelling way. The documentary warns of the risks posed by exposing minors to social media. "It's on social media, and also in video games, where pedophiles begin their activity. The reason is that that's where minors congregate," says a squad member specializing in cybersecurity. But what we might have thought we already knew takes on more worrying dimensions as the story progresses. Because what the documentary masterfully does is not focus on our perspective (which we already know) but on the perspective of these pedophiles. And we discover this, precisely, through the testimony of one of them. His anonymity is preserved, by the way, without any sinister staging. A man hiding behind a glass screen, his voice distorted by AI without any shocking sounds, clarifying that he has served time in prison and is undergoing rehabilitation through a foundation specializing in pedophilia. "Many people think that posting a picture of their son or daughter at the beach or playing basketball is fine and nothing will happen. But an image that a person doesn't attach any importance to can be the best thing for a pedophile. If I have a brutal sexual desire at that moment and I feel like, speaking clearly about my mother, masturbating, yes, I do masturbate, physically I don't need to be naked." Social media is compared to an all-you-can-eat buffet where any image, no matter how innocent it may seem, serves to feed their sexual perversions. It's not about how we perceive it, but how pedophiles view and consume it. The choice of witnesses participating in the documentary is excellent. They all have a very well-defined role regarding what they must contribute to the story. It's not a simple dumping ground for statements. Beyond experts in different fields linked to both the digital world and human behavior, the documentary uses the figure of the influencers professionals to test them and conduct an empirical exercise: confronting them with the reality of the data they reveal about their children without realizing it, and the risks to which they expose the children. And the result is sensational, even demonstrating the defensive behavior they adopt and how they enter a phase of denial that, for the viewer, can no longer be rejected.
The documentary works very well with the concept of observation, of what is seen, what should not be seen, and what can be inferred without looking. Overexposed childhood It uses the participants' gaze, looking at a screen that the audience doesn't see, because we get an idea of the seriousness of the risks. Between the beginning and the end of the production, the viewer has transformed. Their attitude is no longer the same as at the beginning. After watching it, instead of sharing photos of their children, you want to share the link to the Non-fiction, because it is one of those that shake.
