The Plugged In Show, Episode 144: When Superheroes Take a Social Media Break (plus Secret Headquarters)

It’s not like Tom Holland was the first star to break away from social media. But when Holland—perhaps best known to the world as Spider-Man in the Sony/Marvel movies—announced that social media was “overwhelming” him, he likely spoke for millions of others. And when he suggested in the same Instagram post that we should talk more about our mental health, we couldn’t agree more.

So in this installment of The Plugged In Show, we tackle social media, its connections to mental health and why stepping away from it (or, at least, curtailing our use of it) might benefit all of us in more ways than we might expect. We shouldn’t keep discussions about mental health hidden.

But superhero lairs? Yeah, those ideally should be kept hidden. You wouldn’t want Two-Face or the Riddler to know where the Batcave was, would you? But in Paramount+’s PG film Secret Headquarters, the secret gets out. And it’s up to a superhero’s son and his friends to save the day. Our intrepid reviewer Kennedy Unthank tells Adam Holz all about it here. (Since the secret’s out now, we assume that any future sequels to the film will just be titled Headquarters.)

And lest you think we forgot to mention that we do another edition of Pop Culture Connection too … yeah, we do.

So sit down in your own secret headquarters (or car or bedroom or kitchen) and listen to our discussion. And then, as always, chime in with your own thoughts. We can be reached on Facebook and Instagram. Or send us an email at [email protected]. And if you’re interested in links to everything we talked about, check them out below.

Additional Resources:

• Gift of Any Amount Offer: The Teen’s Guide to Face-To-Face Connections in a Screen-To-Screen World: 40 Tips to Meaningful Communication by Jonathan & Alyssa McKee

• Plugged In Blog: “Sometimes Even Spidey Needs a Break”
• Plugged In Blog: “Deleting My Instagram was Nearly Impossible, but I did it Anyway”
• Plugged in Blog: “The Plugged In Show Episode 140: I Kissed Instagram Goodbye and Top Pro-Life Movies” 
• Plugged In Blog: “Of Algorithms, Eating Disorders and Social Media”
• Plugged In Blog: “The Plugged In Show Episode 134: Of Influencers and Dinosaurs”
• Plugged In Review: Secret Headquarters
• Plugged In Review: Spy Kids
• Plugged In Review: The Incredibles
• Plugged In Review: Iron Man

• Focus on the Family: Setting Media Standards
• Focus on the Family: Making Wise Entertainment Choices
• Plugged In: Tech Guide
• Focus on the Family: How to Develop Media Intelligence in Your Home