When the tools designed to connect us end up isolating us, how do we reclaim our humanity?

Digital Tsunami explores the modern digital dystopia through the prescient lens of media guru Marshall McLuhan, issuing an urgent call to hit the override button on Big Tech and artificial intelligence.

Directed by acclaimed journalist Fred Peabody (ALL GOVERNMENTS LIE, THE CORPORATE COUP D’ETAT), DIGITAL TSUNAMI delivers a sharp, gripping, and deeply timely examination of how social media, algorithms, and artificial intelligence have quietly robbed humans of their agency.

Guided by American journalist Phillip Martin, the documentary bridges the gap between Marshall McLuhan’s groundbreaking 1960s theories - such as "the medium is the message" and the "global village" - and our current reality of doomscrolling, Twitter mobs, and algorithmic echo chambers. Reflecting today’s headlines - from landmark state lawsuits holding tech giants like Meta legally accountable for child safety failures and addictive design, to surging psychiatric warnings and studies showing how AI chatbots and digital companions are reshaping emotional connection as millions form deep psychological dependencies on algorithms - the film addresses head-on the urgent anxieties shaping our modern landscape. Through intimate interviews with ordinary people caught in the digital divide (including families locked out of basic services due to a lack of internet access) alongside insights from leading philosophers and educators, the film exposes the heavy human toll of our screen addiction.

Rather than demanding an impossible return to the analogue age, DIGITAL TSUNAMI unpacks how technology shapes our behaviour - from students seeking comfort from AI chatbots rather than human professors, to the devastating impact of social feeds on youth mental health and self-worth. Yet, the film refuses to fall into pure fearmongering. By reminding audiences that artificial intelligence is ultimately a product of human intelligence, the film reminds audiences of one power that humans hold above the bots: empathy. It’s a good prompt that emotional intelligence trumps artificial intelligence.

“Director Fred Peabody brings his signature journalistic rigour to a timely examination of the ills of social media.

…a chilling illustration of the pervasive nature that screens hold.” 

- Pat Mullen, POV