This animation highlights the importance of getting to know those different to us (politically, racially, culturally, etc.) beyond the confines of a screen. 

The narrator, Dr. Vivek Murthy, identifies that the biggest barrier to acting together are deep-seated divisions, stoked by social media echo chambers. These divisions are resolved by the creation of relationships.  

Using Russian Nesting Dolls as a visual metaphor for the creation of relationships, the narrative is succinct and almost wholly character driven. These characters communicate that the more intimately we get to know each other, the less reactionary we will be to social media bluster. They also suggest the layered nature of those around us and how it is impossible to reduce people to just a single belief they may hold. These characters also allow for an ‘a-ha’ moment in the animation when Dr. Murthy cites relationships as the antidote to deep-seated societal divisions.  

As the sequence progresses, the characters’ animosity lessens and relationship grows, concluding with them sharing each other’s company in front of a screen that so bitterly divided them in the beginning.