Guest post: "To free our teenagers from the clutches of social media, we must provide more spaces where they can experience the joy of socialising face-to-face"

[RhiannonEMumsnet]

The mental health crisis faced by a generation of children that’s being swallowed up by their smartphones has been brought into sharp focus by campaigns such as Mumsnet’s Rage Against the Screen. And awareness of the problem is turning rapidly into momentum towards solutions thanks to all sorts of inspirational individuals and organisations, many of whom have already contributed to this forum. One only has to look at the extraordinary progress made by the likes of Daisy, Clare and Joe at Smartphone Free Childhood to feel real grounds for optimism. And yet…

… Better protection of our children in the digital world only addresses half of the problem. The other half is hiding in plain sight on every high street up and down the country. We’re desperate for our children to swap social media for socialising IRL, but THERE’S NOWHERE FOR THEM TO GO. Nowhere safe and inspiring for them to hang out together. Because at the same time as we gave young people the most addictive device ever invented, we also took away all their social spaces.

Cast your memory back to wherever it was that you and your school-friends used to hang out, and the chances are it no longer exists. In the past decade alone, 760 youth clubs, 382 leisure centres and hundreds of thousands of high street venues have closed down. Leaving our teenagers with little more than drizzly parks, dreary shopping centres and dingy fast-food outlets. Little wonder they’d rather stay in their rooms doomscrolling.

So while Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy’s recent announcement of an £88m investment into supporting youth clubs and after-school activities was welcome news, it should be put in the context of the £1.2bn that’s been cut from youth funding in the previous decade. Put simply, the cash injection from this government is not enough to make a significant difference to the majority of our teenagers. And without a compelling place to socialise IRL, they’ll continue to socialise online.

That’s why we’re piloting a new model of youth club in a small corner of north-west London. One that avoids the precarious reliance on government or charitable funding. Instead, it’s funded by those who care most passionately about this problem: parents. Here’s how it works: parents pay a modest weekly subscription (less than £10/week) which gives their teenager unlimited access to a safe and genuinely inspiring space. One with a super-cool design, a bar stocked with their favourite drinks & snacks, all sorts of fun games & activities, and a programme of unmissable events & creative workshops. It’s called Moot. And every Moot member can bring a couple of friends every visit, making every visit as sociable (and inclusive) as possible.

Our first four months have seen hundreds of teenagers coming through the doors, forgetting about their phones, and experiencing the joy of socialising face-to-face with friends. And we’ve been lucky enough to experience the joy of witnessing it all first-hand. Young people having fun with young people. Sharing experiences. Being together. Being themselves. IN. REAL. LIFE.

It's early days. We’re learning as we go. But our hope is that this will prove to be a new model for youth clubs that is commercially self-sustainable and therefore genuinely scalable, allowing us to open more Moots and positively impact more teenage lives across the UK. In order for us to realise that dream, we’ll need more people to support, champion and invest in what we’re doing. So if you’re the supporting, championing or investing type, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us, or just cheer us on from the sidelines.

Because if we’re serious about solving the biggest problem facing this generation, we have to be serious about solving both sides of it. So yes, let’s do everything we can to better protect young people in the digital world. But let’s also provide them with some compelling alternatives to screen-time in the real world. Let’s give them back their social spaces. And let’s make them better than ever.

Vive the IRL Revolution!

Firstly - great initiative, well done.

One question - why are you piloting this in London? I agree there is a general need for more spaces for teenagers, but in a list of places where there isn't much for teenagers to do, I should think London would come near the bottom if not bottom; especially as young people get discounted tube travel. It would be better to pilot it in, say, a northern town (for example) where there genuinely are no options for teenagers within reasonable travelling distance.

This is a private for profit costing around £520 per child per year?

We have a local youth club, but to be honest the kids who go are tweens (9-12/13 year olds). It's free and does indeed have a bar stocked with soft drinks (which are not free), music, events like campfire evenings when they roast sausages/ marshmallows, Halloween and Christmas etc. parties and pool tables, table tennis tables, an old pinball machine - and PlayStations 😝 (for playing in groups/ twos) but the appeal wanes when the kuds actually become teenagers.

The actual teenagers in my experience (my youngest teen of three plus a young adult is 14) go to the gym (pretty much every 14 year old seems to have a gym membership which costs around £35 per month / £420 per year) play on sports teams and go to house parties as well as online gaming with friends over discord, which might not be what I did (there was no youth club where I grew up either - I went "round my mates' houses", talked to them on the phone, went "down town" or read books...) but it's sociable - knowing who they're with has the same pitfalls as knowing in real life... They do also watch too much brain rot on YouTube - sometimes I watch things with them and it's tricky walking the tightrope between trying to point out things that are unsubstantiated conspiracy theories versus them not wanting to share things that they have become interested in...

I definitely agree that living life online is potentially very unhealthy both mentally and physically but an not sure how your proposal will draw out teenagers who don't already go out. The ones who don't socialise in person won't want to walk into a club where they know nobody...

Or is the target audience the kids currently "hanging out" in shopping centres and fast food outlets (I'd hazard a guess tge appeal there is lack of supervision, which a youth club can't compete with...).

Interesting idea, but I'd likecto know:

1. how will you get the kids to keep attending a youth club their parents send them to after the age of 13/14?

2. Even harder - how will you empower the kids who currently don't socialise at all offline outside school to actually walk into a venue where they don't know anyone?

Yeh we used to have places. They were called pubs.

Hi Cecilia, Cheryl here, one of the two founders of Moot.

So glad you like what we're doing, it's been quite the journey so far! There's two reasons we're piloting in in London. From a pure model point of view, Moot relies on having a high density of teenagers that can travel under their own steam to a nearby/high street venue in order to create enough subscriptions to allow us to keep prices low/accessible and still pay the rent/our team. We are not eligible for any grants or government funding, and we are not a registered charity, so we rely on those subscriptions to fund the space and everything in it!

London has that teenage density, as do a whole raft of other urban and suburban areas, which is exciting when you think about the opportunity to repeat the model up and down the country.

But more practically, both Paul and I live in London (at opposite ends!) and starting a new concept which requires at least one of us on site pretty much continuously, whilst also maintaining our own home lives (and seeing our own children!) meant London was the only real option for the pilot.

Once we have a model that is up and working, we plan to open many more, but we need a strong pilot to prove to future backers that this is a model of philanthropic investment that can self-sustain and grow under its own steam delivering a big impact. London lets us (hopefully) do that, whilst also maintaining our respective marriages...!

Thanks so much for your excellent questions!

There's quite a lot to unpack there....!

It is wonderful that you have a youth club near you - it's a rare thing with over 800 of them closing in the last decade. And it sounds fabulous. But increasingly those spaces are hard to find, and where we do find them, they'resurviving on very little money, and as a result often aren't able to create the sort of spaces that genuinely attract teenagers, in the face of competition from...tiktok?

We got very frustrated with teenagers being treated as second class citizens. Being left with no real option for high quality, inspiring social spaces to meet. The death of the high street has done more harm to the teenage community than any other - certainly all those 'third' spaces I used to hang, from HMV and topshop to my local indoor market and even arcades have now gone.

Which is why we decided to take a whole different approach to the model of youth spaces and youth hospitality. And why Moot is designed to be VERY different to a 'youth club'. It's a social space for teenagers. An aspirational space. Their space. A sophisticated, inspiring venue. We sometimes get described as a 'pub for teenagers' and indeed many adults are keen to hire the space in our off-peak time, due to the quality of the space! We heard loud and clear from teenagers that they wanted a space designed FOR them, where they were welcome, and at the centre of the thinking. And from parents, a space where their teens wanted to go, and where they felt they would be safe, and where their teenagers could explore the social independence they need so much.

Our members arrive when they want, stay as long as they like, leave when they like. They play high quality social games, join our events, get stuck in to the karaoke, watch a movie on cinema Saturday, learn new skills on a sunday and most importantly just hang out together.

It is indeed a similar price to a junior gym membership. But there's no requirement to sweat, or drink protein shakes to come :-). And you're not surrounded by sweaty blokes...! And you can bring a guest. Sometimes our members come along on their own, sometimes they bring a bunch of mates. Sometimes they do homework, sometimes they do just dance, sometimes they play ginger beer pong. And sometimes they learn to produce a radio show! Whatever they're into we try and fit a programme round them. With no 'outcome' or 'learning' focus aside from giving them a reason to come together in a social space and build their social independence.

A lot of teenagers come along first as a guest of a member, which seems to be how the less socially confident teens find our space. We also offer free trial over the holidays. Some then continue to pop in as guests. Some join as members and quickly make new friends. Or just hang out at the bar chatting to our hosts.

Older teens are indeed a different kettle of fish. At the moment we have a good age range, with members aged 12-16 swinging by regularly. But we are talking long and hard about how to carve out space that's more designed for the 16-19, aware that this is a group even more devoid of spaces to go at a time when they are, perhaps, even more in need. Watch this space!

Thanks for replying, Cheryl - yes, makes sense and hopefully you can replicate the model!

The problem with a paid model (especially at £40 per month) is that the teenagers who are able to access it is those whose parents already have enough money to enable them access other activities. Those most at risk of falling into crime and disenchantment are those from poor chaotic backgrounds who usually don’t have parental support or from stable poor families. I admire your aim but it’s definitely not a socially inclusive approach.