Adolescence Netflix

[dustybee]

People who have seen this- would you watch it with your teenager ? My DS is 15, we watch lots of fairly “gritty” TV together, so it would not be unusual. I think it may help to generate discussion about some of the issues raised- but wanted other opinions if this was too upsetting

My DS is 14 and I am thinking about whether to try and get him to watch it with me. We don’t watch TV together, so it would be a “thing” to ask him to watch it!

Id love to hear from parents who have watched it with their teens.

I think it would be fine to watch but it might be a bit boring for him in parts. Some of it seems slow, but for good reason

I would say it's more upsetting as a parent but it doesn't really show anything that might upset a teen

I don't think a 15 year old would find it upsetting. I would expect them to be bored, particularly with episodes 3 & 4 which move at a glacial pace.

What struck me most about the program was the casual cruelty and complete lack of empathy shown by the majority of the teens. I'd be really interested in a 15 year old's take on that. Exaggerated for dramatic effect or realistic?

Teacher here. Just commenting on the lack of empathy of teenagers in the show.

In my class, a 14 year old boy wrote down very sexists views towards women. I challenged him on these views (verbally) and it ended with him explaining his reasoning... "I hate women".

Fair enough, you can't help stupid, so I sent him out of my class (I'm a woman fyi). I then had a rant at the rest of the class saying I can't believe that's what some 14 year olds think, and views like that won't be tolerated in my class. Afterwards, another 14 year old boy quietly asked me if I was okay.

So empathy... Yes, some teenagers have it, and some don't. A lot of teenagers don't speak out for fear of judgement from peers, so I'd like to think others wanted to show empathy but didn't because of peers watching.

@SmallChanges3 The way the kids in the show just accepted that being cruel online was to be expected and just the overall dehumanizing effect it had...it was just so depressing.

I was a teen in the prehistoric pre-social media days and while bullying and peer pressure existed, the level of cruelty in online interactions is just next level.

It was discussed on Lorraine and This Morning today, they couldn’t recommend teenagers watching this enough, plus talking about it with your DC. I’ve not watched it, but professionals saying they are so pleased this has been made.

There is a disconnect for sure when unkind (understatement) comments are posted online and just accepted.

I actually wrote my dissertation on online forums as a gothic space. The online space is a liminal space where people can be their monstrous selves, both as a reader and a writer. It's worrying.