Anyone watching Teens?

[girliefriend]

I am finding this quite scary, dd is only 9yo and I am now truly terrified about the teenage years

Jess is my new hero though

Jess is great.
Harry is a tool

Hmm not sure about Harry, he seemed to be in on the backlash against Jess rather than supporting her.

Jess and her brother both seemed lovely their parents should be very proud

Be afraid girlfriend!

My eldest is 13 and this social media stuff is beginning to hit - group chatting on ichat mainly, nothing else, but she's constantly checking it and I REALLY wish I'd been stricter from the start. Actually, i didn't want her to have a phone (they are banned in school) but her softie of a dad gave in (and pays for it). I am now taking it off her at 8 pm (much wailing and gnashing of teeth) but it's all such a pain in the arse...And very difficult to control time online too when every other bloody home work involves looking stuff up on the web/submitting online.

And as for the show. I was quite staggered at the ignorance and aggression shown by the other kids, especially the girls, particularly in the meeting with the page 3 campaigner. Do we need to teach what sexism and feminism are in schools?? It's interesting because I think these inner city kids would be red hot when it comes to picking up on racism, but the fact that women and girls are reduced, all of us, by the likes of page 3 just passes them by. I was trying to work out just why they were so angry with Jess and I can only think that it was because they were irritated because they didn't understand what she was trying to say/achieve.

I would have exploded with pride if I was her mum. What a lovely girl she is.

Now, excuse me, I'm off to buy We Should all be Feminists for my teen and tween daughters just to make sure.

I was shocked too at the girls, lack of solidarity, perhaps its packaged as a white middle class peoples problem.

Also the whole passive agressive nice to your face troll you online - terrible! Also twitter is open to all and these teenagers are putting themselves up for a lot of brutal ridicule/trolling/bullying. Twitter is like the wild west.

Maybe, Breakingdad, maybe. I just think they don't think it's relevant to themselves at all, that there's a continuum of problems that women face, and that page 3, for example is on that continuum, and that gender issues affect everyone, women and men, regardless of race or class.

And the twitter thing? I am surprised that people you know in RL would be nasty to you publically on twitter. But I should be surprised. Mean Girls (and boys) are nothing new.

That's I should not be surprised.

The abuse that poor Jess got is sadly typical of lots of woman experiences when tackling the issues of page 3 and women rights in general, it reminded me a bit of the abuse the woman got who wanted a strong female on bank notes. It is so depressing that this was 16 year olds though

I also wondered where the school were in all of this, i really hope they were supporting Jess and picking up the abuse she was getting online.

With bullying etc should schools instead of trouble ending at the school gates actually project into the cyber world as well?

I think they should be keeping an eye on it certainly and advising about what it is and is not acceptable to post online.

It honestly makes me so scared for when dd starts secondary.

But this isn't just a teen issue .... We have had a few issues at our primary school with online bullying ..

To just suddenly start a debate about Pg 3 with a bunch of teens expecting them to have an opinion about something that they haven't had experience with or any background is a pretty futile exercise.

Not everyone is as mouthy or opiniated as Jess

I watched it with a fifteen year old, who spent a good part of the time judging the teenagers' decisions and cringing with embarrassment for them:

"Oh my days, who would even do that?!"
"You can't say something that on Twitter!"
etc...

*like

Off to try and find the programme - it would be so good to watch it with my two teens!

I thought this was both touching and hilarious. I have always worked with young people, for the last ten years online, and found it very true to the kinds of things they tell me about.
I loved Jess too, she reminded me of myself in that idealistic view of how the world "should" be, and how we all have a duty to try to challenge injustice and inequality when we see it. When the media tries to portray young people as apathetic and lazy, they should spend time talking to people like her!
I also really enjoyed watching Harry's gradual transformation from lazy lump to someone who realised they actually needed to put some effort into their life! His poor parents though!
I'm really looking forward to seeing this week's episode.

Another week, a different Harry.

This one is actually quite funny, especially in his chats with his mum, who seems to be very easily embarrassed / wound up.

He is now lip-synching very dramatically to Ultravox in the car, with his long-suffering mother completely ignoring him.

More laugh out loud moments in this week's one I thought. I really admired the way Harry took seriously whether or not to sleep with Rebecca, that showed real maturity. He's a credit to his mum!

And all the angsty (anonymous) messages that flashed up during the programme were reminders of just how difficult and worrying some teenagers find their lives. We should remember that beneath those tough, grunting exteriors lies very fragile and developing self esteem!