After watching Adolescence do you think parents truly understand the dangers of online radicalisation?

[CeriMumsnet]

Adolescence has had us all talking since it dropped on Netflix, and with Keir Starmer now backing calls from Sir Gareth Southgate and Stephen Graham to tackle male violence and dangerous online influences, many of us are seriously thinking about just how toxic the online world is and what needs to be done to protect our children and teens.

We know Mumsnet users are deeply worried about what their kids are exposed to online, and they want more support from the government to deal with it. 70% of our users back a ban on social media for under 16s, and Mumsnet's Rage Against the Screen campaign is pushing for more action to protect our children.

We’re keen to hear from you about the extent to which you think parents understand the online world their children inhabit. Do you feel confident that you know enough about the dangers of online radicalisation?

I think it's important to remember that Adolesence is just a drama.

It's not real life.

It's not even particularly realistic .

I think it's influence and importance is being drastically overblown.

Well based on that first response I’d say ‘no’ they clearly don’t.

it’s a conversation which needs to be had and will hopefully bring in the general harm that our children are exposed to by phones / tablets in general.

At kids rugby last week there were younger siblings everywhere plugged into screens. It was a glorious day. There were acres of green space, lots of potential playmates and yet they were all isolated staring at screens.

the internet and phones are deadly and we need to empower parents to step up and police their use.

I think it’s important for parents to have an understanding of what their kids can reach on the internet and the importance of monitoring screen time and having restrictions in place on devices. It’s good this show has brought some of these issues to light to parents who might not have been aware of them.

adolescence is a great drama that is very thought provoking. It is, however a drama, and some aspects of it are very dramatised and slightly unrealistic as an pp has said. It’s also not really mentioned how as well as the lack of supervision of their son’s screen use, the parents just let their son roam the streets at 10.30 at night without batting an eyelid which added to the situation the child was in.

a ban on social media for teens sounds great in theory but how would it be put in practice I wonder.

Tell that to the victims of the Southport stabbings.

Im tired of this being pushed on social media

I think at this point most normal parents are acutely aware of the dangers, but have no idea what they are supposed to do to mitigate it. All the wittering in the media about eradicating smartphones and banning children from the internet are supremely unhelpful in my view. That toothpaste isn’t going back into the tube, smartphones and the internet are thoroughly baked into all of our lives now, and pretending we can just cancel it all is ridiculous. We need a comprehensive and joined-up approach to a) regulating content and access to it, so that the balance of power is in the hands of governments rather than psychopathic billionaire techbros, and b) educating and empowering children to navigate the online world safely, maintain an honest dialogue with parents and teachers about their experiences, and keeping themselves safe as best they can. This cheap illusion of a world in which we take the phones away and they all go back to playing with sticks and mud…it’s holding back our ability to engage realistically with the issues.

Online radicalisation is an issue but it’s not the only problem! Similar issues have occurred in the past, but at a local level so people in nice areas didn’t hear about it! Parenting, lack of supervision, wider role models, over sexualised society etc etc all contributed

I haven’t watched the programme and have no intention of watching it. We’re all acutely aware of the vile behaviours on the internet and in schools. Just talk to your kids, engage in their lives and don’t leave them to bring themselves up. I’m fed up of all the hand wringing about a TV show.

We definitely didn't until we read articles in the financial times about it.

Our son had made his own informed decisions to give up Youtube and video games, having read these articles. He never used social media.

We had to stop going to school to avoid all the bad stuff though as the school teaching was totally reliant on screens and the content he was being shown was causing MH problems.

It is realistic though and many young people would say so too!!

The Southport perpetrator was not radicalised, online or otherwise. Reports said he had no particular political or social agenda, group identification or axe to grind. He was just obsessed with extreme violence for its own sake.

I agree with pp that - while the impact of excessive online access upon children certainly needs to be examined and discussed - it's bizarre how many people seem to believe Adolescence is a documentary.

Can you share the article please?

And how do you think he became obsessed with extreme violence?

The fact that it didn’t fall under radicalisation has been criticised. Just like how misogyny hasn’t been viewed as a form of extremism.

This is worth a read - especially for those who think Adolescence is a work of fiction and not based in reality at all.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/national-crime-agency-boys-online-gangs-b2721067.html

Are you having a laugh?

I didn’t take from it at the message was about male violence and there wasn’t a great deal of detail about it. It could have been any kind of radicalisation. Or a child of the same age being lured away to their death. But if the point of it was to give a general message, then I think they did a good job.

Well I'd be voting 'no' then judging by this response.

QED

There are alot of people with absolutely no idea. You can self radicalise just by watching YouTube let alone going in to the pit of hate that is the incel community. Yet loads of people I have spoken to about this just aren't aware and in many ways don't want to fully understand as it's scary and they have little to no control over what their kids consume.

Parents understand the dangers but they are almost powerless to stop them. Smart phones need to be banned for under 16s.

Strangely the other compelling viewing recently on channel 4 of the school swap between kids from London and Awkansaw (sorry can’t spell it) in the US showed that it clearly wasn’t the same scale of problem there. They were allowed phones in lessons but didn’t really use them - they concentrated on the lesson. And their lives were full of interesting outdoor/sport/church activities with friends and family. The programme didn’t really delve into too deeply but it was an interesting cultural diversion when it came to smartphones.

This. Adolescence is itself online radicalisation!

Is the drama itself actually quite an exploitative watch?

Having taught in an FE college in a deprived area, I think you are wrong.

It could be a documentary about some of my students lives. We used to make prevent referrals nearly every day.

It’s not JUST about online radicalisation. I took from the drama that the parenting of Jamie was just as much of an issue. His Dad was a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde character who saw himself as the head of the house, the boss and far superior to the women in the house. The wife and daughter tip toeing round him trying to appease him and excuse his behaviour. He also had anger issues.