While my day job is as Edge’s executive director, I recently celebrated 10 wonderful years volunteering with the Scouts. With this combined experience, I’ve watched the national response to the Netflix series, Adolescence with some concern.
The show has rightly dragged the issue of young people’s use of social media and its potentially devastating consequences into the public awareness. It has clearly resonated with a worry shared by many adults, namely that disengaged young people are retreating into online spaces with their own rules, hierarchies and behavioural codes.
Adolescence explores this to its most extreme and tragic conclusion. But a deeper question remains: Why are young people going online in the first place?
Nowhere to go
One obvious answer was explored in a review of the Netflix drama in Schools Week: the decline of guided spaces for young people to socialise.
Youth organisations like the Scouts, cadet programmes, sports teams and mentoring initiatives provide essential support. Outside these spaces, many young people turn to social media for guidance.
Worryingly, recent research from the department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) found one-third of young people hadn’t participated in any such activities in the past year, and one-quarter didn’t even know where they could locally.
No one to look up to
Not attending guided places also means they are less likely to be exposed to positive role models outside of school and home.
Former England manager, Sir Gareth Southgate is a rare example of a leader who has redefined masculinity through empathy and teamwork. His recent Dimbleby lecture is an unwavering challenge to online influencers like Andrew Tate, who “trick young men into believing that the world is against them.”
It is easy, and perhaps more palatable, to blame social media and push for a smartphone ban. This might play a role, but any long-term solution must also involve listening to young people to understand the root causes of the problem.
No voice to speak with
Young Lives, Young Futures, a six-year ESRC-funded national study led by King’s College London and Edge, aims to put youth voice first. Our 2023 report, ’Schools for All?’ revealed that nearly half of young people aged 15 to 16 found school neither enjoyable nor meaningful but something to be endured.
Many felt unsupported by teachers, with pastoral care taking a backseat to exam results. Most concerning was that young people from low-income and minority ethnic backgrounds, those identifying as LGBTQ+, those with SEND, and those reporting poor mental health felt the least seen by teachers. In short, those most in need are receiving the least support.
Predictably, the DCMS research found the same groups were most likely to experience barriers to participating in clubs and groups.
More recently, Young Lives, Young Futures has focused on the under-researched ‘missing middle’ – the 40 per cent of young people who are neither pursuing university routes nor classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training).
This research again highlights issues at the intersections of class, SEND status, academic attainment and geographic location and how these shape opportunity. It makes for a compelling and challenging read, after which we can hardly be surprised that online influencers resonate with young people.
Shared solutions
Today’s young people face challenges greater than any in living memory. The legacy of lockdowns, a highly volatile job market and the most uncertain global outlook since WWII are creating huge disillusionment. Social media amplifies these and offers them easy solutions.
Crucially, our research shows that more affluent young people have better access to support. The obvious corollary is that social media is filling some of the gap for disadvantaged groups. In this sense, the issues of social media and the so-called ‘manosphere’ are fast becoming a class issue.
To ensure young people, regardless of background, have equal support, we need teachers, youth workers, coaches, parents and mentors actively helping however they can – not judging, but listening.
First, it’s time to start listening – really listening – to young people’s lived experiences instead of assuming we have all the answers.
Second, we must look at how our education system can better support them, academically and vocationally, but also emotionally and socially.
Third, we must encourage them towards activities where they can all experience mentoring and positive role modelling, which will help them feel valued, empowered and able to succeed.
It won’t be easy, but if we pull together, we can save young people from those who thrive on fear and division. Scout’s honour.
Learn more about Young Lives, Young Futures here
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