“Didn’t we think he was safe?… You know, what harm can he do in [his room]?”
Eddie Miller contemplated sobbingly about his parenthood with his wife after their 13-year-old son, Jamie Miller, decided to plead guilty to murdering Katie Leonard towards the end of the 4-part miniseries, Adolescence.
While this is neither a docudrama nor based on a specific incident, co-writers Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham expressed devastation about the growing knife offenses committed by minors in the United Kingdom. The British writers wanted their production to fuel the much-needed discussions on an issue that is worryingly becoming a “regular occurrence” in reality across the country and beyond, “I want it to be shown in schools, I want it to be shown in Parliament.”
And it did – Anneliese Midgley MP brought the discussion and creators’ campaign to the House of Commons during the March 19 Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). “As a father, watching this show with my teenage son and daughter, I can tell you – it hit home hard,” PM Keir Starmer said. “It’s an important initiative to encourage as many pupils as possible to watch the show.”
With the show later being made available for free in secondary schools across the UK, the show convened conversations about adolescent safety – from relationship education to subcultural influences and from harassment behaviors to aggressions in schools and online.
These discussions also come at a time when providers of online user-to-user, search, and pornography services are required to complete a series of assessments and duties of care by April in preparation for the full enforcement of the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA). The OSA is designed to prevent the proliferation of fraudulent advertising, online content, and activity that is illegal or harmful to children and UK residents of all ages. Having received Royal Assent in October 2023, the British government heralded the OSA as a new era of Internet safety and choice by placing “world-first legal duties” on covered service providers.
Amidst the heated debate prompted by Adolescence, the latest scoop by Politico revealed that the UK’s Digital Services Tax and OSA implementation, which were included in a potential trade deal with the United States, have met with greater cautions and pushback by the British parliament and civil society.
“When it comes to dealing with pedophiles and protecting children, I take a pretty strong line that we take the necessary measures to do so,” Starmer defended putting OSA as part of the negotiation chip when scrutinized by members of parliament (MPs) on April 8.
“It hits home hard,” but globally
With Adolescence being Netflix’s fourth most popular show of all time globally and on all of its Top 10 lists in 93 countries available, Jamie’s story inspires fresh rounds of advocacy and actions beyond the UK. Prompted by the plot where 🫘 could be an identifier of involuntary celibates (incels) and 💊 could signify misogynistic beliefs, the Portuguese Public Security Police published an explainer for parents about the possible meanings of emojis commonly understood amongst their children. Dutch AIVD Director-General Erik Akerboom urged parents to watch ‘Adolescence’ with their teens as the intelligence agency published a report on the growing threats from online radicalizing minors. The show is also made available for free in secondary schools in the Netherlands.
Similarly, the mini-series fuels the latest moves by government officials and agencies across the Asia Pacific with additional local contexts. Japan’s Suginami City Representative Koike Megumi recommended watching on Netflix while reflecting on toxic masculinity in families and society. India’s Lok Sabha Opposition Deputy Leader Gaurav Gogoi pointed to Adolescence as an unusual success in India and called for a congressional debate on the youth’s mental health, emotional intelligence, and their rising reliance on online platforms. The Australian Federal Police also used the mini-series to highlight “the dark side of social media” and its influence on youth, adding to the discourse following the passage of the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill in November 2024.
Set to take effect by December 2025, the Amendment will make applicable electronic service providers liable for taking reasonable steps to prevent people under the age of 16 from having accounts on age-restricted social media services available in Australia. Adolescence’s Jack Thorne and Faye Marsay, who plays Detective Sergeant Misha Frank in the story, have publicly praised the Australian legislation on separate occasions and urged the UK to follow suit.
However, an analysis by MLex does not expect the latest deliberations in the government stimulated by the drama would have an explicit impact on legislation, unless regulators are already looking into the matters Adolescence highlighted, such as the Council of the European Union. Ipsos UK also noted minimal changes since the premiere of Adolescence in the UK’s average use of major parental safety apps, such as YouTube Kids, Microsoft Family Safety, and Google Family Link.
“It takes a village”: a multistakeholder reminder
“This isn’t a challenge politicians can simply legislate for. Believe me, if I could pull a lever to solve it, I would,” PM Keir Starmer appealed to the collaboration and exchanges between stakeholders, including young people and charities, in tackling the various matters Adolescence sheds light on. This comment by the UK Prime Minister during the Downing Street roundtable on March 31 offered nuances to the way forward in nurturing children and adolescents in schools, at home, and online.
Apart from parliamentary discussions and government actions, there have been workshops self-initiated by youth groups and out-of-home campaigns by charities. There are also, of course, numerous blog posts and analyses (including this Digest) reviewing and magnifying specific issues depicted in the mini-series.
Adolescence zoomed in on Jamie’s descent into a deadly misogynistic act through the lens of the police that revealed the school system he received and peers he was surrounded by; the lens of the clinical psychologist that unveiled the subcultures he was influenced by and the “brain chemistry” he had in his head; and the lens of his family that uncovered the care he received in the household.
“It’s about parents that didn’t see him, a school system that let him down, and the ideas that he consumed,” Thorne dissected what went wrong that led to Jamie’s bad decisions. “It takes a village to raise a child; it also takes a village to destroy a child.”
As a way forward, it will take a village to mend breaks online and offline, albeit the issue being the youth’s mental health, Internet habits, relationship education, or intergenerational dynamics. Adolescence is the latest of a long list of motion pictures that uses creativity and storytelling to hold up a mirror to our society for collaborative governance and change.
What we are reading?
Looking for stories that hold up a mirror to our society? Black Mirror is back with its 7th season, looking at issues including AI in film production in the “Hotel Reverie” episode.
A new Insight Report on the Roadmap To Effective Digital Safety Measures was published by the World Economic Forum’s Global Coalition for Digital Safety in the same week of Adolescence, offering timely guidance to assist organizations in implementing effective and safe interventions in the digital landscape.
Written by Kenneth Leung (Reviewed by Jenna Manhau Fung)
Cover picture: courtesy of Netflix