Adolescence drama should shame politicians into finding stomach to act at last

Stephen Graham in the acclaimed new Netflix drama Adolescence. Photo: Netflix | Netflix

Everyone and their dog has an opinion on Netflix's new series, Adolescence. The question is whether this will translate into the kind of political action required to address its horrifying premise.

Co-written and starring actor Stephen Graham, the four-part series follows a family whose lives are destroyed when their 13-year-old son is arrested for the murder of a young girl. It arrives amid mounting concern over the rise of incel culture, the sexist social media content being served up to teenagers and calls for the Scottish and UK Governments to get tough on tech firms.

Political rhetoric suggesting boys will be cured with more male role models is utterly vacuous. Adolescence co-writer Jack Thorne calls for the Government to "do something more radical...It's not about role models."

The reality is what role models there are pale next in comparison to the appeal of entertaining, predominantly online, sources of toxicity masquerading as legitimate commentary and philosophy on male rights. We are way past the point of the soft, family sitcom moment of realisation that life is better served through respect, decency, and temperance.

The time has come to cut off the snake's head so the body will die. Thorne has rightly suggested introducing a smartphone ban in schools and a "digital age of consent," similar to Australia, which has passed legislation banning children under 16 from using social media. The writer has also proposed extending that to all smartphone use and gaming.

First Minister John Swinney has been softly spoken in response to the show, saying, "the unacceptable behaviour of some supposed influencers, who influence deplorable behaviour, among young men in particular, in our society today."

We need more potent stuff than that. Alex Cole-Hamilton, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, asked the First Minister about the 24,000 incidents of violence in Scottish schools since the launch of the Scottish Government's action plan to tackle school violence last year. Scottish Labour has promised a zero-tolerance approach to school violence if the party is elected to Government in 2026. The Scottish Conservatives have called for the Scottish Government to give teachers a method to "effectively" deal with disruptive students and roll out a mobile phone ban.

The situation at the moment is disgusting. In Scotland, the Health and Wellbeing Census Scotland 2021/22 revealed that 31 per cent of pupils in P5-S3 had been bullied in the last year. Of those who had been bullied in the previous year, 82 per cent experienced bullying at school, and 36 per cent experienced bullying online.

Repeated bullying strategies are ineffective when given saccharine titles like "Respect for All: A national approach to anti-bullying." Both the Scottish and UK governments have guidance supporting headteachers who decide to ban phones in schools. Over recent months, pressure has been mounting for the guidance to become law.

That it takes a Netflix series to draw parliamentary interest is a telling sign of the fleeting interest in policy and why it never gets done. More than ever, the pace of technology, access to social media and political decision-making feel entirely out of sync. How many kids have to die in real life before the same attention is given to them as a fictional Netflix show?

Parents can do their best. But anyone who has ever raised or dealt with schoolchildren will know that trying to stop the proliferation of something trending or which caught their attention is like pulling weeds. Kids are interested in being liked; being liked means needing to have and do what their peers are doing.

The expansion of porn, the easy access to extreme sexual violence and nudity, the slew of algorithm-generating influencers who describe a zero-sum manosphere, the confusion around 'traditional' masculinity, and the ubiquitousness of the incel movement make for a cesspit culture in which to try and raise children.

The point - well-made in the show - is that 'normal', whatever that means, hides how easily children have access to extreme material online and how easy apps have made bullying. Computers and phones were once a gift, video games a treat. They are now gateways to utter misery. You need to be hopelessly ignorant to think that the internet, with the best will in the world, is not a loaded gun.

Saturating and confused reactionary influences about masculinity unfiltered on the likes of 4Chan, Reddit, video games, social media and encrypted chats make censoring extreme content, language and ideas impossible. Extreme sexual rhetoric and misogyny are rife and accepted as part and parcel of our digital existence.

We live in a world of drunk drivers. Will you rely on role models to set a good example, or have drastic punitive measures and a robust system of laws to protect innocent people? And it will only get worse. Advances in AI will continue to increase these issues, and children and the next generation are locked in a generational mental health battle. Reputations will be destroyed, and lives will be lost.

In the UK, the police receive a domestic abuse call every 30 seconds. That's almost 3,000 calls every single day. Last month, Ofcom announced its guidance on age checks to prevent children from accessing harmful content online. Platforms have until July to put the recommendation in place. It forms part of the communications watchdog role in implementing the Online Safety Act.

Swinney has said he would consider banning social media for under-16s. The First Minister has discussed the issue with the UK Government and would "look carefully" at options to protect youngsters.

Scottish Labour MP Gregor Poynton has urged the UK Government to introduce an Australia-like ban on social media accounts for children and clarity on smartphone bans in schools. This would include a minimum age requirement of 16 for social media in a bid to prepare children "emotionally" and "mentally" for the "pressures" sites like Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X can bring. A petition calling for a ban, which received more than 120,000 signatures, triggered the Westminster Hall debate. Clearly, there is an appetite for the Government to take action.

The sad part is that these issues will be unresolved long after you've forgotten this article, and Adolescence has faded into Netflix's back catalogue. Can politicians find the stomach to act conclusively and treat these influencers and influences like the health epidemic they are?