The acclaimed series Adolescence will be issued to British schools by decision of Prime Minister Starmer, who already explained to the House of Commons that he had seen his house with his sixteen-year-old son and fourteen-year-old daughter.
Bravo, then, to an audiovisual production that has nailed the theme, the tone, and even the form, and has issued a sort of global warning about the dangers of the potentially explosive mix of adolescence, social media, toxic masculinity, violence against women, and fathers who are good, hard-working people but who don't know what they're watching.
Speaking with people who have children who are still young, the unanimous comment has been "how scary, adolescence," which reminded me of what my mother used to say when she saw the influences her grandchildren were subjected to. But at this stage of life (actually, at no stage) you can approach it with fear. By the time a child reaches adolescence, they've already given many clues about their strengths, weaknesses, likes, and dislikes. Yes, then the lockdown comes, and teenagers are like an iceberg, of which we only see what rises above the surface. And with social media, parents have certainly been given extra work, and you have to be on top of things and help them think about their leisure time and interests. And, despite being on top of things, you have to tune your antenna to see how the teenager is influenced by things they haven't seen or experienced, but that their friends have seen or experienced.
Adolescence It focuses on the sexist influence of social media on boys, but a series about social media and aesthetic pressure on girls would have also been possible. And another one called Paternity, because the disorientation of some goes parallel to that of others.
