Talking to Teens About Adolescence: Why It Resonates and Where to Go From Here

If you’ve just finished watching Adolescence and found yourself rattled, you’re not alone. The UK drama series has struck a powerful chord with audiences worldwide — not just for its confronting storyline, but for its brutal honesty about what it feels like to parent or teach in 2025.

It’s a show that doesn’t wrap up the "problem" with a neat bow. It lingers and it unsettles. And for many parents and educators, it’s raised big questions: Are we doing enough? Are we equipped for this? What’s really going on behind our kids' screens?

Why Adolescence Resonates Globally

We're parenting and educating in a time that feels like an experiment — one where the internet plays a massive role in shaping beliefs, relationships, and identity. Gone are the days of knowing your kid's friends and hanging out at the local footy oval. Now, it's Discord servers, TikTok algorithms, Reddit threads, and late-night YouTube rabbit holes.

Adolescence captures this shift with unnerving accuracy — the boy left to his own devices, the father clinging to outdated models of masculinity, the deep and silent confusion about what it means to “be a man” in a modern world.

The series doesn’t provide easy answers, but it does offer something just as powerful: it gives families, schools, and communities permission to start the conversation.

The Stats Behind the Storyline

Tomorrow Woman’s 2024 research into the manosphere’s impact on teenage girls reveals just how deep this issue runs:

• 42% of female high school students say their male peers are influenced by figures like Andrew Tate.
• 31% report these behaviours are having a direct negative impact on them — most commonly through verbal harassment, dismissal of their views, and hostile classroom dynamics.
• 24% feel unsafe at school because of these behaviours.
• 1 in 10 of those affected say they’ve carried a weapon, such as a knife, to protect themselves.
• 22% reported experiencing physical abuse, and 21% reported sexual abuse, from male peers influenced by these ideologies.

The Lost Boys report recently released from the Centre for Social Justice adds even more weight to the concern. It paints a picture of young men being left behind in education, employment, and identity. The number of young males not in education, employment or training (NEET) has increased by 40% since the pandemic — compared to just 7% for females. And this gap isn’t just academic or economic. It’s cultural, political, emotional.

As the CSJ report puts it, "In an increasingly online existence, boys and girls no longer walk the same path from childhood to adulthood."

So What Can Parents and Educators Actually Do?

Adolescence is a gift in that it opens the door. Now it’s up to us to walk through it.

If you're a parent:

• Watch it with your teen (or at least be across the themes). Let them lead the way. Ask what moments stood out. What did they make of Jamie? Of his dad? Of the silence?
• Get curious about their online world. Ask about their favourite creators, their feeds, their group chats. Don’t come in hot with judgment. Come in with curiosity.
• Look for signs — reluctance to talk about online activity, use of misogynistic language, sudden changes in beliefs about women.
• Model what you want them to absorb. If you want them to value respectful relationships, show them what that looks like in real life and online.

If you're an educator:

• Create space for dialogue. Use clips or themes from Adolescence to open classroom conversations about respect, identity, gender roles, and online influence.
• Stay updated on the slang, the codes, the subcultures. The manosphere isn’t always obvious — sometimes it's memes, emojis, inside jokes.
• Challenge stereotypes when you see them — in hallway banter, group dynamics, or classroom power plays.

Why This Isn’t Just a UK Thing

In fact, Australian educators and facilitators are seeing these trends play out locally. Ryder Jack, our Principal Facilitator, Training + Content Lead at Tomorrow Man, was recently interviewed by the ABC about how the manosphere is showing up in Australian schools. His insights underscore just how much influence online communities and figures like Andrew Tate have on young people — and how urgently schools and families need tools to respond. Read the full article here

As the BBC recently highlighted, Adolescence might be a British show, but its relevance is global. The show doesn’t just tell a story about one boy in one school. It shines a light on the collective discomfort many of us feel but don’t know how to talk about.

Boys are growing up in a world that tells them to be powerful but punishes them for being emotional. Girls are growing up in schools where they feel unsafe around their male peers. And parents? Most are just trying to figure it all out without a manual.

Algorithms have no borders. No matter where you are in the world, your child can access the same content. And while not every young person will fall down the rabbit hole of the manosphere, many are seeing the content, absorbing it, and being shaped by it — whether they realise it or not.

Don’t Know Where to Start?

Tomorrow Man and Tomorrow Woman have put together a free resource called Helping Your Teen Safely Navigate Their Online World. It’s packed with practical tips on how to:

• Talk about tough topics with empathy
• Encourage critical thinking around content and influencers
• Recognise warning signs like mood shifts or secrecy around online activity
• Create a healthy "digital diet" at home — including setting household rules like no devices in bedrooms overnight, a guideline supported by health experts.
• Set and model clear boundaries around screen time

Parenting in the digital age isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about being willing to show up, stay curious, and keep the conversation open.

You can download the free guide here: Helping Your Teen Safely Navigate Their Online World

The Final Line That Sticks

The final episode of Adolescence ends with the haunting words: "We should have done more." It hits hard because it’s true.

We need to do more.

We need to be more aware, more involved, and more courageous in having the hard conversations. Not just once, but often. Not just at school, but at home. Not just with girls, but with boys too.

It’s not about panic. It’s about presence.

Presence in the moments that matter. In the car rides. At the dinner table. After the episode ends.

If Adolescence got under your skin, good.

That’s where change starts.

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