'Adolescence drama is a watershed moment'

The release of TV drama Adolescence is a "watershed moment" in the debate about children and smartphone use, a Shropshire campaigner says.

The drama, which follows the case of a 13-year-old boy charged over the killing of a female classmate, has been widely praised for raising issues like misogyny and the influence of social media.

Tess Burgess, Shropshire lead for grassroots movement Smartphone Free Childhood (SFC). It has been involved in developing the Safer Phones Bill, and inspired some schools to ban phones completely.

"I think the nation has woken up to what a dangerous position our children are in and the impact of social media on our young people," she said.

In the four-part Netflix series it emerges Jamie, the protagonist, has been radicalised by misogynistic content online.

It focuses on incel culture and the "manosphere" - a collection of websites that promote misogyny and hyper-masculinity.

Adults in the series have no knowledge of this hidden radicalisation, and in the drama children are asked by adults to explaining the meaning behind language and emojis used in social media posts.

"It's absolutely terrifying to think that as a parent, Jamie in the programme is a normal child from a normal background, and that he can be radicalised by extreme views online," said Ms Burgess.

"I think why it's scary for us as parents is because it can happen to any child.

"It's the toxicity of male misogynistic influences that are essentially passing their views onto our children."

Ms Burgess said the organisation believed action needed to be taken from a variety of angles, from parental action and government policy, to school banning the use of phones altogether.

Pupils at Shrewsbury Academy said the series highlighted the toxicity of social media.

Angelina, 17, said it shed light on how people's actions can be prompted by what they see online.

"Social media is actually influencing the younger generation to do things like stabbing people, nowadays you need to look around you and take precautions," she said.

"You never know what anyone can do."

Lexi, 16, said seeing people post images of knives online was "just not right", and said it was important the drama showed the wider effects of the events portrayed.

"Bringing the impact of the family in, like the parents and the sister, helps to make people more aware of the situation," she said.

"I think we should cut down on the social medias and stuff and make an actual ban of things so its not everything spreading everywhere so quickly."

Amy Chevin-Dooley, executive director of education at the Marches Academy, which oversees Shrewsbury Academy, said banning phones was not always the popular opinion.

"There's a real balance that has to be stuck between removing the risk and actually educating about the potential risk," she said.

"You don't know what you don't know. Even people who are well-educated, well trained within this area specially, are out of touch within a matter of years, months days... for parents [social media] is a constantly evolving beast."

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