Adolescence, or the complex business of being a teenager, was a concept that only came into common usage in the early 20th century. Before then, people were either innocent, carefree children or world-weary adults bearing full responsibility for their actions. Netflix’s astonishing new drama Adolescence has propelled this formative and distinct period of life to the forefront of public discourse.
The Growing Debate on Online Influence
In his widely reported Richard Dimbleby Lecture, former England Men’s Football team manager Sir Gareth Southgate implored society to rediscover the importance of role models — especially for young men. He argues that more and more teenage boys are searching for identity and guidance online, only to encounter toxic opinions and damaging content.
Echoing these concerns, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has added his voice to the debate, stressing the urgency of addressing the influence of online behaviour, particularly social media, on children and teenagers.
With a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and described by one reviewer as ‘the closest thing to TV perfection in decades’, Adolescence explores themes of online radicalisation, misogyny, and the vulnerabilities of youth in the digital age. It sheds light on the covert language and symbols used among teenagers online, emphasising the potential dangers of digital subcultures. In response, a growing campaign is advocating for Adolescence to be shown in all English schools to encourage young people to reflect on their online activity and its real-world consequences.
The Internet’s Adolescence: A Critical Juncture
It is worth reflecting on how quickly these questions have become urgent. In 2004, Facebook had 1 million active monthly users. By 2024, that number had soared to over 3 billion. Today, more than 5 billion people — about two-thirds of the global population — use social media regularly. In just over 20 years, our online lives have gone from nearly non-existent to all-encompassing. This represents one of the most significant and rapid societal shifts in human history. It’s no wonder we’re struggling to cope with the impact.
The advent of generative AI has shown that even more disruptive technologies are still to come. We are far from reaching a steady state of online maturity. However, we are no longer in the internet’s infancy — rather, its adolescence. It is as teenagers that our values solidify, we form frameworks that define our adulthood, and responsibility becomes an unavoidable fact of life. The same is true of the internet.
Beyond Content Moderation: Tackling behavioral harms
Southgate and Starmer are right to highlight the urgent need for role models to counterbalance negative trends online and to educate both children and parents about the risks of digital interactions. But such a complex problem demands a holistic solution. The OSA and the DSA — the two legislative efforts most likely to influence online safety — impose obligations on technology service providers to protect their users, especially children. The simplest response is to focus exclusively on content: problematic images, harmful text, and egregious videos can be detected and removed through a combination of technology and human moderation. This is vital work but only scratches the surface.
Resolver Trust & Safety: Proactive Risk Intelligence
Resolver Trust & Safety has been working to counter online harms, particularly in child safety, for 20 years. We have built the deepest pool of expertise available, aligning our specialist analysts with a world-leading technology platform. As a result, we detect, triage, and alert technology service providers and other partners to risk signals in real time, with the aim of disrupting the most dangerous online behaviours before they cause real-world harm.
We work tirelessly to understand the complex actors, behaviours, and emerging online trends, equipping technology service providers and platforms with the intelligence they need to safeguard their users. Our partnerships with NGOs and academic institutions place us at the forefront of research and thought leadership on online harm and its social impact, and we share these insights with our clients.
A Collective Responsibility
As Adolescence so viscerally depicts, what happens at school, at home, and online is increasingly intertwined. Examining any of these domains in isolation is not enough. We must marshal our collective resources to understand and mitigate the risks the digital world — currently in its awkward adolescent phase — poses to society, particularly to young people. If you think Resolver’s expertise could support you in addressing some of the most complex and troubling challenges facing young people and society today, get in touch today.
