UoG professor hails impact of Netflix series Adolescence in raising important questions for society

A University of Gloucestershire professor has praised the critically acclaimed Netflix drama series Adolescence for raising questions for parents and society at large about how children can be protected from online harm.

Adeela ahmed Shafi MBE (pictured), Professor of Education in Youth Justice, said the series highlighted serious societal issues around the pervasive influence of social media on young minds and the treatment of children in trouble with the law.

Adolescence tells the hard-hitting story of 13-year-old boy, Jamie, who is arrested following the murder of a female schoolmate, Katie. Jamie is held at a police station for questioning and then remanded in custody at a secure training centre.

Subsequent investigations reveal that Jamie had been subjected to chronic bullying on social media and exposed to misogynistic online material.

Professor Shafi, from the University’s School of Education and Science, said: “In an extremely powerful way, Adolescence unpacks the impact of social media on children and young people, and opens up a dark world that many parents would have been completely unaware of, for instance the secret emoji codes children are shown to use to communicate online.

“As parents, we are outside that world and unable to understand it, and I think that’s one of the most powerful things that comes through the programme.

“Even if we have children, if they’re even just a little bit older than Jamie, they’ve not been exposed to the same social media that Jamie and his peers have because it is evolving at pace. As a parent you think, ‘My goodness, is that what my child is going through?’.

“We think they’re safe in their bedroom because traditionally that is what used to happen, but the programme opens up to us the extent to which our children are roaming the streets, effectively, but in their bedrooms, through the phone in the palm of their hand.

“The overwhelming knowledge that our children are being exposed to things online that we wouldn’t want them to be exposed to, or that we hadn’t even thought about previously, is shocking.

“The programme raises important questions for parents, adults and society as a whole in terms of what is happening to our children through the impact of social media – it’s certainly not going away and it will continue to change and evolve.

“So, what is the impact of social media on our children and their development? How do we protect our children? How do we teach them how to manage social media?

“How are we going to enable our children to live what we might define as a childhood and come out of that childhood as well-adjusted people and able to deal with whatever they’ve got to deal with in life?”

Why so many people are talking about it

Professor Shafi MBE received an international award from the International Juvenile Justice Observatory in recognition of her research to improve education and training for young people in conflict with the law.

She has a background in psychology and education, teaching in higher education for more than 20 years, with her research drawing on psychological theories to explore how to re-engage young offenders with formal education and learning in a secure custodial setting. 

Professor Shafi, who received an MBE in recognition of her contributions in research and services to social justice, said Adolescence raised important questions about how the justice system treats children.

The television crew responsible for the making of the series included University Film Production alumnus Patrick Gillespie.

Professor Shafi said: “I was very struck by the scene in the first episode when we see Jamie being arrested after his home is stormed by armed police in the early hours of the morning and is taken to be ‘processed’ at the police station.

“When you’re watching a frightened and overwhelmed child being treated as if he is an adult, with his parents feeling completely helpless, you think, ‘Is that really how we should treat children?’.

“For me and my colleagues working in youth justice, that’s the sort of thing we’re fighting against because if we want to get to the truth, is processing children in that way going to achieve that?

“We could see how scared and lost Jamie was, irrespective of what he may or may not have done. Is that how we want our children to be treated, especially bearing in mind that until he is proven guilty, Jamie is innocent.

“Adolescence opens up many areas and is so multi-layered that it raises lots of important questions, which is why so many people are talking about it.”

Promotional poster for Adolescence – credit Netflix