Adolescence: Banning smartphones is not the answer

Date published: 31.03.2025

Raising healthy young men in the Information Age, with its radicalising and negative influences, requires thoughtful, open dialogue on topics that make adults uncomfortable.  

The TV series Adolescence has been created in the spirit of inquiry, yet ensuing commentary has focused almost exclusively on the perils of the internet on young boys. The solutions on offer in the public discourse are banning smartphones, removing young people from social media, or forbidding discussion of Andrew Tate’s ideologies in the classroom. 

However, in our experience of work with adolescents over many decades, prohibition does not work. The answer lies instead in sitting with the complexities that were explored in the series and opening up discussions about uncomfortable emotions with our young people, rather than shutting them down.  

Tragic events like the murder of Katie in Adolescence also happened before the internet, and young boys sometimes channelled normal adolescent rage into misogynistic communities long before Reddit, TikTok, and the rise of manosphere subculture. There is an understandable perception that the secretive nature of online culture that reaches into children’s bedrooms is inflaming normal adolescent thoughts and feelings, and this can be justified, as the internet allows for these thoughts to become more obsessive in nature.  

However, shutting down exploration and discussion of these issues has the potential to isolate and further radicalise young boys, intensifying normal pubescent feelings of rage, humiliation and rejection. This becomes even more problematic when the adolescent inclination to act rather than think is considered. That desire to take bold action is mirrored in the public’s response to Adolescence.  

“Naturally, adolescence is a developmental phase of exploration as a young person discovers their identity and begins to separate from their parents,” says Brent Centre for Young People (BCYP) CEO, Valentina Levi. 

“It’s the eternal challenge of teachers and parents everywhere – how to successfully strike the balance of providing adequate boundaries and authority but also allowing the space for exploration and identity to form. 

“We shouldn't shut down difficult discussions with young people about violence and misogyny but instead work through them together,” she says. 

It’s equally important that we are attuned to the different ways struggling adolescents behave. Young boys often present as angry or rageful, which can feel threatening and unacceptable when compared to anxiety or low mood. The root issue is the same – adolescence is painful and can be scary and lonely. Sometimes professional intervention is necessary to help the young person to cope with the demands of the end of childhood, and of becoming an adult. 

However, anger and rage displayed by boys are less likely to prompt a doctor’s visit, which is evidenced by the BCYP receiving significantly less GP referrals for adolescent males. In contrast, they are over-represented among BCYP’s Youth Justice clients. 

What Adolescence has decisively brought to the table is that some young boys are being failed by the current social and political environment.

Young boys need safe, trusting environments where they can discuss their experiences face-to-face with peers, parents and professionals, and avoid isolation and radicalisation. 

But maintaining important services that reach vulnerable young people requires government investment. Cuts to local authority funding resulted in about 30 percent of youth clubs in London closing between 2010 and 2019. If places to meet in a controlled, adult-monitored environment are closing, young people will inevitably turn to social media to interact with their peers.  

BCYP’s Sport & Thought football-based therapy initiative was developed to counteract this issue, and to reach young boys who find it difficult to access and engage in traditional therapy. Proliferation of programmes like this would help allay adults’ fears of the internet’s pernicious effects.  

Adults, too, need support to navigate the uncomfortable conversations young boys need to have. A well-informed, supported network is key to successfully guiding adolescents through the transition from child to adult. BCYP provides supervision for teaching staff and safeguarding leads, as well as group and individual work with parents, to ensure that system is confident in how to respond.  

We have found that creating spaces for young people to get together and explore their identity and empowering the important adults in their lives in confidently communicating with them is a fundamental step in tackling misogyny and the recourse to violence.  

Contact: Gordana Rodden, Communications & Marketing Executive - 07493338842