Paulo Mattos
D’Or Institute of Research and Education
“The online world Jamie attended media that worshipped male separatism, with so-called incels (involuntary celibates) blaming women for their inability to have sex and redpills (an allusion to the film Matrix) “discovering” the truth about women being self-interested and oppressive.”
“Could it be that misogyny and all its corollaries are merely amplified by algorithms, with “echo chambers” and the “herd effect “?”.
“It would be appropriate to imagine how Jamie’s teachers felt when they realized how dedicated they were teaching the Industrial Revolution – mentioned by him in the series as a school subject he liked – without, perhaps, addressing the misogyny that had surrounded everyone for a long time.”.
“Reflecting on the role of different agents in this complex period of life that is adolescence cannot exclude us, educators.”.
Paulo Mattos
Instituto D’Or de Pesquisa e Ensino
Series exposes the impact of discovering (too late) what happens to our children in the virtual world
“Adolescence,” the new Netflix series, quickly became a hit and a hot topic in the media. In just a few weeks, it reached number one on the platform in more than 70 countries. The production tells the story of Jamie (Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old teenager accused of murdering his classmate Katie (Emilia Holliday) in the north of England. The series was filmed in sequence shots, meaning that all the action takes place without cuts, which offers an immersive experience and portrays the events in real time, from Jamie’s arrest to the complex family and social dynamics that emerge later.
The intimate aesthetic with close-ups, natural light and almost documentary-like movement relies on the uncomfortable exposure of emotions and the difficulty in verbalizing, as different layers of an unknown online world come to light, making the viewer identify with the characters. The series dramatizes our reactions to the impact of finding out too late what happens to our children outside our “radar.”
“Adolescence,” the new Netflix series, quickly became a hit and a hot topic in the media. In just a few weeks, it reached number one on the platform in more than 70 countries. The production tells the story of Jamie (Owen Cooper), a 13-year-old teenager accused of murdering his classmate Katie (Emilia Holliday) in the north of England. The series was filmed in sequence shots, meaning that all the action takes place without cuts, which offers an immersive experience and portrays the events in real time, from Jamie’s arrest to the complex family and social dynamics that emerge later.
“The online world Jamie attended media that worshipped male separatism, with so-called incels (involuntary celibates) blaming women for their inability to have sex and redpills (an allusion to the film Matrix) “discovering” the truth about women being self-interested and oppressive.”
The intimate aesthetic with close-ups, natural light and almost documentary-like movement relies on the uncomfortable exposure of emotions and the difficulty in verbalizing, as different layers of an unknown online world come to light, making the viewer identify with the characters. The series dramatizes our reactions to the impact of finding out too late what happens to our children outside our “radar.”
“Could it be that misogyny and all its corollaries are merely amplified by algorithms, with “echo chambers” and the “herd effect “?”.
The online world Jamie attended media that worshipped male separatism, with so-called incels (involuntary celibates) blaming women for their inability to have sex and redpills (an allusion to the film Matrix) “discovering” the truth about women being self-interested and oppressive. The content of the so-called “manosphere” or “machosphere” is basically misogynistic and presents women as objects, enemies and, above all, potential prey.
Researchers agree that mental disorders (most of which begin in adolescence) depend on genetic, familial (non-genetic environmental) factors and personal experiences. The impact of technology, however, seems to depend on individual history, platforms and the type of content consumed online. Studies indicate that the way young people respond to social networks varies significantly.
“It would be appropriate to imagine how Jamie’s teachers felt when they realized how dedicated they were teaching the Industrial Revolution – mentioned by him in the series as a school subject he liked – without, perhaps, addressing the misogyny that had surrounded everyone for a long time.”.
The journal Nature, one of the most important scientific publications, commented in an editorial in April 2025 that there is no consensus on the idea that smartphones and social networks are responsible for the worrying increase in mental health problems among adolescents. This idea became stronger with psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of the best-seller “The Anxious Generation”, who argues that the adoption of smartphones and social networks by adolescents is the main cause of the “wave of mental illness in adolescents that began in the early 2010s”.
Although studies on the impact of smartphone use on cognition provide solid evidence, an analysis of 25 reviews published between 2019 and 2021 showed, in most cases, weak or inconsistent associations between the use of social networks and the mental health of young people, although some of these analyses interpreted these relationships as significant and harmful. The disparity in these results can be explained, in part, by methodological limitations: self-reports on screen time (usually inaccurate), without differentiating between the various activities that adolescents perform on the devices. Furthermore, observational studies do not allow for establishing cause-and-effect relationships, only raising hypotheses.
“Reflecting on the role of different agents in this complex period of life that is adolescence cannot exclude us, educators.”.
Origin of misogyny
Less evident or less commented on – despite being suggested in the series – is the idea that the misogyny found on social media does not have its origins there.
According to Stephen Graham, screenwriter and actor of “Adolescence,” the production was inspired by real cases of male adolescents who murdered girls. Of course, this could already be an expression of the consumption of misogynistic material on the internet. However, some official statistics point to another hypothesis: more than one adult woman is murdered every week by her current partner or ex-partner in England and Wales. Could it be that misogyny and all its corollaries are merely amplified by algorithms, with “echo chambers” and the “herd effect”?
The series exquisitely presents the reactions of parents when they realize how unfamiliar they are with the online world their children attend, with topics that are never discussed at home. In this text aimed primarily at educators, it would be appropriate to imagine how Jamie’s teachers felt when they realized how dedicated they were teaching the Industrial Revolution – mentioned by him in the series as a school subject he liked – without, perhaps, addressing the misogyny that had surrounded everyone for a long time.
In Brazil, federal law 14.164/2021 created the “School Week to Combat Violence against Women”, in which public and private schools must propose activities to discuss gender violence. We teach grammar, geometry, biology, but we talk little or nothing about misogyny, homophobia, racism, in most schools.
Reflecting on the role of different agents in this complex period of life that is adolescence cannot exclude us, educators. Especially regarding omission. “Adolescence” is a great reinforcement of this.
