Adolescence A hard watch as a father, Starmer says to manufacturers at n ° 10

The co-scriptwriter and producer of the successful drama Netflix Adolescence met the Prime Minister of Downing Street to discuss the way of preventing young people from being influenced by online toxic materials.

Sir Keir Starmer said that the drama, on a 13 -year -old boy accused of murder, was “a torch that shines intensely on a combination of problems to which many people do not know how to react”.

But he warned that there was no “response from the miracle solution” or “a political lever that can be drawn”.

The meeting came then that Netflix said that it would make the series available to detect for free in schools, a move that Sir Keir welcomed as “an important initiative to encourage as many students as possible to watch the program”.

The program sparked a national conversation on the impact of social media and influencers of “Manosphere”.

Jack Thorne, who wrote the show with actor Stephen Graham, recently said The Prime Minister should “consider as an urgent” a smartphone ban in schools and a “digital era of consent”, similar to Australia, which has adopted a law prohibiting children under the age of 16 from using social media.

Thorne and producer Jo Johnson gave their opinion to Sir Keir on Monday, as well as charitable organizations and selected young people.

The Prime Minister said that the show was “sometimes painful” but had “turned on a touch paper” as part of the debate on issues.

“To be honest, as a father, I did not find an easy visualization,” he said.

“He instantly contacts with fears and worries, not just young people – because I was really struck by the way our children were riveted – but also frankly fears and worries of parents and adults across the country.”

But he told participants that there was no unique policy that could provide a simple solution.

“It’s actually much larger than that, almost a cultural problem,” he said.

He added that the show highlighted “the devastating effect of misogyny on our society”, as well as “the dangers of online radicalization and this feeling of young people being alone, very often in their room or everywhere, isolated with this online radicalization”, and “the challenges that our children, our schools and families face every day”.

The drama will be available for all the secondary schools in the United Kingdom via the school streaming service in film +.

In a statement, Thorne said: “Having the opportunity to take this in schools is beyond our expectations. We hope that it will lead teachers to talk to students, but what we really hope is that it will lead the students to talk to each other.”

The Government has underlined measures, including the online security law, which affirms that social media companies will have to protect children from harmful documents, in particular pornography, promotion of self -control, intimidation and encouraging content of dangerous cascades.

Platforms will have to adopt “age insurance technologies” to prevent children from seeing harmful content.

However, the government said that the legislation was “not the end of the conversation”.

The government also updates its advice on how schools should teach children relationships, sex education and health (RSHE).

Times recently reported That it would include “lessons to counter the misogyny and the growing attraction of influencers such as Andrew Tate”, following discussions on adolescence.

The program entered history in the United Kingdom when it became the first streaming show to exceed weekly television notes, the first episode watched by nearly 6.5 million people during its first week.

He was a similar success worldwide, Netflix reporting that he had 66 million global views in his first two weeks.

For Harry Foster, 22, being radicalized in adolescence was “very easy”.

“When you are a child, it’s very easy when there is a lack of direction or positive models to be swept away with something,” he said.

He said extremist groups have exploited his vulnerability with dependence on adolescence problems, manipulating him to share racist and misogynist opinions.

“I thought I found a certain sense of belonging,” he told BBC Newsbeat. “What I really gave myself was a set of very harmful and very radical political opinions, which is almost like compromise to belong to these people.”

He obtained help through the Warren Youth Group in Hull and now works with them to help other boys and young men in similar situations.

Harry welcomed Sir Keir’s plans to work with Netflix to show adolescence in secondary schools, but said that more work had to be done.

“I don’t think there has never been a time when young people as a whole feel more disconnected from politicians,” he said.

“It is a thing to make young men aware of problems around this kind of ideologies, but it is just as important as we offer an alternative to young boys and men who are desperately looking for something to identify.

“I don’t think it’s as simple as showing a television program. There must be a positive alternative for young people.”