Netflix’s Adolescence 2 months on and reclaiming leadership in the digital age

Written by James Brown, Managing Director of Inspiring Leaders.

A few months ago, the Netflix drama Adolescence landed with a bang, bringing to the public conversation themes of technology, toxic masculinity, parenting, safeguarding and of course, youth violence. It spread quickly—across group chats, school staffrooms, parent WhatsApps, and leadership team meetings. For many educators, the themes it explored weren’t anything radically new. We’ve seen the creeping impact of digital life in our classrooms for years. But something about this documentary broke through. It made the issue public in a way that was hard to ignore—and even harder to dismiss. 

It’s one of those cultural moments that cuts through the noise and reminds us: something deeper is shifting, and we need to pay attention. 

What’s been interesting, though, is what’s happened since. In a world where even serious issues can trend for a week and then fade away, I’ve been asking: what sticks? We’ve seen powerful TV shows before that spark conversation—and then vanish under the weight of the next crisis or cultural moment. But this one feels different. Or at least—it should be. 

Because the questions Adolescence raises feel too serious, too widespread, and too visible to just be the topic of a few social media threads or school assemblies. Surely, somewhere, we’re seeing this move from passive reflection to active change. Aren’t we? 

A few weeks after watching the show, I had the chance to attend a session with Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Anxious Generation. If you’ve come across his work, you’ll know he’s pretty direct in his analysis of what’s happening to young people. In short: he believes the rise in anxiety, depression, and social withdrawal is no coincidence—it’s closely linked to the spread of smartphones and the shift from play-based childhoods to screen-based ones. 

Haidt offers three clear directives for change: 

– Delay access to social media until age 16. 

– Bring back unsupervised outdoor play. 

– Remove smartphones from schools and return to simpler devices. 

There’s a lot in there I agree with—especially around the importance of restoring childhood as something spacious, social, and rooted in the real world. But I’ll admit, I paused a little at his call to remove all one-to-one devices from classrooms. 

Because the reality for many school leaders is more complicated. Technology can be incredibly enabling—especially for students with additional needs, or in settings where resources are stretched. It’s not as simple as “tech bad, no tech good.” The question, really, is about how we lead the use of technology in a way that’s intentional, rather than reactive. 

That’s where I think leadership comes into play—not just at the level of headteachers or CEOs, but in every classroom and community. We’re being asked to hold a lot: the needs of young people, the expectations of parents, the demands of policy, and the invisible momentum of a digital world that rarely pauses to ask what’s best for children. 

And so I come back to Adolescence. Not as a call to panic, but as a moment of cultural wake-up. It gave us language for what many of us were already seeing. And it sparked conversations that, I hope, will turn into action—not just in policy circles, but in the day-to-day decisions leaders are making across the country. 

We don’t have to agree on every solution. But we do need to be brave enough to ask better questions. What role should devices play in learning? How do we help young people build digital resilience, not just digital skills? And what does responsible leadership look like in an age when technology is shaping minds as much as it’s shaping methods? 

If you’re a school leader, parent, or educator—I’d love to hear how you’re navigating this. What changes are you making? What tensions are you holding? And what do you need, to lead better in this space? 

Because we can’t slow the world down. But we can choose how we lead through it.