Richie Sadlier claims Adolescence on Netflix can help adults understand kids
Blockbuster Netflix show Adolescence is an opportunity for adults to reset their misunderstanding of how teenage boys become troubled, according to TV pundit and therapist Richie Sadlier.
Worldwide smash hit Adolescence was initially misrepresented by some as a controversial glamorisation of noxious masculinity and misogyny. But a message in the drama, starring UK actor Stephen Graham, tells a story of what disasters can happen when adults do not know what teenagers do online.
While parents mistakenly believe their children are safe, a deadly catastrophe unfolds in the show when a 13-year-old boy is accused of murdering a classmate. The four-part drama sparked a worldwide debate about the dangers of technology in the hands of vulnerable people – and Richie claimed it is about time.
Some therapists have claimed that adults are responsible for putting a weapon – a handheld computer that is marketed as a mobile phone – in the classroom. Richie, 45, told the Irish Mirror: 'I love that one of the impacts of that programme is that so many people are now talking about what it is actually like to be a young teenage lad today."
Richie added: "People now seem to have empathy, sympathy, concern and a willingness to know more and to do more and to help more. That hasn't always been the case before. Previously, it has seemed routine to be very critical of young lads and to make sweeping statements about them.
'One of the things about this programme is that it has shown how adults decided to give unfiltered, unsupervised, access to the whole world by giving them a phone. There are so many interesting aspects of Adolescence, but one of these that I am glad about is how people are starting to realise that there is a consequence of giving young lads access to whatever they want on the internet.'
Richie is a specialist teen therapist whose guidebook for young men, called Let's Talk, became a handbook for adolescent boys. He spoke of how Netflix hit show Adolescence is an eye-opener, discussing how the phones that were given to previous generations of young people did not have the same capabilities as today's modern superfast handsets, with porn and peer pressure and cyberbullying phone apps overtaking the basic chat and message functions of earlier technology.
He said: 'Kids now have such freedom of choice at their fingertips. The only people who could influence me when I was their age, are those who I met in my real life. My teachers, my coaches, my uncles, my neighbours, my dad. That was it. You could not access my mind beyond that.
'But now that we have given kids a powerful phone, anyone in the world can access the mind of your child. That comes with consequences. We have given children access to everything they want on the internet. No previous generation has had that. Earlier 13, 14, 15, 16-year-olds did not have that.'
He added: 'It's been too easy to make sweeping statements about young people. We have to take time and ask, 'Why are young people the way that they are? What influences have they been exposed to? What is shaping them?' We need to know what is guiding them or if there is an absence of guidance. If you understand adolescent development, you understand the need for the brain of teenage boys to have positive, male role models. I think that understanding is now spreading very widely and quickly as a result of Netflix's Adolescence.'
Richie was speaking as part of the How's the Head? campaign that raises awareness of mental health amongst tradespeople. It is in conjunction with new research from builders' merchants Chadwicks that shows 44 per cent of tradespeople believe their mental health could be improved.
As part of Chadwicks' campaign, Richie will be sharing more mental fitness tips on his Instagram, arming tradespeople with simple steps on how to prioritise mental fitness while leading busy lives. And €1 from every sale of PPE at Chadwick's branches nationwide will be donated towards mental health charity Aware.
More information about the campaign is available on the chadwicksgroup.ie website.
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