Netflix Drama Targets Social Media’s Role in Male Radicalization
Quick Take
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Netflix thriller about a 13-year-old killer hit 23.4 million views in one week.
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The show calls out Andrew Tate and incel culture by name.
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UK Prime Minister urges action on the toxic masculinity crisis.
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Creators want the series shown in schools and Parliament.
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Community leaders say boys need better role models.
Netflix’s new hit “Adolescence” puts toxic masculinity and online radicalization under the microscope—and it’s sparking global conversations from classrooms to government halls.
The four-episode drama follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller, who kills a female classmate after absorbing violent misogynist content online. The story unfolds in gripping single-take episodes that make it hard to look away.
Creators Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne built the show around real-world headlines involving boys attacking girls. Graham said knife crime reports pushed him to take action through storytelling.
“Adolescence” doesn’t dance around the issue. It directly names Andrew Tate and confronts the dark corners of the “manosphere”—online spaces pushing hyper-masculine, anti-women ideologies to boys and young men.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has weighed in, calling the issue an “emerging and growing problem” that needs urgent attention.
Image credit: Netflix Series – “Adolescence”
Real-life horror meets scripted TV
Thorne hopes the series can help shift the narrative offline. “I want it shown in schools. I want it shown in Parliament,” he told the BBC. “This is only going to get worse.”
Groups like Empire Fighting Chance say boys are withdrawing from real-world connection and falling into digital echo chambers. “Young people don’t talk to each other anymore and instead turn to online,” said charity co-founder Martin Bisp.
The show’s timing is no accident. Recent warnings—including one from ex-England coach Gareth Southgate—highlight how boys are spending more time with gaming, porn, and gambling than with real relationships.
Mental health expert Noel McDermott says social media stokes feelings of alienation in young men. “It is marginalizing our young men and making them feel separate,” he explained.
Critics praise the show’s artistic and emotional punch. The Guardian called it “the closest thing to TV perfection in decades.”
The real shock, though, is in the ordinary: the boy at the center of the story comes from a typical family. That decision, the creators say, was deliberate—to show that radicalization doesn’t always come with warning signs.
Main image credit: Paul Wilson – AI/Photoshop “Adolescent Male Engages Online”