The BRILLIANT Festival
It was another fantastic year at the BRILLIANT Festivall and a pleasure to host a session which examined the impact of the Netflix miniseries Adolescence.
The true impact of Netflix smash-hit Adolescence!
Last month, smash-hit Netflix drama Adolescence, starring breakout sensation Owen Cooper beside Stephen Graham, landed a historic eight awards during a triumphant evening at the star-studded Emmys in Los Angeles.
But what was the true impact of the show - based around 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Cooper) and his family, friends and teachers after he is arrested for the murder of a schoolmate - on our education institutions?
At BRILLIANT, Professor Andy Miah chairs an immersive debate about the repercussions of Adolescence alongside Rubbi Bhogal-Wood, Doa Haider, Mike Nicholson and Hannah Ridgway, exploring what society must learn from the series, as well as the ever-changing and increasingly invasive digital lives of our teenagers.
Join our panel for an introspective and multi-layered conversation about the education provided for teenagers in a time of unprecedented technological advancement, and, ultimately, how the education sector has responded to the uncomfortable questions raised by Adolescence.
Here, Professor Andy Miah, Chair of Science Communication & Future Media at the University of Salford, discusses the legacy of Adolescence in education…
Back in the day, Adolescence would have been termed ‘a watercooler moment’ in broadcasting, in reference to the place where colleagues gathered and talked amongst other things about what they watched on the four, then five, linear TV channels the previous night.
But even in this later, on-demand age of streaming, the drama still led the national conversation with its unflinching, uncomfortable look at teenagers in the middle of the 2020s.
It is rare that a TV programme generates the same level of debate across all strata of society that Adolescence achieved. Yet the sheer number of opinions on the subject also raised many questions, particularly around digital technologies.
I have studied the political and social consequences of the series and what society has done to address them and will be talking about what I have found at the BRILLIANT Festival.
There is no doubt that the digital world has caused many problems for those growing up in the latter stages of the first quarter of the 21st century. They have access at their fingertips to such colossal amounts of data, people, platforms and ideas, and yet they have little guidance available to them on how to grow up in a digital world.
I’ll be looking at how schools can enhance the digital resilience of their pupils and the role of parents in a child’s digital education too. They can work in combination with educators to present a joint front which empowers young people - rather than restrict their digital journey.
There is little doubt that the world of digital can be extremely exciting for younger minds, despite it also being fraught with the risks posed by malign influences. I’ll also be looking at how we can harness this excitement and enthusiasm for all things digital while at the same time not losing sight of the unpleasantness that can lurk online.
Lastly, as more and more content is consumed than ever before, I’ll be examining the power of content creation as a confident, ambitious career for young lives rather than a place of fear, anxiety or harm.
The questions that Adolescence raised may make us as adults shift uneasily in our seats and there are similarly no easy answers. But we need to face up to the uncomfortable truths for the sake of the next generation, as digital will permeate every move they make.
Join Professor Andy Miah for What Adolescence Did at BRILLIANT on November 11th at ACC Liverpool.
With an agenda packed with CPD opportunities, live demonstrations and networking opportunities, BRILLIANT offers an unmissable opportunity for education professionals to learn, share and shape the future of education.
