When the British drama Adolescence hit screens in March of this year, it became an instant watercooler hit, attracting record numbers of viewers and eventually scooping eight Emmy Awards.
Perhaps more importantly, the chilling miniseries — about a 13-year-old who murders a classmate after being exposed to and influenced by online hate groups — was a wake-up call for plenty of parents who watched, sparking frank family conversations around the world.
Adolescence’s impact is proof of the power of TV to entertain and inform, which is why psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg encourages parents to use it to provide teachable moments for kids ahead of social media bans coming into effect on December 10.
“Stories and films are an ideal way to help the ‘medicine go down’,” Dr Carr-Gregg explains. “When young people watch characters grappling with the same online pressures they face — whether it’s the comparison trap, cyber-bullying or screen addiction — it gives parents a gentle, non-threatening way to start a conversation.”
Clinical psychologist Dr Anastasia Hronis, author of 2024’s The Dopamine Brain, suggests it is never too early to start speaking with children about how they navigate the digital world.
“By late primary school or early adolescence (around ages eight to 12) most children are already aware of or exposed to social media, so it’s important to start warning them about online risks and safe behaviours from a young age,” she explains.
Watching programs which are matched to children’s maturity levels can help them digest the risks and pitfalls of too much social media, too soon.
For a preschooler, a segment featuring Sesame Street’s Elmo talking about using the computer wisely can lay the foundations for a healthy tech relationship later on, while a drama like SBS’ The Hunting, which details the fallout of a nude teen photo, can spark greater awareness about the more serious consequences of modern digital life.
“Shows like Insight, Gossip Girl, or The Hunting can help make tricky topics around social media easier to understand by the ways in which they showcase complex issues surrounding the digital world,” Dr Hronis says.
“These shows may need an adult or teacher to help explain what’s realistic and what’s exaggerated. The lessons are most effective when someone helps make sense of the issues afterwards.”
Marketing guru Todd Sampson – who likens the smartphone to a “modern-day hypodermic needle – says making his 2022 docuseries Mirror Mirror: Love & Hate made him reconsider his own relationship with technology; he has since turned off all notifications and deleted all social media apps from his phone.
“Mirror Mirror was designed to be watched by parents and kids together — not just for entertainment, though I like to think it is — but mainly for conversation,” he says. “The aim was to make complex, uncomfortable topics accessible.”
One of the most shocking moments of Mirror Mirror was a ‘sting’ on chat service Omegle, where an adult pretended to be a young teen.
“What happened was gross, disturbing, and deeply revealing,” Sampson says. “Soon after Mirror Mirror aired, Omegle was shut down. If we played even a tiny part in that, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Here are 10 films and TV shows to help kickstart conversations about switching off and staying safe – whether you are raising preschoolers, tweens or teenagers.
SESAME STREET (Netflix, G)
From racism to HIV, the pioneering children’s program has never shied away from tackling grown-up issues in an age-appropriate way. In more recent years, the Muppet Workshop has created segments (accessible on the show’s website and on YouTube) to help children make smart choices about technology. “Short-form programs like Sesame Street are brilliant because they model empathy, inclusion and basic digital safety without scaring [children],” Dr Carr Gregg says. “They teach that kindness and respect matter online just as much as in the playground — and parents can reinforce that message simply by watching together and talking afterwards.”
EMBRACE KIDS (iTunes, G)
Body positivity champion and 2023 Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt is the brains behind this 2022 doco aimed at kids aged between eight and 14.
Youngster and celebrities – including Celeste Barber, Jameela Jamil and Chloe Hayden – open up about their experiences with body shaming and bullying.
“The film had been so well received, but the number one piece of feedback that I kept hearing was: ‘I wish I’d seen this film when I was younger’,” Brumfitt has said about her passion project.
GOSSIP GIRL (Prime Video, MA 15+)
This beloved 2007-2012 series starring Blake Lively and Leighton Meester centred on spoiled New York students whose personal lives are detailed by an unseen blogger, but beneath the glamorous fashions and salacious storylines was an overarching message about privacy that parents can tackle whilst taking a nostalgic stroll down memory lane with their kids.
THE HUNTING (SBS on Demand, M)
The lives of four Sydney high school students, their teachers and parents are torn apart by a nude teen photo scandal in this 2019 drama starring Asher Keddie and Richard Roxburgh.
Inspired by the #MeToo movement, it offers a gateway to conversations around online consent and privacy, and highlights laws that can be enforced when explicit images are shared via text or email.
SEXTING IN SUBURBIA (Tubi, PG13)
When her daughter Dina (Jenn Proske) kills herself, her devastated mum Rachel (Liz Vassey) goes looking for answers and discovers the teenager was a victim of cyber bullying in this 2012 movie that deals with adult themes like suicide and revenge porn in the guise of a midday family movie.
INSIGHT: YOUR BRAIN ON TECH (SBS on Demand)
Dr Hronis was one of the experts interviewed in this investigation into the impact of technology on young brains.
Alongside a parent pledging to keep her kids off smartphones until they turn 16, Dr Hronis details the parallels between poker machines and social media platforms.
Addiction aside, Dr Hronis believes that kids who use social media to stay connected to their friends would find it hardest to adjust to the bans.
A MILLION HITS (Tubi, PG/M)
In this 2018 film, which deals with mob mentality and the price of chasing fame and popularity, a clique of teens begins bullying other girls to secure online notoriety.
Dr Carr Gregg says these sorts of programs can be an opening for parents to get their kids to open up about their own playground politics: “Instead of lecturing, it’s an emotional Trojan horse.
When a story resonates, it opens the door for genuine conversation between parents and kids that might otherwise never happen.”
I LOVE YOU, NOW DIE: THE COMMONWEALTH VS MICHELLE CARTER (Prime Video, MA15+)
When the seemingly grieving girlfriend of Conrad Roy III was revealed to have urged the teenager to take his own life in a stream of texts, it made headlines around the world.
The shocking case spawned the true crime miniseries The Girl from Plainville starring Elle Fanning, along with this 2018 documentary exploring mental health, technology and whether someone can be responsible for the suicide of another.
CYBERHATE WITH TARA MOSS (ABC iView)
After finding herself the target of online trolls, author Tara Moss channelled her frustration into this six-part documentary series, spotlighting the science and the impact of cyber bullies.
She reveals three-quarters of Australians who are under 30 experience online abuse. And about one in 10 young Australian women have experienced “revenge porn”, where partners post sexual images of them online without their permission.
LAW & ORDER: SVU (Binge, MA15+)
This long-running police procedural features crimes that feel ripped from the headlines; in more recent years, many have delved into the devastating downsides of the internet.
In the season 19 episode ‘No Good Reason’, Detective Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) leads a search for a girl who went missing after being bullied online.
THE SOCIAL DILEMMA (Netflix, M)
This doco/drama details the ways our brains are being manipulated (and even rewired) by algorithms designed to make us buy products and buy into distorted ideas about the world, ourselves, and each other. Interviews with real whistleblowers who worked inside some of the world’s biggest and most powerful tech companies are presented alongside a fictional drama about an ordinary suburban family whose lives are increasingly and adversely affected by time spent online.
