Recently, has been a lot of discourse surrounding Netflix’s new series Adolescence, which dives deep into the harsh realities of teenage life including bullying, peer pressure, school violence, and the digital culture that shapes how young people interact.
The series doesn’t just tell a story it asks important questions. As co-creator Graham said in an interview with Netflix (Everything to Know About One-Shot Crime Drama Adolescence, s.d.), one of their aims was to explore:
“What is happening to our young men these days, and what are the pressures they face from their peers, from the internet, and from social media?”
One aspect that stood out to me personally was how Adolescence explores the growing communication gap between adults and teenagers, especially when it comes to technology, slang, and social media culture.
In Episode 2, a key scene highlights just how unaware adults can be about what’s really going on in the lives of young people. The episode opens with detectives visiting the school where both the victim and the alleged perpetrator were students. One of the detectives has a son, Adam, who attends the same school. Despite this personal connection, the detective seems completely disconnected from the world of teenagers. Even when a fight breaks out during a school evacuation, the adults seem lost and out of touch.
It isn’t until minute 27 that the detective begins to understand anything. Adam pulls his dad aside and says:
“It’s not going well, ‘cause you’re not getting it. You’re not reading what they’re doing, what’s happening.”
The father is confused until Adam begins breaking down what’s really happening on social media.
He asks his dad if he’s checked Instagram. When the detective says yes, Adam says:
“So you’ve seen what she wrote, she seems nice, right?”
“Isn’t she,” the dad says.
“You see the dynamite, that exploding red pill.” Adam replies.
The father thinks his son is referring to The Matrix, but Adam explains: the red pill is now used as a kind of online call to action “I see the truth”. He then introduces his dad to the so-called “80/20 rule,” a belief that 80% of women are only attracted to the top 20% of men. According to Adam, the post they saw on Instagram is calling Jame (the alleged perpetrator) an incel. The detective is confused.
“How can you be involuntarily celibate at 13?” he asks. “Who isn’t celibate at 13?”
Adam explains: “She’s saying he always will be a virgin forever.”
What’s even more shocking is how much meaning is packed into emojis. Adam asks his dad:
“What color hearts do you text Mom?”
“Red.”
“Red means love. Purple means horny. Yellow means ‘I’m interested.’ Pink means ‘interested but not in sex.’ Orange? ‘You’re gonna be fine.’ Everything has a meaning!”
These weren’t just emojis. They were coded attacks used by classmates to bully the victim without any adult noticing. Even the detective, a trained professional, missed it. To him, it all looked harmless, even kind.
That 10-minute scene shows how today's violence often doesn’t look like violence. It’s not just punches or harsh words, it’s posts, memes, and emojis.
As educators, parents, and even peers, we need to catch up. If we’re not fluent in the digital slang teens are using, we’ll continue missing the signs and the consequences could be deadly.
Adolescencia | Sitio oficial de Netflix. (s.d.). Recuperat 22 maig 2025, de https://www.netflix.com/es/title/81756069
Everything to Know About One-Shot Crime Drama Adolescence. (s.d.). Netflix Tudum. Recuperat 22 maig 2025, de https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/adolescence-cast-release-date-photos-news
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