Editor for the Netherlands at IamExpat Media. Simone studied Genetics and Zoology at the University of Pretoria in South Africa before moving to the Netherlands, where she has been working as a writer and editor since 2022. One thing she loves more than creating content is consuming it, mainly by reading books by the dozen. Other than being a book dragon, she is also a nature lover and enjoys hiking and animal training. Read more
Released in March 2025, Adolescence is about a 13-year-old boy who is arrested for murdering a girl in his class, and has been watched by more than 114 million people worldwide. Dutch media institute Beeld en Geluid will work with Netflix to develop teaching materials on social media and peer pressure to go along with the four-part miniseries.
Dutch secondary schools will then have the option to show the series in class - all teachers need to do is log into their Netflix accounts. Usually, Netflix does not allow public screenings like this, but the streaming platform has made an exception, reports NOS.
GroenLinks-PvdA MP Barbara Kathmann initiated the plan to include the British series and the themes it covers in the classroom for children from the age of 12, following the example of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who believes the hit series should be shown in all schools. "By watching and discussing this series in the classroom, we can make young people more resilient in a safe setting and prevent them from being sucked into the “manosphere” and its damaging consequences," Kathmann told NOS.
An increasing number of young men are being negatively influenced by the “manosphere”, with content from social media influencers such as Andrew Tate, which promotes toxic masculinity and radical misogynistic ideas.
Earlier this month, General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) director general Erik Akerboom urged parents to watch Adolescence with their teenage children, saying that the internet is “a nursery” for radicalising young people and that the series accurately portrays “how you can end up in a parallel world”.
Eppo van Nispen tot Sevenaer, director of Beeld en Geluid calls Adolescence “ideally suited to start the conversation with young people about the role of media in their lives. Precisely because young people's worlds are sometimes far removed from those of parents and teachers, it is important to learn to have that conversation."