Reality bites! Teens want a new genre on screen: Nomantasy

This year's Teens and Screens Report from the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA shows that teens - plus the 18- to 24-year-old demographic advertisers predominantly market to - look to media to be entertained and escape from reality, particularly through hopeful fantasy content featuring platonic relationships rather than sex and romance.

More than a third, or 36.2%, of adolescents surveyed said they prefer to see content featuring fantasy worlds over stories about the rich and famous (7.2%), real-life issues that impact society (13.9%), relatable personal issues (24.2%) or other genres (3.3%). The popularity of fantasy content in the age group grew 56% compared to last year. For the third year in a row, hopeful and uplifting content showing people beating the odds came in first place.

"Having been exposed to huge stressors during formative years like COVID-19 and 24-hour news cycles detailing incidents of mass shootings, divisive politics and war, young people are overwhelmingly experiencing crisis fatigue," said Yalda T. Uhls, founder and executive director of the center, co-author of the study and adjunct professor in UCLA's psychology department. "This generation cares deeply about many social issues, but they also need a break mentally. It makes sense that we see many of them looking to the media for fantasy and stories with messages of hope to get relief from the many challenges that come with the reality of being a young person today."

Among adolescents, 56.7% said they watch TV and movies to entertain themselves, while the top reason for using social media was to escape and take their minds off things. In 2023, there was a drastic rise in the popularity of romantic fantasy novels for teens and young adults, with the #romantasy hashtag gaining more than 475 million views on TikTok. When it comes to TV and movies in 2024, findings from the report suggest that young people want fantasy on screen too - but without the sex and romance.

A majority, or 63.5%, of adolescents once again expressed a preference for stories focused on friendships and platonic relationships (up from 51.5% last year) on screen, with 46% saying they want to see more aromantic and/or asexual characters (up from 39% last year). According to 62.4% of participants, sex and sexual content are not needed to advance the plot of TV shows and/or movies (up from 47.5% last year).

"Our findings really seemed to solidify a trend we found emerging in our data last year - that young people are tired of seeing the same dated and unrelatable romantic tropes on screen," said Alisha J. Hines, director of research at the center. "Teens and young adults want to see stories that more authentically reflect a full spectrum of nuanced relationships."

Similar to past years, social media was reported by nearly a third of adolescents as the most authentic media space (31.1%). However, almost half of young people surveyed (45.1%) said they cringe when they watch on-screen portrayals of social media. Adolescents were 7.5 times more likely to agree than disagree that creatives could benefit from consulting with them to accurately portray how social media is used.

"In our modern world of digital scams, artificial intelligence and altered images, young people are more cautious than ever. We can't stand inauthenticity - in the media we consume or in the people around us," said Atlas Burrus, the center's research manager and lead Gen Z author of the report. "We're looking for genuine stories of hope and real connection."

Young people appear to be finding that sense of authenticity and connection through gaming and going to the movies. Despite a widespread narrative about the "dying" movie business, adolescents selected "go to see a movie on opening weekend" as their top choice when asked what they would prefer to do if money was no object - even above sports and watching newly released shows or movies on a personal device at home. Among adolescents who play games, 68.4% said they found community.

The center included gaming in the annual report for the first time and found it to be a popular activity. Only 12% of adolescents surveyed said they don't play video games. When asked what they most prefer to do when they have free time, 39.2% of adolescents chose video games over watching a TV show/movie (33.3%) or scrolling on social media (27.5%).

While young people appreciate the role video games play in helping them relax and connect with others, they appear to crave more authentic inclusive representation in games. Eighty percent of adolescents said they want to see more characters that looked like them; 50.6% of adolescents who play video games said it's difficult to find games with characters that look like them.

"My generation wants to engage with entertainment that reflects our lived experiences, including the complex parts of our unique, diverse identities," said Bubba Harris, the center's Youth Media Representation program manager and a self-described Gen Z gamer. "The best way to start representing us better? Give us a seat at the table. Talk to us."

The comprehensive annual portrait of adolescence and media surveyed 1,644 young people ages 10-24 (reflecting the ages of adolescence defined by the National Academy of Sciences) in August, with 100 teens from each age bracket taking part. Respondents closely reflected the 2020 U.S. census in terms of race and gender. The survey was supported by Funders for Adolescent Science Translation, Roblox and Disney.

Tags: health | social sciences | behavior | media