The last thing high school and college kids want to see in a movie or TV show? Sex.
That’s according to new data from the “Teens and Screens” study conducted by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles, which surveyed people ages 14 to 24 about their preferences in movies, TV shows, video games and social media.
The study found that a solid 63.5% of participants want content focused on platonic relationships — “nomance,” as the study calls it — instead of romance or sex. That’s a big leap from last year’s 51.5%.
But here’s the twist: what they say they want and what they’re watching don’t exactly match up. Some of the most popular shows with younger viewers include “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” “Emily in Paris” and “Tell Me Lies” — all of which lean heavily into steamy, romantic plotlines.
But Yalda T. Uhls, the founder and chief executive of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers, which is based at UCLA, has a theory about that.
“The problem is often that Hollywood storytellers use their own memories of their teenage years or what their children in Los Angeles are doing, and that does not remotely represent what young people really want,” she explained. “The programming currently being offered is based on what adults think they want, and if they have no other choice, teens will have to choose that.”
So, while young people might be craving more friendly, relatable content, for now, they’re stuck with what Hollywood thinks is relatable.
