Young adults: from content consumers to content creators (by Lucía)

 Young Adults (YA) have been chosen as a major target audience for many companies worldwide. From magazines, such as Girls’ life, Teen People, and Seventeen, to TV shows such as Elite, Skins, and Atypical, the YA market has been considered a very profitable business. However, the adult creators of these products usually have as their main objective to increase their profits and not so much to accompany YAs in this stage of their lives. As technology evolves, YAs are able to create their own content, which has expanded through social media.

According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, the number of teens that are internet users has increased in the last few years. Additionally, the use of the internet has been intensifying among YAs. Online access to platforms and websites has given many youngsters the possibility to become famous Youtubers, Instagrammers, or Podcasters by just using their mobile phones to record videos or audios. Nonetheless, youngsters are still portrayed as content consumers rather than content creators. 

A popular podcast among American YAs is `This Teenage Life´, founded in 2018 by an educator, Molly Josephs, and a group of YAs from an American school named High Tech High in San Diego, CA. As they claim, their podcast, which is made by and for YAs, is “about the ideas, stories, and unique perspectives of teenagers in the middle of their own growth as humans.” `This Teenage Life´ is an example that although YAs are often seen as mere consumers and not producers of meaningful content, they are capable of creating products that not only appeal to but also help YAs to cope with their insecurities.

The young creators of `This Teenage Life´ dedicate every edition of the podcast to a different topic that they consider to be of interest to YAs. For instance, some of the episode titles are `Puberty´, `Loneliness´, `Fears about Adulthood´, `Love in High School´, and `Friends problems´.

In an episode named This teenage life behind the scenes some of the contributors of this podcast decided to talk about their experiences and why they think that `This teenage life´ is so successful among YAs. Stella, a 15-year-old girl reflected:

Youth often gets ignored. It’s difficult for young people to have someone to relate to. I think that this is something that makes this podcast really powerful.

As a YA herself, Stella knows how it feels to be in this stage of life and to cope with one’s insecurities. For instance, in the episode named `Friends problems´, uploaded on May 30th 2022, the young podcasters discussed their feelings about losing friendships. One of the young girls, who is part of this podcast’s staff, was able to expose her story: 

I had this friend I was really really close to for a long time, he’s not my best friend anymore. Sometimes I look back on it, and I just feel like… sad.

By devoting an entire episode to friendship, ´This Teenage Life’ creators acknowledge the importance of friends during adolescence. As it is stated by the Newport Academy 1 , “Teen friendships help young people feel a sense of acceptance and belonging.”

In another very interesting episode called Puberty, uploaded on January 25th 2022, some of the members of ´This teenage life´ decided to express their thoughts about puberty and body image. As a trigger for this episode, one of the girls stated, “I feel that teen girls, we have a lot of pressure to look like a certain body image, when a lot of us don’t look like that.” Owing to the fact that adolescence is the period when a person goes through a great number of changes, expectations connected with body image are a critical issue. The influence of the media when it comes to appearance can deeply affect YAs since “Negative body image is tied to higher rates of eating disorders, depression, low self-esteem, and issues with adequate nutrition in teens” (Chopp, 2021) As it can be observed, topics related to puberty and relationships in 'This teenage life’ are not only discussed from a YA point of view but also connected to changes that YAs undergo during this stage of their lives.

By exploring YAs personal experiences, these young podcasters are able to accompany other YAs that are struggling with their own insecurities. Cloe Moreno, This Teenage Life artist and contributor, has expressed her thoughts about how useful she believes this podcast is for YAs. She states that “It can be easy to think ´I'm the only one with this issue’ but hearing other young people share their experiences can normalize conversations around sensitive subjects and make the world feel less lonely, less big, and a little more loving.”

Cloe is not the only YA who believes this, since This Teenage Life creators receive daily emails from their listeners who express how the podcast has helped them in different ways. For instance, Dylan has written, “ (...) listening to teens talk about teen issues helped me a lot and also made me realize how I’m not ALONE.” In another email from Ashlyn, she expressed, “You guys give me such inspiration and confidence. I have been trying to focus on myself and self love and you guys are a huge help.” Another listener, a 13-year-old girl named Marley, sent an email to express her gratitude to This Teenage Life team by saying:

I have been going through rough times (...) But listening to you has gotten me to find the best out of myself and think more positively (...) I'm still struggling a little but now I know how to make myself feel better. And I love how these aren't talked about by only one or two people, lots of people get to talk about their experiences. I just want to thank you for helping me throughout this and helping me find ways to improve!

As Dylan, Ashlyn and Marley, there are many YAs that are in need of help and company. By creating this podcast, its creators have helped several youngsters to feel less lonely. Since the YA market is considered a highly lucrative market, company owners have developed a great number of marketing strategies to target new consumers. Nevertheless, most of the products that are said to be for YA are created from an adult perspective instead of a YA one. Even though in many cases market research is carefully conducted to attract YAs attention, the producers of the content are still adults. Although the growth of social media has allowed YAs to start producing their own content, adults still see them as just potential customers. This Teenage Life proves that YAs should not be labeled as mere consumers of products since they are capable of producing meaningful content that appeals to and helps other YAs in this difficult stage of their lives.

1 A teen & adolescent mental health clinic located in the USA.