Teen-Agers (Teenagers)
The New Yorker Interview
Jonathan Haidt Wants You to Take Away Your Kid’s Phone
The social psychologist discusses the “great rewiring” of children’s brains, why social-media companies are to blame, and how to reverse course.
The New Yorker Documentary
A Teen-Ager’s Quest to Manage His O.C.D. in “Lost in My Mind”
In Charles Frank’s short film, a young man offers a candid look at life with O.C.D. and his experiences with exposure therapy.
The Front Row
“Bottoms” Is a Major Film but Not a Good One
A flimsy high-school comedy provides just enough of a vehicle for a generation-defining cast.
The New Yorker Interview
The Parent of a Teen-Ager Is an Emotional-Garbage Collector
Lisa Damour is helping families navigate adolescence at a moment of crisis.
Page-Turner
Max Porter’s Novel of Troubled and Enchanted Youth
The teen-aged protagonist of “Shy” is caught between helpless sensitivity and impulsive violence.
Our Columnists
The Particular Misery of College-Admissions TikTok
A common theory of teen unhappiness says that kids these days are under an inordinate amount of pressure to compete. The evidence is all over social media.
Letter from the Southwest
The Horrifying Epidemic of Teen-Age Fentanyl Deaths in a Texas County
Students have overdosed during class, in bathrooms, and in an elementary-school parking lot.
The Front Row
“Palm Trees and Power Lines,” Reviewed: An Arachnid Groomer and His Abstract Prey
Jamie Dack’s début feature is confident and inspired, but adheres too much to an existing template.
Screening Room
An Abortion Hidden from Parental View in “Memoir of a Veering Storm”
In Sofia Georgovassili’s short film, drawn from life, a teen-ager and her friends go on a pivotal excursion in the course of a school day.
Screening Room
Two Rites of Passage in “Black Slide”
In Uri Lotan’s animated short, a teen-age boy musters the courage to face a giant waterslide, and a serious loss.
The New Yorker Documentary
The Inner World of South African “Drummies”
Jessie Zinn’s dreamy documentary short follows the drum majorettes of Cape Town’s Groote Schuur Primary School as they cope with COVID, fear, and the ironies inherent to being a teen.
Double Take
Sunday Reading: Adolescent Envy
From the magazine’s archive: a selection of pieces about adolescence and teen-age yearning.
Culture Desk
There Is More Than One Way to Be Exhausted by “Turning Red”
In its attempt to celebrate Chinese Canadian culture and destigmatize menstruation, the Pixar film manages to be both hyper-specific and alienating.
Shouts & Murmurs
“Yellowjackets,” but with Other TV Teens
“PEN15”: Maya and Anna scare off any potential rescuers but realize that they don’t need anyone else.
Cultural Comment
The Question We’ve Stopped Asking About Teen-Agers and Social Media
Should they be using these services at all?
U.S. Journal
The Race to Investigate a Coronavirus Outbreak at a Georgia Prep School
Georgia reopened early, and the graduating seniors of the Lovett School celebrated at parties large and small. Then came the positive COVID-19 tests, the media coverage, and the refusals to speak to contact tracers.
On Television
“Never Have I Ever,” Reviewed: Hotness and Hotheads
Like the socially awkward teen-age nerd at its center, the Netflix coming-of-age series is charming but maladroit, and a little exhausting.
Culture Desk
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” a Human Tale of Reproductive Rights
Eliza Hittman’s film explores how an alienated young person in difficult circumstances is kept from articulating her needs and desires by her naïveté and the cruel diktats of the world around her.
The Front Row
“Never Rarely Sometimes Always,” Reviewed: Eliza Hittman’s Ingenious Portrait of the Bureaucracy of Abortion
The film is not just a drama of observation but a drama of radical subjectivity, in which the protagonist finds her inner life extruded, pressed into connection with the complex ways of the world.
Cultural Comment
Netflix and Suicide: The Disturbing Example of “13 Reasons Why”
Many studies have linked portrayals of suicide in the media to increases in the suicide rate. Why did Netflix choose to ignore this?