JOIN the fight to give every uk teenager somewhere to socialise in real life
Our teenagers are suffering from record levels of loneliness, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.
Why?
Because they’ve been swallowed up by social media and starved of places to hang out together in real life. We’ve thrust the most addictive device ever designed into their hands at the same time as taking away their youth centres, their leisure centres and their high-street hang-outs, leaving them no viable alternative to a social life lived online.
We’ve engineered our teenagers out of society, hooked them on their screens and consigned them to isolated existences lived through social media platforms instead of face-to-face with friends.
The debate about banning smartphones for young people is now at the centre of the nation’s newsfeeds. But it’s not enough. It fundamentally fails to address the root of the issue: teenagers are holed up in their bedrooms with only Snapchat and Fortnite for company because they’ve NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.
Look around. Ask yourself…
WHERE ARE OUR TEENAGERS MEANT TO GO?
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
We refuse to lose a generation of teenagers to a mental health crisis whilst we sit here hoping the government might step in and looking out at high streets that are awash with vacant commercial spaces. So we’re taking matters into our own hands.
We’re launching the # IRL REVOLUTION.
It’s a parent-led movement to convert empty high street properties into incredible youth membership venues, giving teenagers a compelling alternative to their screens and a safe space to hang-out with friends.
This isn’t about creating youth clubs as we once knew them - a dusty ping-pong table in the back of a church hall. This is a totally new model for youth services. A parent-funded model for youth hospitality that means we can create incredible, inspiring spaces on our local high streets that provide a genuinely appealing alternative to doomscrolling and maintaining Snapchat streaks.
A new model that can fill the void left by government funding cuts and provide mass access to inspiring spaces for teenagers.
Because no amount of charity funding can compete with TikTok.
join the # irl revolUtion
We’re asking local councils, landlords, businesses and developers to free up vacant commercial space on our local high streets so we can repurpose it as inspiring venues for teenagers to socialise IRL.
Because we don’t need more Costa Coffees. We don’t need more Tesco Expresses. And we certainly don’t need more vape shops. We need landlords, developers and commercial agents to try something new, something innovative, something which will rescue a generation from the destructive impact of the digital-by-default society we’ve built for them.
But we’re struggling to get them to take notice.
They don’t think it’s worth the effort. And they don’t think our teenagers need somewhere safe to be together. They think our teenagers are happy holed in their bedrooms struggling with social anxiety, and that we parents don’t care enough to do anything about it.
So we need parents up and down the land to make our voices heard, demonstrate that we’re desperate for change and determined to make this happen.
The more people who join US, the more IMPACT WE CAN HAVE.
Sign up to add your voice to the movement to give every UK teenager an inspiring space to socialise in real life.