JOIN the fight to give every uk teenager somewhere to socialise
in real life
Teenagers are suffering from record levels of loneliness, anxiety, self-harm and suicide.
Why?
Because they’ve been starved of places to hang out together in real life and swallowed up by social media.
We’ve taken away their youth centres, their leisure centres and their high-street hang-outs, leaving them nowhere to socialise face-to-face. And we’ve thrust screens into their hands and consigned them to isolated existences lived through social media platforms.
The debate about social media regulation is at the centre of the nation’s newsfeeds, but that’s not the whole solution. We need to address the root of the issue: teenagers are holed up in their bedrooms with only Instagram and Fortnite for company because they’ve NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
We refuse to lose a generation of teenagers to a mental health crisis while we sit here hoping the government might step in. So we’re taking matters into our own hands.
We’re launching the # IRL REVOLUTION.
It’s a movement to convert empty high street properties into incredible youth membership venues, giving teenagers a compelling alternative to a social-life lived through a screen and a safe and inspiring space to hang-out with friends.
This isn’t about 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 the provision of youth spaces. A model where parent subscriptions fund incredible spaces on our local high streets that provide a genuinely compelling alternative to the isolation of a social life lived online. A model that can fill the void left by government funding cuts and the death of the high street and provide mass access to inspiring spaces for teenagers.
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. 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 councils, landlords, developers and commercial agents to try something new, something innovative, something commercially viable enough to be self-sustaining and scalable.
Because teenagers deserve safe and inspiring places on their local high street to meet with friends. Just like everybody else.
IT’s TIME WE MADE A DIFFERENCE
We’re determined to make the world sit up and take notice of the chronic lack of spaces to hang-out face to face with friends if you’re under the age of 18.
That’s why we’ve taken to the streets to signpost the thoroughly uninspiring options that remain in our local communities for teenagers to socialise.
So keep your eyes peeled for one of our Authorised Teenaged Socialising Area (ATSA) signs appearing in a dreary park, dingy bus shelter or dodgy street corner somewhere near you.
And if you care about the mental health and future happiness of our teenagers, add your voice to ours by telling us about an area that’s crying out for more safe and inspiring spaces for teenagers to socialise.
Because the more voices that join the revolution, the more impact we can have.