So… on the 30th of April, alongside thousands of other folk, we filed into the quite remarkable setting of the Union Chapel, to listen to man of the moment and best-selling author of The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt.

And quite the drilling he got. Sarah Montague, she of World at One and Today on Radio 4 fame had absolutely no intention of giving him an easy ride.

Thoroughly put through his paces, Sarah challenged him on the scale of the teenage mental health problem, his central thesis around the ‘great rewiring of childhood’, the importance of play, and the vital role that exposure to risk and fear have in developing social resilience amongst young people.

More of which, below…

So it’s clear that the mental health crisis facing our teenagers is real and present. And that the rapid rewiring of the adolescent years through phone-first socialising is at the root of the issue.

But it’s also clear that the loss of face-to-face time, the loss of time hanging-out together - with all the social risk and jeopardy that that entails - means there is no opportunity for our teenagers to develop their social resilience, to learn how to confidently navigate the culture around them, which is leaving them chronically anxious as a result.

So we took the opportunity to ask Jonathan directly: in a world where youth services have been decimated, high streets left to rot, and leisure services cynically culled, what options are our teenagers left with? Where can they go to be together, and learn to be themselves? And what should we do about it?

We were blown away by his answer. He cut straight to the chase…

• The # IRL REVOLUTION couldn’t be more needed.

• The # IRL REVOLUTION couldn’t be more essential.

• The # IRL REVOLUTION will be totally transformational.

• And, most importantly, it will take an entrepreneurial, commercial solution to give our teenagers what they so desperately need: a safe space to be together and be themselves.

If you agree with us (and Jonathan!) that every UK teenager deserves a space to socialise IRL, then don’t forget to spread the gospel.

SHARE THIS BLOG amongst your whatsapp groups, your networks, indeed anyone you feel cares about our teenagers.

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ADD YOUR VOICE by tagging us in with #IRLrevolution whenever you spot anyone else talking about this issue.

Help us build this army. Because every extra person who joins the fight to give teenagers somewhere to socialise in real life helps helps our voice to be heard and our impact to be felt.

Vive the # IRL REVOLUTION!