I was at Xmas family dinner yesterday and my teenage nephew said him and his mates don’t watch any TV shows or movies, only Tik Tok.

The younger kids in the family aren’t allowed on social media or to have phones yet, so still watch popular kids TV and movies.

For twenty-somethings it’s a mix – lots of social media, plus maybe what’s trending on Netflix, with the occasional trip to the cinema.

So just wondering what it’s like in your families?

EDIT: Thanks for all the answers so far. To clarify, I’m interested in what specific content / channels / personalities / shows / movies are popular. Basically, what’s currently informing and entertaining our future adults?


36 comments

  1. Honestly? Probably largely the same things we were watching when I was a teenager (anime, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, Sopranos).

    There are newer shows that have come out since then but certain TV shows people will always be watching

  2. My kids 9 and 11 watch all sorts.
    Lots of shows on Netflix and YouTube.
    If it was up to them though it would only be YouTube.

    If I take there tablets away though and get snacks they will happily watch movies.
    I’ve recently been showing them 90s films from my childhood with mixed results

  3. I find you can really tell the difference between kids who only watch tiktok and those who also watch tv. The kids who watch only TikTok have no knowledge lol

  4. im 16 so i feel like im qualified to answer, anime is really popular and so are shows like dexter, breaking bad, stranger things, doctor who, marvel. also new films like wicked 😀

  5. A main concern for me would be the popularity of short-form videos if they then have an impact on attention span, such that they struggle to watch more long-form content like an hour long TV episode or a 2 hour film… Or even, widening it out, to difficulty concentrating for lengthy conversations or college lectures, etc.

  6. I’m a teacher and showed a film (of a book we’d read) to year 7 on the last day before Christmas and it was awful. They absolutely do not have any attention span and also couldn’t shut up – like they felt the need to commentate constantly. I asked them what they usually watch and they all said TikToks and shorts. It’s like they don’t have the attention span for a film. It was scary.

  8. They love finding relatively random stuff on Stremio, currently enjoying old episodes of Thundercats. Generally its more up to date stuff like Teen Titans and obviously a lot of Xmas films in recent weeks. No YouTube allowed here, that needs too much supervision and then suitable stuff is full of annoying young adults putting on stupid voices, just all kinds of nope.

  9. They watch crap where everyone says Bro.
    Mostly on YouTube.
    They don’t even watch good cartoons anymore.

  11. I was a teenager up until a couple months ago

    I enjoy watching television shows; breaking bad, the sopranos, better call saul, dexter etc

    Big fan of good movies too, especially horror and thriller films

    I like watching anime and k dramas too

    Also like watching sports stuff on youtube, premier league football, nba highlights etc

  12. My kids love Malcolm in the middle. It’s still funny, the jokes hold up and the 00s is back in fashion now anyway. They also like Wednesday.

  13. As a teenager (for only 3 more months), I generally watch cartoon shows / films and whatever other film has my attention at the time. I don’t have Tiktok but I do watch a lot of Youtube too.

  14. My teenager will watch insta reels and anime, but will also sit and watch films and TV. We all love The Traitors and look how successful it is with everyone watching it at the same time. Problem is, there isn’t much great TV out there right now

  15. These days (I am 19 and my brother is a little younger) it is mostly youtube. Much better content than most of what is on TV and I say this as someone sailing the high seas so I’m not limited on choice! Thankfully never got sucked into TikTok and I don’t like the shortform content at all. My family went through a phase of watching some older 80s and 90s movies at one point. Better than a lot of stuff these days

  17. I’ll just watch whatever I see on tiktok clips for tv and movies of like I saw a clip of sopranos thought it was funny, bought the boxset and watched it all, did the same with Dexter, Breaking Bad, prison break, full metal jacket, and plan to do the same with malcom in the middle

  18. I am a teenager

    I watch TV. Well, actually I use a mix of DVDs and streaming but that’s only because Freeview isn’t great, so I don’t watch a lot of live TV (I did a year or two ago watch Taskmaster and stuff live) but I do watch TV shows and films if you get what I mean.

    I got lots of DVDs of shows and films for Christmas (Veronica Mars, Pretty Little Liars, Legally Blonde, Ugly Betty, Scream Queens, Once Upon A Time, etc) and was just watching something before I typed this post.

    I do have YouTube and TikTok though.

  19. Films eg. Marvel, anime, series like Squid Games and Stranger Things. Younger ones are loving K Pop Demon Hunters.

  20. Same as our generation in that you’d have teens who only watch ITV2, and others were watching something like The West Wing.

    I think its sad if kids couldn’t emotionally invest in a TV show and only watch Tik Tok but i’m sure my grandparents looked down on teens in the 70’s watching TV instead of reading books. I just don’t know what knowledge or empathy comes with viral clickbait videos that don’t have any filter of good taste to run through.

  21. I have four nephews I’m guardian for. The youngest (8) likes some cartoons/kid shows. The middle two (11 & 12) love anime but don’t watch much else, the eldest (14) only watches YouTube and tiktok.

  24. My niece and nephews religiously watched kids YouTube, eventually their mum got sick of their poor behaviour, lack of manners and banned it, their attitude changed completely in a month. Now they watch a few things on netflix for a fixed amount of time as well as family friendly films, the eldest has a phone, no social media, the younger ones are still behind on their speech, all of them have horrendous handwriting, but all of them will remain focused on films, as well as solo pursuits like drawing and lego.

    Absolutely believe the baby talking brain rot shit they had on YouTube from morning to night disrupted their development.

  25. I’m not a teenager but I’m 22. I watch a fair amount of movies and tv, and also quite a lot of youtube. People around my age I know generally don’t watch much; movies and stuff are generally still pretty highly watched but it’s more of a set few that do frequently

  26. Thankfully none of the kids/teens in my family even have tik tok and actively hate it. They’ll watch current and old movies, YouTube, play computer and board games basically like I did.

  27. Professional teen here! Anime is popular, shows on netflix (squid game, dexter), kpop demon hunters (depends on the teen some ppl HATE it). YA crime books are popular at school (like Karen mcmanus stuff)

  28. hi! i’m a teenager rn and i often watch older films such as labyrinth, neverending story and gremlins. but, generically i know that a lot of people my age are into things like dexter and stranger things- also, i think that tiktok and other social media kind of fuels their lives. also anime is often mentioned in school and such.

  29. My eldest is twelve, and we’ve tried to restrict short form as much as possible. He’s not really much of a watcher in general, preferring to game instead, but he has watched all but the latest Stranger Things, and he’s occasionally sat and watched South Park or Rick and Morty with me when I’ve had it on, or Taskmaster with his step mum. If he’s got anything on himself it’s more likely to be a 4 hour let’s play of Fortnite or Minecraft that short form stuff, which I’ll take.

  32. 19m, probably watch primarily British comedies from within last 20 years (peep show, fresh meat, it crowd, office UK). Id say peep show especially is very popular with people going uni and stuff like Inbetweeners was very popular in my highschool.

    aswell as a lot of history documentaries/shows (mainly Roman/viking stuff). Then sorta prestige TV (succession, sopranos, the wire) which I think are pretty popular among teens. Crime related stuff particularly, breaking bad, top boy, Dexter etc. although seemingly only from the perspective of criminals, I don’t know many young people watching stuff from the perspective of police or detectives, typical detective dramas and mysteries (true detective, broadchurch, the numerous British detective dramas).

    And then obviously there’s a lot of people who only watch tiktok and sort of American television. A lot of young people I worked with in McDonald’s only seemed to watch sorta tiktok then for actually telly: office US, greys anatomy, Dexter, house, friends.

    Edit: Also anime! Loads of teens are watching anime now, went from something people in my highschool got bullied over from year 7 to most people having watched some kind of anime by college. Id say Attack on titan has been a big factor in this.

  33. My 14 year old brother told me today that he’s been watching “everybody hates Chris” online!

  34. I work with kids and the constant ‘Children are TikTok robots’ is a bit overblown on Reddit imo. Put on an animated Netflix Christmas movie the other day and they all sat there happily and watched.

  35. Personally my teenager watches a large mix of thing but it does tend to be things that she’ll see stuff about on TikTok first for example she watches the walking dead and she only started it because her dad watched it and because she saw a load of TikTok’s on it

  36. So my eldest (17) watches a lot of YouTube shows, Hazbin Hotel and a few others. She tends to watch older shows on prime or netflix, at the minute shes watching House.

    My son (13) has always watched regular shows, South Park, Invincible, Walking Dead, Wallace and Gromit are some of his faves. Sometimes he watches YouTube gamers, but that is mainly just for background noise. He has Autism so if he is researching something, like recently he wanted to know all about pet rats, he will watch YouTube for documentaries or information videos.

    But my youngest (10) apart from Stranger things and Wednesday and maybe the odd film spends most of her time on YouTube. She watches Jessie Vee who talks about nostalgic toys and mysteries, she watches a lot of ghost hunting stuff, she loves Kris and Celina, Sam and Colby, make up tutorials, prank videos, family vloggers like FGTV. Some minecraft and roblox videos, sensory videos like people squashing makeup and stuff. And some YouTube series but I dont k ow the names. She does tend to watch YouTube shorts whilst going to sleep so that can be anything tbh.

Leave a Reply