From Euphoria (2019) to Sex Education (2019), there have been many attempts to capture the “modern teenager.” These series deserve credit for addressing issues often ignored in older shows: mental health, sexuality, gender identity, and the messy reality of growing up. But for every honest moment, there's one that feels overly stylized. Life isn’t always glitter, trauma, and poetic monologues. Often, it’s just awkward conversations and too much screen time.
Reducing them to buzzwords like “woke” or “chronically online” makes even well-meaning shows feel disconnected.
According to the BBC’s Have film and TV got Gen Z all wrong?, many portrayals fall into the trap of treating Gen Z as a single aesthetic instead of a diverse group of individuals. Reducing them to buzzwords like “woke” or “chronically online” makes even well-meaning shows feel disconnected. Most writers behind these stories aren’t from Gen Z themselves, as if knowing a few memes could replace real experience.
Too often, Gen Z is shown as screen-obsessed, emotionally unstable, or disconnected from reality, a generation lost in its devices. These portrayals ignore the complexity of growing up in a world shaped by crisis, rapid change, and constant visibility. Focusing only on extremes flattens a generation into caricature and reinforces stereotypes that divide young people and adults even further.
Still, it’s not all doom and doomscrolling. Series like Heartstopper (2022) and Reservation Dogs (2021) show that quiet, authentic representation can be powerful. They capture the subtle moments, the humour, the uncertainty, the real connections that make youth feel real.
Television may never keep up with the pace of Gen Z’s constantly evolving culture, but maybe it doesn’t need to. What truly matters is a willingness to listen, to let young people tell their own stories, in their own words. Because if there’s one thing this generation doesn’t need, it’s yet another adult trying to speak for them.