#924 - William Costello - What Netflix’s “Adolescence” Got Wrong

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 April 2025

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

William Costello is a psychology researcher and Ph.D. student specialising in evolutionary psychology. With the recent release of “Adolescence” on Netflix, it has stirred up quite a bit of controversy. But what are the real dangers of incel-related violence, and how can we begin to confront them? Expect to learn what Netflix’s “Adolescence” got wrong in their adaptation, if incels are a bigger danger to themselves or others, why there is not more incel violence, what The Low Mate Value Theory of Misogyny is, what the reaction to “Adolescence” has been from various factions of the internet, if fear, shame, and shock actually can change behaviour, and much more… Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get the best bloodwork analysis in America at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Get a 20% discount on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get $350 off the Pod 4 Ultra at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: https://tinyurl.com/43hv6y59 #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: https://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: https://tinyurl.com/3ccn5vkp - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Is adolescence a bit too real?
0:03.0	So, adolescence is this Netflix show that's absolutely blowing up and getting crazy amounts of attention at the moment.
0:10.0	It's on track to become Netflix's most watched miniseries of all time, and that's just within a couple of weeks.
0:17.0	So it's really capturing public attention.
0:19.0	And one caller into a radio station that I heard from England this morning said that it just,
0:25.7	it hits home too much.
0:27.6	It's a little too real.
0:28.9	And this kind of left me floundering a little bit because, okay, you know, creative people
0:35.5	who are making a show, I'm not going to hold their feet to the fire.
0:38.6	They have creative license. They can make a show and depict whatever they want.
0:43.1	But we just need to hit pause a second because if this show is prompting roundtable discussions with Parliament, with the Prime Minister, which it has, and the parliament are going to fund this show
0:56.3	being shown to every student in the UK throughout the next couple of months, all within a couple of
1:02.7	weeks of it airing, by the way. Then I think we're entitled to maybe scrutinise the realism or
1:08.2	the realistic nature of the show or how much it depicts accurately the problem
1:13.4	it's talking about. And on that front then, you can ask the question, how realistic is this
1:19.1	problem? So let me just be very clear. There is no epidemic of manosphere-inspired violence
1:26.3	like depicted in the show. Unlike, however, the epidemic of knife violence,
1:32.2	which is a very real phenomenon and perhaps is more tightly tied to drill music, for example,
1:38.4	that is a very real problem. So on that front, it absolutely is not realistic of the problem it's painting. I commented that
1:47.6	the show depicts a plausible narrative of how a tragedy like this might unfold. And I stress the
1:55.5	word might there because there has been no tragedy like the show depicts. There has been
2:00.7	a fictional boy stabbing a fictional girl in a fictional series. There has been no tragedy like the show depicts. There has been... It's a fictional boy stabbing a fictional girl in a fictional series.
	...

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