International Journal of Adolescence and Youth

Adolescence and Youth: Critical Explorations of Contemporary Media

Social science research publications exploring themes of childhood and youth often reference contemporary media but rarely put it front and center of their inquiry. This Article Collection invites members of the adolescence and youth studies community to critically evaluate the content, quality, and value of a non-print work of scholarship or other media of interest, placing it in the broader context of current scholarship, practice, and global youth issues. Contributors are invited to examine podcasts, television/video series, films, social media content/channels, websites, art installations, sculpture gardens, music, or any other form of relevant media.

Across the arts and media spectrum, interest in children and young people (CYP) has reached a new high. In 2025, the limited series ‘Adolescence’ became Netflix’s second most popular show of all time, reaching a global audience of over 140 million. Three of the top ten most subscribed-to Youtubers are child influencers - ‘Vlad and Niki’ (5th), ‘Kids Diana Show’ (6th) and ‘Like Nastya’ (8th) - with each channel having over 100 million subscribers globally. The ‘This Teenage Life’ podcast (2018-Present), which features approximately 50 teen contributors, reaches hundreds of thousands of listeners across 180 countries. Despite this, contemporary media exploring themes of adolescence and youth is rarely the primary focus of social science research. This Article Collection, ‘Adolescence and Youth: Critical Explorations of Contemporary Media,’ seeks to address this gap by inviting international researchers to critically appraise this content and its enduring influence on how the experiences and identities of CYP are perceived in the present day.

This Collection will be solely composed of Media Reviews: critical evaluations of the content, quality, and value of non-print works of scholarship or other media of interest to the adolescence and youth studies community. In many ways, this is a playful experiment: the first time the International Journal of Adolescence and Youth has put out a specific call for Media Reviews exclusively. With that in mind, we are deliberately casting a wide net - inviting contributions across the broad spectrum of subjects and subtopics covered by the journal, including:

• Adolescent growth and development (psychological, spiritual, or physical)
• Education and training
• Employment and unemployment
• Health, mental health and medical care
• Homelessness
• Family relationships
• Leisure and recreation
• Sex and gender education
• Social policy
• Youth cultures
• Youth leadership and social action

Please contact Dr. MK Huffman at [email protected] with any queries about discount codes regarding this Article Collection. Please also be sure to select the appropriate Article Collection from the drop-down menu in the submission system and to select the article type titled "Media Review."

→ Use our Cost Finder to estimate your article publishing charge (APC), as APCs differ for Media Review article types.

Dr. Ryan Bramley is a lecturer, filmmaker, and arts-based researcher currently based at The University of Sheffield’s School of Education. His research primarily focuses on accessible storytelling, community filmmaking, and improving accessibility practices in digital media. These research areas are tied together by Ryan’s broader interest in how minoritized groups are represented in—and engage with—film, TV, media, education, and beyond. In 2025, Ryan’s ‘Animating Inclusion: Rethinking Subtitles for Deaf Audiences’ project won two University of Sheffield KE and Impact Awards, in recognition of how his research is having a meaningful impact on the accessibility of film and TV captions for d/Deaf people.

Dr. Ryan Bramley declares no conflict of interest regarding this work.