For at this time’s younger folks, on-line content material isn’t a backdrop to day by day life—it is day by day life. Streaming platforms, short-form video, and social media don’t simply entertain; they affect how younger folks see themselves, their well being, and what behaviors are seen as regular or aspirational. Motion pictures, tv, and streaming content material nonetheless have affect, however because the digital ecosystem expands, so does its energy to form decisions—for higher and for worse.
Take smoking, for instance. The notion of cigarette nostalgia has unwittingly sparked a slew of current information tales in regards to the perceived enhance in smoking on screens. The impression of that imagery? Tangible.
Whereas celebrities like Charlie XCX and Jeremy Allen White might not absolutely grasp the affect that their content material is having on younger viewers, analysis reveals that when smoking is glamorized, it straight shapes youth attitudes and behaviors round nicotine, in the end placing younger audiences at heightened threat of habit.
IMAGERY MATTERS
Our recent report affords that out of the highest movies in 2024, greater than half embody tobacco imagery—a rise of 10% over the yr prior. And almost 17 million young people had been uncovered to tobacco imagery via widespread streaming reveals simply in 2023.
This imagery isn’t with out consequence. It might probably triple a teenager’s probability of starting to vape and make it more durable for these already hooked on nicotine to quit successfully.
Typically dubbed the “JUUL Technology,” e-cigarette use is biggest amongst 18-24 year-olds. For Gen Z, the stakes are excessive, with one in 5 now risking long-term habit.
THE SCALE OF MEDIA CHANGED
One factor that makes this second totally different from previous media eras is scale. Streaming platforms launch total seasons directly. Algorithms floor content material repeatedly. Scenes don’t disappear after a weekly airing. As an alternative, they stay on via clips, memes, and edits that flow into far past their authentic context. A single portrayal can echo throughout platforms and get amplified in ways in which creators or producers by no means anticipated.
The impression isn’t only for substances like nicotine, both. Related outcomes have been seen amongst this technology in terms of subjects like physique picture and consuming behaviors, violence, psychological well being narratives, and playing or sports activities betting. Publicity to the portrayal of those points can enhance the probability of imitation and the impact will be life-altering.
WE PLAY A ROLE
The takeaway is that digital platforms, leisure corporations, and creators all have a job to play in defending younger audiences. The affect they wield on tradition can form norms on a inhabitants degree. With that affect comes alternative.
Society has seen large success by placing warnings on content material containing home violence or suicide references, whereas making sources obtainable to viewers. These practices ought to be used for tobacco too—together with providing resources to help young people quit. Creators shouldn’t be unpaid spokespersons for the tobacco business, or another subject they’re inadvertently selling. Equally, platforms ought to have content material that displays actuality: Dependancy isn’t stunning, and quitting is troublesome, however extra achievable with help.
At the moment’s youth are formed by scrolling, streaming, and sharing. The query isn’t whether or not on-line content material influences habits, however whether or not we’re prepared to make use of that affect deliberately.
This subsequent technology deserves tales that encourage, transparency on points that matter, and solution-forward considering. On the finish of the day, they deserve a digital panorama that takes possession of the imagery it places ahead. And it ought to be carried out in a means that advances the more healthy futures the subsequent technology says they need, but in addition one conscious of the imaginative and prescient for the longer term that they’re being provided.
Kathy Crosby is president and CEO of Reality Initiative.
