PJ Vogt

They're there to discover their autonomy, to learn, for instance, how to make their own money. When you're a teenager, really, you're wandering around the world asking pretty vulnerably, what about me is valuable? Another thing these teenagers, like all teenagers, want to learn is sex. What is it supposed to look like? How am I supposed to do it?

And so they turned to the internet, of course, we all did. But I didn't understand that what they see and how it shapes them might be different from what I saw and how it shaped me. Here's director Lauren Greenfield.

And so they turned to the internet, of course, we all did. But I didn't understand that what they see and how it shapes them might be different from what I saw and how it shaped me. Here's director Lauren Greenfield.

And so they turned to the internet, of course, we all did. But I didn't understand that what they see and how it shapes them might be different from what I saw and how it shaped me. Here's director Lauren Greenfield.

I have to say, some of my core values, privacy, pre-speech, tell me to try not to be overly concerned about teenagers looking at pornography online. But I don't think I've appreciated that these teenagers are reporting finding this stuff earlier in life than they actually wanted to and seeing things when they were very young that really disturbed them.

I have to say, some of my core values, privacy, pre-speech, tell me to try not to be overly concerned about teenagers looking at pornography online. But I don't think I've appreciated that these teenagers are reporting finding this stuff earlier in life than they actually wanted to and seeing things when they were very young that really disturbed them.

I have to say, some of my core values, privacy, pre-speech, tell me to try not to be overly concerned about teenagers looking at pornography online. But I don't think I've appreciated that these teenagers are reporting finding this stuff earlier in life than they actually wanted to and seeing things when they were very young that really disturbed them.

Again, we're seeing for once their algorithms. So we see the phones of these older teens. We see them watch a parade of BDSM influencers from TikTok. They are to teach their audiences some pretty questionable choking and slapping techniques, which then become a real life norm. The students talk about this too in their group discussion.

Again, we're seeing for once their algorithms. So we see the phones of these older teens. We see them watch a parade of BDSM influencers from TikTok. They are to teach their audiences some pretty questionable choking and slapping techniques, which then become a real life norm. The students talk about this too in their group discussion.

Again, we're seeing for once their algorithms. So we see the phones of these older teens. We see them watch a parade of BDSM influencers from TikTok. They are to teach their audiences some pretty questionable choking and slapping techniques, which then become a real life norm. The students talk about this too in their group discussion.

What this adds up to that feels so new to me is that, crucially, these teens at Pali High, they're not describing the internet as a place that's helping them make sense of themselves and of their latent desires the way it did for me and many of my peers. What they're saying is that their internet is pressuring everyone towards the sex they see online.

What this adds up to that feels so new to me is that, crucially, these teens at Pali High, they're not describing the internet as a place that's helping them make sense of themselves and of their latent desires the way it did for me and many of my peers. What they're saying is that their internet is pressuring everyone towards the sex they see online.

What this adds up to that feels so new to me is that, crucially, these teens at Pali High, they're not describing the internet as a place that's helping them make sense of themselves and of their latent desires the way it did for me and many of my peers. What they're saying is that their internet is pressuring everyone towards the sex they see online.

And what we all see online, whether it's opinions or sex acts, is always going to be tuned towards the most outrageous, the most attention-grabbing. What sticks out becomes popular. What's popular becomes the norm. I asked Lauren to help me make sense of all this.

And what we all see online, whether it's opinions or sex acts, is always going to be tuned towards the most outrageous, the most attention-grabbing. What sticks out becomes popular. What's popular becomes the norm. I asked Lauren to help me make sense of all this.

And what we all see online, whether it's opinions or sex acts, is always going to be tuned towards the most outrageous, the most attention-grabbing. What sticks out becomes popular. What's popular becomes the norm. I asked Lauren to help me make sense of all this.

Now you have this behavior that between two consenting adults might be one thing, but asking a teenager to responsibly choke another teenager feels dangerous. It feels like we've accidentally backslid into something that we didn't mean to because we wanted to make the phones as interesting as possible so there could be ads for toilet paper on them or whatever.

Now you have this behavior that between two consenting adults might be one thing, but asking a teenager to responsibly choke another teenager feels dangerous. It feels like we've accidentally backslid into something that we didn't mean to because we wanted to make the phones as interesting as possible so there could be ads for toilet paper on them or whatever.

Now you have this behavior that between two consenting adults might be one thing, but asking a teenager to responsibly choke another teenager feels dangerous. It feels like we've accidentally backslid into something that we didn't mean to because we wanted to make the phones as interesting as possible so there could be ads for toilet paper on them or whatever.

It's weird, though, because it's, like, they're watching... I swear to God, I'm not, like, nostalgic and conservative for a pre-Internet era. I like the Internet. I use the Internet. I, like, will defend the Internet to many people.