Vicky Spratt

I can't overstate how lonely the modern world feels.

Moving somewhere new, it's hard to find community in the real world, making it difficult to find and make friends.

No wonder so many people my age are driven to social media and into their own tribes."

What influence and impact has growing up on social media had for this younger cohort?

It's really interesting.

What do you think stepping in sooner might have looked like?

I mean, it's shutting the door after the horse has bolted, right?

It's really interesting because what I'm hearing from you is that on the one hand, we've got this generation who see really clearly because they've been exposed to so much information, but there is division in the world between older people and younger people.

Some of it manufactured, some of it down to what they've experienced.

But then there's this dependency that's been created for young adults because they've been wrapped in cotton wool or mollycoddled a bit in some ways, but then exposed to quite extreme political material, material about relationships, pornography online.

And then they are also, many of them, more dependent on their parents, certainly than I was and older generations were, financially.

because of the economic climate, they're entering adulthood in, more likely to live at home longer, more likely to be able to move out and buy a house of their own if they've got homeowner parents who can give them some money, more likely to end up in a good job if they've got wealthy parents who can help them at university and they don't have to work part-time during their degree to pay off their loans.

It's a really, really difficult situation to be in and it's not entirely fair, is it?

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Well, we've both been on the move a lot recently.

I'm in fact speaking to you having just got off a plane in the US.

And when you're traveling frequently, convenience takes over.

There I was, my airport Wi-Fi, and I'm on a hotel network looking for quick connection between meetings.