How are boys radicalized on social media?

BECID
April 21, 2025 ·

Last week, we organized a webinar inspired by the Netflix’s hit series Adolescence. Kaarel Lott, a Junior Research Fellow of Digital Media Studies at the University of Tartu, used Adolescence to illustrate what parents, teachers, and other people working with children can learn from this tragic story.

During the webinar, the following questions were answered:

🔹 Who are manfluencers? What kind of role models are they and how do they engage boys and young men online? Where do they operate and why can they be harmful to boys and those around them?
🔹 What is the manosphere? What kinds of communities exist within it and why are they problematic?
🔹 How can you recognize red flags in a child’s behavior and internet use? What words, emojis, content creators, and other indicators should you pay attention to?
🔹 What should you do if a child believes in and spreads manosphere-related messages?

Watch the webinare here:

The slides used during the webinar are available here:

Similar webinar will be held in Estonian on April 29.