Changing Times Child of Our Time

In the year 2000,

the BBC began a remarkable experiment

to follow the lives of 25 babies

from across the UK, and we've been filming them ever since.

As they took their first steps...

..started school...

Aah!

..moved house...

..and made friends.

It was a quest to find out what makes us who we are -

nature or nurture?

In this series, our group are turning 16.

As they step out into the adult world, everything is changing.

WOOO!

# Yeah, we're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time. #

Being 16 freaks me out.

Like, I'm not an adult.

I'm not ready to be an adult yet.

-ALL:

-One, two, three!

Our teenagers are coming of age in a world that's changing faster

than at any point since the 1960s.

As they prepare for adulthood, I'll be joined by

clinical psychologist Tanya Barham, who works with teenagers.

Do you feel like you have to answer straight away?

'In this episode we'll be looking at how our young people are being shaped

'by these unique times.

'From 24/7 communication...'

Who Snapchats first thing in the morning?

Me, obviously.

'..to the increasing pressures to succeed.'

I need at least AA-stars and two As.

I'm feeling nervous, because it's, like, my future.

So join us as we say goodbye to the children we knew...

..and say hello to the teenagers that they've become.

Over the past 16 years,

we've watched our children grow up from babies to teenagers.

Being 16 sucks!

I want to be, like, 11 again.

And now they're facing some of the

biggest decisions of their lives.

What you do in the next two or three years

will affect you for the rest of your life.

The lives of today's teenagers

have been revolutionised

by an explosion in technology...

If you took my phone away I don't know what I'd do. It's just...

I literally don't know what I'd do.

Oh, my God.

..and growing up in times of economic uncertainty.

Trying to find a job and, like...

Career. That's the only thing which

worries me about growing up.

But perhaps the most significant shift this millennium has been the

changing face of the family.

And no-one understands this more than Nathan and his family.

Nathan has grown up with his mother Ruth, father Richard

and sister Joy in Lanarkshire in Scotland.

Back in 2000,

Ruth and Richard made an effort to bring up their children equally

and this was one of the reasons we chose to film them.

-I'm doing it.

-OK, you move the apple around.

Throughout Nathan's childhood,

they both had jobs that allowed them to spend plenty of time at home.

The couple had married in 1994.

Though in 2001, with Nathan just a year old, they separated.

But unlike most couples who break up,

Richard and Ruth carried on living together.

That's my mum's room.

She likes crystals.

And that's my dad's room.

He likes...computers and painting and he likes sculpting.

Mum likes purple and Dad likes red.

-INTERVIEWER:

-Do you think that your family is the same as everyone else's or different?

I think everyone else is different.

Do you like being different or would you rather be the same?

I would probably like being different.

Ruth and I have been friends since we were approximately 16 years old.

-Uh-huh.

-We're still the closest of friends.

Obviously we got married at one point and had children but...

..that situation changed some years ago

and now we live in the same house,

we still co-parent.

We've both had different partners over that period of time,

but we have been separated as far as that's concerned.

As far as the friendship's concerned, it's actually grown.

Well, first of all, in Scottish battles,

people would come and they would...

to a place near the battle, and they would put a stone down.

I like the fact that even though they're not together,

they still are a family.

Like, other families, like,

Mum and Dad split up and they move away

and then the kids have to jump between houses.

I like how they are there for each other and they're best friends,

and they're also there for their kids.

That part up there,

the English garrison used to impale the heads of the children

and say to them, you know,

if they didn't follow the English rule,

this is what would happen to you.

'The kids know where they stand.

'They've got two parents.

'We live together and it's not like we hide anything.

'Everything is open and honest.'

So if they've got issues, they question

and we have a discussion, you know,

and we try and work it that way.

That openness and honesty has also extended to Richard's personal life.

Nathan's grown up, really, from quite a young age...

..knowing about my sexuality.

But I was always very open with him

and very clear with him what it meant.

He's very comfortable in his own sexuality

and had his girlfriends and he's very comfortable with that,

it has no influence on him. And as far as I'm aware,

I don't think that he thinks

any less or more of me as a result of it.

I really think that it's particularly irrelevant to him.

He gets on with his life and I get on with mine.

My dad being gay is definitely not an issue, because that's who he is.

And...

..it shouldn't be looked at in any other way.

It doesn't make a difference.

Attitudes to homosexuality

have undergone the most dramatic change

in public opinion that's happened in a generation.

25 years ago only one fifth of us accepted same-sex relationships.

Now it's two thirds.

And teenagers are more accepting than anyone.

For Nathan, it's just part of

the open relationship he has with his family.

'I think the relationship I have with my dad is very good

'because I feel confident'

in speaking to him about things.

Let me see your throat. Open your mouth, let me see your throat.

-Say, "Ah".

-Aaaaah.

Your tonsils are a bit inflamed.

-Are they?

-Yeah.

I speak to him about school,

girls, anything.

Have you been kissing somebody?

-No.

-You've not been swapping...

tongue saliva with anybody?

No, not yet.

'I think it's good that a son should be able to speak to his dad'

without, like, feeling shy or something.

Ready.

Front.

Back.

Both my parents are role models in how they live their life...

..and how they've influenced me.

I'd say I've been brought up to have good morals...

..and respect one another

and, like, treat others how you would want to be treated.

The attitudes and values we get from our parents

can last throughout our adult lives.

It affects our relationships, our political views,

our aspirations and our education.

But at the age of 16, there's another very big influence -

our friends.

I think the close friend circle is really important.

They influence you a lot because you really want to be like them,

you want to fit in.

So, if you've got different problems or issues and stuff

and they're just all there for you.

It seems to be as you get older,

your friends play a lot bigger part in your life than they did.

Friends have always been an important part of teenagers' lives.

But the digital revolution means that they've never been

as accessible and available as they are for this generation.

I spend a lot more time talking to people

on social media than I do in real life.

There's been times when I've said I'll just be on it for,

like, ten minutes and it turns into, like, two-and-a-half hours.

You can pretty much talk to your friends 24/7, whenever you want.

2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16.

About 36.

In the last how long?

Five minutes!

Triplets Mabel, Alice and Phoebe

from the West Midlands have grown up in a close-knit family

with mother Tracy, father Nigel

and three elder brothers and sisters.

-What, them?

-Yes.

For them, the ability to connect with others 24/7

has had a huge impact.

I've got 948 followers on Instagram.

I've got 480 followers on Instagram.

That's a good 'un.

I'm going to send everybody a Snapchat.

I'm sick to death of seeing their feet.

It's just constant pictures of their feet.

I don't understand it, but it's not my world to understand any more!

The sisters were Europe's first triplets of the new millennium,

and from an early stage, they each had a distinct personality.

Mabel cries and acts like she wants to be fed,

but she just wants a little cuddle.

Or whatever. And she just won't suck, she's lazy.

Alice is the sensible one,

she does complain when she has a wash,

but she lets you know what she wants.

Phoebe is as quiet as a little mouse.

BABY CRYING

With a busy family of eight,

Nigel and Tracy did whatever it took to maintain calm.

We have to do what fits in with the family,

rather than doing it by the book.

That often meant turning to technology for help.

The family were amongst the highest TV watchers in our group,

with the television on over 15 hours a day.

Night-night.

Goodnight.

And the girls would fall asleep in front of the screen.

Today, the triplets are still some of our highest screen users.

But as teenagers, they've replaced the TV with their smartphones.

They love social media and the way they use it

reflects their very different personalities.

Alice has always been the most outgoing,

and is careful of her appearance.

You have to, like,

make sure the picture is going to look like all the other pictures,

then you've got to edit it,

make sure it looks like the same as all the others

and upload it to see if it matches,

and then if it doesn't, you have to, like, delete it.

Phoebe has always preferred horses to talking to friends.

I post a lot of pictures of me and the horses or, like,

other people with their horses.

But Mabel's attitude to friends has been transformed by social media.

When she was younger, Mabel was the least outgoing of the triplets

and she initially struggled to make friends.

I was with Alice...and now I'm on my own.

What's it like being on your own?

Scared. Cos I want to be all together.

But at 16, she couldn't be more different.

-Done, mate.

-Done, mate.

Now she's got a large group of friends

who are in constant communication on their phones.

Mabel's got quite a wide circle.

She's always off out.

But that's only been over the last six months.

Mabel used to always be in the house.

Her conversations on social media have strengthened her friendships,

introduced her to new people and helped her social life to flourish.

The last year I've been spending less time with my sisters

because I've been with my friends.

She didn't have it before.

-A gang.

-So, that's why she's going out more and doing.

And she's kind of coming out of her shell,

-because she was quite introvert.

-Yes, she was.

How many of you want a burger?

Social media transforms how often young people communicate.

Across the globe,

we share over three billion photos

and send 70 billion instant messages every day.

But whilst this communication revolution

has had a positive effect on teenagers like Mabel,

for many parents, phones are a cause for concern.

It's the bane of our life, really, the phone,

because, you know, they... It's the be all and end all to them.

That phone, from when she wakes up, is flashing all day.

How on earth they watch a film and look at Instagram or Snapchat.

I just... "I don't understand." "I can do both."

"Can you? Great. I can't."

My answer would be, "Switch it off!"

But they seem incapable of doing that.

Why?

-TANYA:

-To find out just how much our teens' phones

are impacting on their lives,

we conducted a unique experiment,

monitoring their phone and social media use over a week.

Our experts analyse nearly a quarter of million pieces of information

to build a picture of our teenagers' daily digital activity.

Each line reveals which apps they use at what time of day or night,

and the thicker the line, the longer the app was open.

Our scientists discovered that on average,

our teenage girls spent four hours a day on their phones,

twice as much as the boys.

But they also use their phones differently

and were three times more likely to use social media.

Right, Alice, can we talk about yours?

-Sure.

-Why do you look...? Your little face!

-Come here.

-I'm coming!

Come in, come in, come in.

Right, well, you're obviously not using it when you're asleep,

but literally the minute you wake up?

Yeah, got to wake up, like, have my morning social media bit, you know.

Who Snapchats first thing in the morning?

Me, obviously.

-But...

-No, because I, like, go on Snapchat and check, like,

what everyone's been posting.

-Like their story.

-Yeah.

-That sort of stuff.

'Our experiment revealed our teens were dealing with nearly 600,000

'Facebook messages in one year alone.'

Actually, Mabel, you hold the record

for the most communications sent in a day.

About...740...

sent and received messages in a day.

'That's an average of a message, every two minutes

'and Mabel wasn't unusual.

'One in five of our group

'was dealing with over 400 messages a day.

'Today's teens are constantly multitasking,

'juggling multiple conversations minute by minute.'

So the question is, what impact, if any,

is this having on their ability to relate to the people around them?

'There is some evidence that those who multitask with screens more

'find it harder to concentrate on what's happening around them.'

-Are you interested in photography and stuff like that?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

I don't know.

And research has revealed that for young people,

even having a phone nearby can

reduce the quality of their conversation in the real world.

Psychologist Dr Andrew Przybylski,

from Oxford University, conducted the study.

We think that the phone might represent

many other possible conversations. So it's not just that

it's distracting because there's a phone there, it might beep.

It's distracting because it's an enticement, it's a lure.

There is a whole universe of other conversations

that are literally at your fingertips.

So does this mean today's teens are growing up with fewer social skills?

Or does this generation simply have different etiquette

around their phone use?

Are you ever together, like, in the same space

and you're all on some kind of group chat thing

with other people who aren't there?

-Yeah.

-Even though that person is sitting over there,

that is now communicating with you in the group?

-Yeah.

-Does that not seem really weird, or does that feel normal?

It's a bit weird but it's normal for us now.

It's made us much more interconnected

and aware of what's going on.

-So you would see it as a facilitator to communication?

-Yes.

You wouldn't see it as a block to communication?

-No.

-It's enabled people to have conversations

that they wouldn't otherwise have had.

Whether this intense phone use is good or bad for teenagers

is impossible to say.

Things are changing so quickly

that scientists are struggling to keep up.

Is there high quality evidence for parents that social media

has either positive or negative effects on young people?

I have to say no. Absolutely not.

In fact, there's some evidence to suggest that

spending time talking with friends on their phones

prevents teenagers from taking risks in the real world.

Drug use, alcohol use,

promiscuous sexual behaviour, is all down

year on year for at least the last 15 years.

The alternative to using or being on a mobile phone for five hours

is not necessarily going out and finishing your studying,

your revisions for your A-levels.

The comparison condition for something like

using your mobile phone for four hours is drinking at a bus-stop.

Technology has transformed the way all of us interact with each other.

Today's teenagers have grown up with social media.

And they use it more intensively than anyone else.

It's too early for scientists to say definitively

what effect this is having on this generation's social skills,

but it's clearly broadening the

range of people they can communicate with.

And that's having a big impact on teenagers like Taliesin.

Oh, my God.

I spend about two our three hours online gaming each day

as, like, a rough average,

but during my half-term, there may be two or four or eight.

It can get quite excessive.

It's not as bad as gambling, but...

It probably is, actually.

Taliesin lives in Essex with his mother Olivia and father Robin.

Where's your ball?!

As a toddler, Taliesin loved to make everyone laugh.

-Bear Pooh!

-No, not Bear Pooh, Pooh Bear.

And his quirky sense of humour continued into primary school.

Taliesin has always had a creative way of seeing the world...

You go again!

..and in 2005 he demonstrated his individuality.

We asked all our children to take a series of photographs.

Oh!

Oh!

And Taliesin's set him apart from the rest of the group.

Me. I'm Rudolph.

Emily, Daddy, Mummy...

One minute he's a Star Wars character

and the next minute he's an elf.

And then he's the manager of a huge company

and he's having a board meeting, you know.

It seemed Taliesin just saw the world differently.

But being different didn't help him make many friends.

I don't think they understood him.

They weren't really on his level,

and so he withdrew into what he found interesting.

This made school life challenging for Taliesin.

So when he was 11 years old,

his family decided to move him to a new school and start again.

And over the years, his confidence and happiness have grown.

I just think some things have just come clearly to me now.

I've not been doubting myself as much.

I think I've kind of restored myself, in a way, which is good.

Over the last couple of years,

Taliesin's online gaming has opened up a whole new world of friendships.

Wait, I just need to document this.

I'm on 300 ping yet I'm still wrecking.

Still got it.

I kind of started out on Xbox and talking to people

and then that grew into something bigger.

And then I found a community that I joined

and then I talk to people on there.

It's kind of odd to think that he's

got friends who are in their early 20s

and 30s, and whatever, but they definitely have friendships there.

It's not all about the game.

I'm going to go shotty. Probably get better with it.

'I've got a few from America, I've got one from the Ukraine.'

Shots are fired.

We all just talk about anything, really.

Like, I like to talk about things that are going on in the world just

because I'm interested in that kind of stuff.

You shouldn't have reloaded, man!

Wait, I didn't even know where you were.

I've heard him speaking Russian and everything else, which is fantastic,

cos it means he's using it as a tool.

Taliesin's social gaming is now a normal part

of many teenagers' lives.

Over 90% of boys who video game

now play in online groups like Taliesin's,

giving them a place to connect with others.

The only times we have disagreements is when

we're calling him for dinner and because he's got his headset on

he can't hear us. So it goes from, "Taliesin come down for dinner,"

to, "TALIESIN!"

That was beautiful.

'You feel like on a streak, then you kind of go with it.'

The next thing you know it's three o'clock in the morning

on a school night and you haven't done your homework yet!

What the heck!

Oh, my God, that was hilarious!

Whether it's online gaming, using social media or watching videos,

teenagers now spend an average of nine hours a day on screens.

The social impact of all this may be debatable, but there is one area,

scientists are certain is being affected,

and that's teenagers' sleep.

Calvin never gets enough sleep.

Although he sleeps sometimes for 20 hours in a day,

he still doesn't get enough sleep.

He is a nightmare for sleep.

I go to sleep quite late, and then if I can wake up late, then I will.

Because he'd go to bed and then he'd go on his laptop

and watch box sets and then he'd watch it on his phone

and then he wasn't get enough sleep at all.

Once you're, like, addicted to gaming or something,

it can be quite hard just to get to sleep.

He's late to bed at night and late up in the morning.

Morning?!

Morning? You said morning.

Where does morning come into it?

I sometimes go to bed at one in the morning,

which isn't healthy at all.

But... I can't help it, really.

On a school night, I probably sleep around four or five hours,

in total, and then wake up exhausted...

..barely being able to function in school.

And then he has these headaches and he's tired and everything's bleh...

And it's because he doesn't sleep.

So I took a bucket of cold water up and threw it over him.

I saved a bit in the bottom so when he got sat up

I could throw it right in his face,

but... It took two days for the mattress to dry out.

To find out how their screen use might be impacting on their sleep,

we used activity monitors and sleep dairies

to monitor our teenagers across a week.

Dr Christopher James Harvey,

an expert in adolescent sleep patterns, analysed the results.

Sleep has many different functions.

One of them is rest and repair.

The other is growth

and the other is memory formation and consolidation,

amongst many, many more

In the short-term, sleep deprivation will lead to lower mood,

irritability, lack of concentration, you'll be less able to learn.

In the long-term,

sleep deprivation is associated with things like depression, cancer,

cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

So how are our teens being affected?

Our data revealed some unexpected results.

You go to sleep really late.

-Yeah.

-You go to sleep after midnight. Mm-hmm.

You, on average, are getting just over six hours of sleep a night.

Yeah.

This is far less than the recommended nine hours

teenagers really need.

But Taliesin's sleep data revealed a few surprises.

He normally stopped gaming an hour before bedtime,

crashed out quickly, and his sleep quality was really good.

If you're getting to bed and falling asleep quickly

and having a good quality sleep,

that probably means you're going to sleep at the time that

you need to go to sleep, that your body wants to go to sleep.

Chris's research reveals teenagers work

on a very different body clock to adults.

In adolescence, this body clock changes.

So they have a preference to sleep later in the evening,

and this is a physiological change that they can't control.

So it's quite normal for teenagers to want to go to bed later

and then sleep in later.

So Taliesin may be going to bed late,

but this is in synch with his body clock

and he makes up for lost sleep during the week

by sleeping in at the weekends.

This isn't ideal, but maybe because his sleep quality is good

he seems to be coping well.

Surprisingly, the teenager who had

a poorer night sleep than Taliesin was going to bed early.

Alice.

Alice, so you take about 37 minutes to get to sleep,

which is actually more than the average for your age.

Taliesin, it only takes you about 16 minutes,

just over a quarter of an hour,

which is actually kind of more what we would expect for your age.

So you get to sleep much more quickly than Alice does.

There's a clear reason why Alice is taking longer to get to sleep.

You are on your phone a lot, aren't you?

-Yes.

-Yes. So, if you look, we've got,

here we go, from 7.00pm up until you go to sleep,

you are basically on your phone solidly

until you literally switch your phone off when you go to sleep.

-Is that right?

-Yes, put it on my bedside table.

On the bedside table, yeah.

Alice is far from unusual.

Half our teenagers check their phones

at sleep time and studies show that

those who spend more than four hours a day on screens

can spend up to an hour getting to sleep.

Partly, it's because the blue light from screens can reduce sleepiness,

but it's more than that.

You're stimulated so you're more awake, in a way.

So you've got other cortisol, you've got adrenaline in your body.

So the fact that you do so much activity with your phone,

it kind of explains to us why it takes you

almost 40 minutes to get to sleep.

The best way to get a good night's sleep, it seems,

is to put the screens away an hour before bedtime.

But something else is keeping our teenagers up late.

It's GCSEs.

And this may be, in our competitive times,

causing increasing stress.

Het, growing up in North London, is certainly feeling this pressure.

Since you're closer to your exams

and you've just got so much more workload

and you get to that point where you realise that your exams

are not a year away,

they are actually, like, just a few months away.

I can revise if I wake up early.

If I wake up early on a school day, I'm not going to revise.

Het is hoping to get all As in her GCSEs.

I need to get these grades for me to do what I want to do.

I want to achieve those grades

because that's what I want my future to look like.

Het was encouraged to succeed from a young age.

Her mother and father, Tajal and Vijay,

moved from India to England in the 1990s,

and they've always had high hopes of what Het would achieve.

Basically, it depends on Het,

what she wants to become in her future,

but I wish to make her an astronaut.

Experts have suggested that improved exam results in London,

may be partly due to the drive to succeed

instilled in the children of migrant families.

When I'm doing the serious work I like a quiet environment.

See, that's not how I concentrate. I need music.

All the time when you're at home, you have music on your...

Which proves I am working, because I listen to music while I work.

Het's always shared her parents' ambitions.

In 2008, we gave our children a series of tricky choices

about the future.

Would you rather be rich and can buy anything you want,

or be popular and be liked by everyone?

Het was clear in her mind.

Both.

I'll need both.

She wanted it all.

That's sounds a lot like me now.

I want a balance of things, but I do want it all as well.

I see what eight-year-old Het was saying.

It makes sense to me. I want to something that I love

as well as get the recognition for it, as well as get a good pay,

as well as be happy about it.

When we filmed her aged 12,

Het had swapped her mother's ambition

of her becoming an astronaut for some impressive goals of her own.

First thing would be to be an actress,

and then slowly move on to my singing career,

and have my own, I guess, band and my album.

And then kind of have my own fashion line,

so do fashion designing too, and have my own album with that, along,

so doing movies as well, so doing everything at a time.

Today, Het's ambitions are more academic,

a career in astrophysics,

but her high expectations for her GCSEs

have had a worrying setback.

So, my last marks didn't go so well.

Unfortunately I didn't get the grades that actually I wanted.

I thought I could have done better.

I was hoping for, like, at least a few A-stars

and then As but I got two Bs.

I didn't get As in, like, the sciences,

which I was really shocked about

and I didn't get an A-star in maths either,

which was surprising since I've been getting A-star

for quite a long time.

It does, like, lead to thoughts where I'm, like,

"What would happen if I didn't get the grades?"

I need at least AA-stars and two As.

I can't get Bs, it's not me.

It's not my thing.

With the exams just a few weeks away,

the pressure in school has reached fever pitch.

I have, like, 25 exams.

So I've started revision and I get a lot of stress

from school as well.

Like, every week they remind us that we only have this many weeks left.

The teachers will be walking up the stairs, and they will be like,

"Why are you walking so slow? Your GCSEs are in this many weeks."

I'm just like, "But I'm walking up the stairs!"

I'm extremely stressed.

I'm scared I'm just going to blank out or like I'm going to fall asleep

or I'm going to faint. And people will think I've just fallen asleep.

Like something bad is going to happen, I know.

'The pressure right now is, it's...'

It's, I really, really... Urgh!

Het has set herself a strict revision timetable.

So I've started revision, I just wake up, eat, dress, study.

I do approximately six to eight hours a day.

Today's teenagers are expected to do twice as much homework

than their parents did a generation ago.

I'm struggling right now,

so for me to imagine what it will be like next year

or the year after or at university...

I don't know. I get perplexed.

I'm like, "What will happen to me?"

It scares me, but hopefully future Het will sort it out.

And Het's not alone.

The number of pupils worrying about exams

is rising year on year across the UK.

I definitely put a lot of pressure on myself.

It's just more the voice in the back of your head.

And what's it saying?

Study! Study!

Everyone gets stressed before exams.

Even the teachers. Just cos, it's just that moment of panic,

thinking, "Have you done enough?"

If you don't get, like, the marks you need,

you can't do what you want

and then your family's disappointed,

you're disappointed, the school is disappointed.

I think it's the first time you

truly see your child under some stress and anxiety.

I think Helena has been put through a tremendous amount

of unnecessary pressure.

There have been instances where she's been told at school,

"This is the most important thing you do in life,

"if you do not succeed in this, you will fail," et cetera.

I can see why some teenagers go under.

Why teenagers don't cope with...

Because it's so stressful and it's almost like

if you don't succeed at school, you're a failure.

And there's a biological reason

why our teens may be more susceptible to stress,

and it seems that this is related

to the way we produce the hormone cortisol.

To see how stressed Het has been, we took some samples of her hair,

where cortisol is deposited.

Your hair looks lovely. So, Bianca, you are going to

talk through the results,

so do you want to tell Het what we are seeing here?

Sure. Let me show you first the result.

So, based on an average hair growth of one centimetre per month,

we can actually see the cortisol exposure

that we would have across a month.

Then the month before, the month before and this,

reliably, up to six months.

The levels are generally typical.

But we can see that two months ago these levels were elevated.

It's very different, isn't it?

What can you tell us about your life two months ago,

that might explain why Bianca found

such a significantly greater amount of cortisol

in that part of your hair?

Well, I guess it was a very important period

as I was taking my GCSE exams.

During her exams, Het's cortisol levels soared,

but before and after,

her levels were well within a normal, healthy range.

So that feels quite healthy.

It does, yes.

Het's stress was relatively short-lived

but for many of today's teenagers,

short-term stress is slipping into longer term problems.

Young women in particular are reporting greater levels

of mental health difficulty.

Indeed, it's estimated that at least one in four young women

will show symptoms of psychological difficulties,

and these can include anxiety and depression.

The reasons why have been hotly debated by experts and parents.

There's so much mental health problems now as well.

-I don't think there's more mental health problems.

-I bloody do.

No, I think it's more visible.

That's all that is. You know, just because of media.

I don't think there is anything to be depressed about.

I think Facebook's got a lot to do with it.

And Facebook, I mean, it's so damn superficial.

We're all having a lovely time and it's families smiling.

That's not life. That's not how it is, really.

So, again, are we all pretending to live in this kind of superficial,

"Aren't I wonderful?

"Aren't I having a lovely life? Look how great this is."

And it's not true.

It doesn't seem quite healthy to me,

not to have a time where you're not...

Where you can be totally yourself because...

And there was a time to me, when you were at home with your family,

you know, your guards were down,

you were just the person with the people that have known you

since you were small and you could be yourself and natural.

It seems to me now that that's lost a little bit.

As well as the pressure of living life constantly online,

our teenagers are working hard for their exams

in uncertain economic times.

Nowadays you get good exam results

you go on to university and you fight like hell

to get a training place,

to get a job that might be good.

As young people, our teenagers are half as likely to own a house

or have a standard of living greater than their parents

and this uncertainty is unsettling.

Combine this with the pressures of social media

and the fact that biological changes

make adolescence a challenging time anyway,

you've got a perfect storm.

So what's important is how teenagers develop the resilience

to manage these challenges.

The reason that Het manages to prevent her stress from escalating

is because she has found a release from the pressures of life.

It's something she's been doing since she was a young child.

Dancing!

UP-TEMPO MUSIC PLAYS

When I dance I forget about who's watching, who's there.

It's just me listening to the music and doing what I want.

Five, six, seven, go!

'It's a passion,'

because it gives me joy and nothing else!

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.

And Het's not the only one finding ways

to deal with challenging times.

Rebecca in Essex is also feeling the pressure of exams.

You need to make a list,

everything that you need cos this is practice for your exam

and I'm not going to be there.

So write down all the equipment,

everything that you're going to need.

Can I have a look? Is that...? Is that how it's meant to be?

-Yeah!

-OK.

It looks like a frog!

Rebecca was brought up in a close-knit Jewish community

with her mother Gill, father Mark, and brother David.

Her family have always put a high premium

on education and achievement.

I would like to think that Rebecca will go on to study, erm...

and then, when, I don't know,

hopefully if she finishes university,

I'd love to see her travel.

But Rebecca didn't share the confidence in her ability

that the adults had.

My teacher thinks I'm very good at my schoolwork

but I don't think that I am.

What's the worst thing that can happen?

Me getting a D minus.

Why is that so bad?

Because that's the worst you can get.

And now, in her crucial GCSE year

she's been dealing with some life-changing news.

After 23 years of marriage, Mark and Gill have decided to get divorced.

Mark and I separated in August.

I told Mark I didn't want to be with him any more and...

Mark moved out.

I don't think anyone who's separated will tell you it's easy.

However much you want it or however much it's the right thing,

it's not easy.

About 20% of children experience divorce in their family,

double what it was in the 1970s.

Unsettling times, such as parents separating,

can reduce academic achievement in teenage years.

But Rebecca has some advantages which have helped to protect her.

Her Jewish background has always been extremely important.

It's given her a strong sense of identity

and a close-knit group of friends.

And the highlight of what's been an unsettling year for Rebecca,

is a trip with them to Israel.

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

We're now heading from the airport

to the holy city of Jerusalem.

CHEERING

OK.

But for every teen,

the move away from family and towards friends

is a natural part of growing up.

But studies have shown the support of friends is more than that.

It can make young people more resilient

and help them to adjust more quickly to parental separation.

My friends are really, extremely important in my life.

Really, really, really, really important.

Ellie.

This is scary.

Oh, Ellie!

'We make so many good memories together that I will never forget.'

So, that's something.

Yes, Ellie!

Thank you! Oh, we made it!

Rebecca is already proving she has the strength

and support to take on challenging experiences.

I've grown up both physically and mentally,

like, I feel like I'm a lot more mature now.

I'm a lot more confident.

I'm a lot smarter.

I've just developed more as a person.

At 16, our teenagers are beginning to make some important decisions

about their future.

Most of them will be preparing for the world of work.

But nowadays, they're also four times more likely to take A Levels

and go on to university.

And with this will come the first big separation from their family.

For most young people, this happens at 18.

But for one of our teenagers,

the decision to move away from home has come early.

And this means separating from his parents

and the best friend he's ever had, his identical twin brother.

My name's Ivo.

My name's Alex!

The twins have shared the same genes

and upbringing from the moment of conception.

And right through their childhood, they've done everything together.

They are doing the same life in the same environment,

doing the same things, more or less, day in, day out.

We don't treat them any differently.

They're not treated differently as individuals.

They experience the same things.

People have often struggled to tell them apart.

-Are you Ivo or Alex?

-Ivo.

-Alex, can I play?

-I'm Ivo!

-I'm already confused. Who's Alex and who's Ivo?

-This is Alex.

And they've sometimes struggled themselves.

Ivo, which one is you here?

-That one? You think that one's you?

-Yes!

No, that's not you, that's Alex.

Alex, how are you and Ivo different?

I've got a different T-shirt and some different trousers.

But we are not different, we are the same.

But recently, there've been signs that their relationship is changing.

We've gave them their own rooms.

So, up to that point they'd been sharing a room,

and then around that time Ivo had his hair cut really short.

I got my hair cut so people can tell us apart.

-Yep.

-It never really got to me, though.

-But it's just irritating.

-Just one of those things.

..telling them your name over and over again.

We definitely have different hair.

Different chins, different personalities.

As I've been described as more effervescent and more chatty.

So why do we need a second one?

But Ivo's, like...

-Intense...

-Stubborn.

-I wouldn't say stubborn, Alex.

-I would say stubborn.

-I would say you're stubborn, then.

-That way?

-No, the other way.

-That way.

-Other way. Other way.

-Not that way?

-Not that way.

The thing about being twins is that you're just lumped together,

you're seen as an entity, a single entity.

I think that's maybe fine when you're small

but when you become a teenager, you want to be an individual.

You want to be different, you want to be seen to be different.

For Ivo, this means striking out on his own

for the first time in 16 years.

He's applied for a college place in Canada, 3,000 miles away,

which would mean him spending the next two years away from his family.

Although Ivo will be studying in Canada,

his father's brought him to Wales for the interview.

We're here for this, sort of what is effectively a 24-hour process.

The interview is sort of 24 hours, it's quite...

It seems quite an intense thing.

You have to spend a night and

then you have a series of mini interviews with the committees.

They're just constantly observing you

and they're sort of testing to see how you work.

I'm feeling nervous.

It's just, it's a lot cos it's like my future.

And it seems like there'll be lots of competition.

Cos I like to think that people that go...

that apply to this want to change the world.

I have to come to terms with the reality that,

you know, this could happen.

He could be offered a place and then,

well, that means that he could go and live in another country

for two years and...

..I just have to get on board.

It's his life. I can't stop him doing what he wants to do.

He needs to go out there and do what he wants, whatever that might be.

It could be quite a different chapter

in both of our lives as...

well, one half of us could be on the other side of the world.

Alex doesn't want him to do it, but he won't say that to his brother.

Erm...

I think he would just miss him.

Breaking up the brothers.

For the first time, the twins are facing life apart.

I'd feel sad about leaving him

because we're a big part of each other's lives and...

..I've never really lived without him.

Ivo will have to wait to see whether he's got a place

before he can plan his move away.

As each of our teenagers makes their first steps towards independence,

it's fascinating to see how they're being affected

by the changing society around them.

Whether it's different kinds of families...

..the rise of social media...

..or the need for resilience in a world that's moving faster

than ever before.

It's a real privilege to see these young people as they turn 16.

They represent an entire generation coming of age at a unique time.

As they move from childhood to adulthood,

only time will tell how their experiences will shape them

and their future.

And with their exams over,

it's the school prom that marks that coming of age.

It's just, like... It's gone so fast.

Like I was in first school, like, it feels like last week.

And now I'm, like, going to college.

I think it's hard to let go as a mum.

Cos you don't stop being their mum, even if they're like in their,

I guess in their 40s!

Cos we're the youngest, I think it's just,

they're starting to feel older and older,

so they just want us to stop growing.

Just buying prom dresses is heartbreaking...

£250 each a minimum, by the way!

# Slow down

# Won't you stay here a minute more?

# I know you wanna walk through the door

# But it's all too fast... #

To be honest, like, I don't feel as if I've changed that much.

# I pointed to the sky and now you wanna fly... #

I'm proud of Nathan.

Enjoy seeing him as a young man,

and I'm going to enjoy seeing him in the next five or six years,

develop into what, you know...

a man, fully.

I'm looking forward to that.

# Here's to you

# Every missing tooth

# And every bedtime story... #

I definitely want my own place.

Start my own family.

A new life, really. You can do what you want when you're older.

You can be whoever you want to be, so...

As a mother, you definitely start to almost grieve the...

their leaving. But it's going to happen.

It is going to happen.

# Slow down

# Whoa

# Slow down... #

It'll be fascinating to see how their lives continue to develop.

And for many, this begins with their exam results...

What the...?

Come on. Come on! Come on.

-You done good?

-Yeah.

I got a B in Higher PE.

I got an A in Art. An A in English.

A B in Modern Studies.

I got six A*s, five As and a B!

A C in Maths.

-You passed the maths?

-Aye.

CHEERING

I didn't fail anything!

MUSIC: Changing by Sigma featuring Paloma Faith

For this free Open University booklet about young people

and changing times, call 030 0303 2061.

Or go to the BBC Child Of Our Time website and follow the links

to the Open University.

# Ooh-oh-oh-oh

-# Gotta let go

-Ooh-oh-oh-oh

# Ooh-oh-oh-oh Ooh-oh-oh-oh

-# Ooh-oh-oh-oh

-Gotta let go... #