I have a guilty pleasure like any other person, except mine seems to be constantly ridiculed and mocked. I love romcom soapy teen content: shows, books, movies, you name it! If it’s young adult I want it. My recent favorites include People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry and the popular Netflix original series Outer Banks.
My sister always says to me, “Why are you watching that garbage?”. Well, dear sister, I watch it because it’s easy. YA is characterized by fun, youthful, and uncomplicated stories that whisk me away from my busy life. It is the ultimate distraction from the big scary world outside of my room.
Escapism is writing or creating something to provide an escape from reality and, trust me, it is so addictive. My first venture into escapism was in fifth grade. After watching the Hunger Games one night with my best friend and my mom, I decided that I wanted to read and experience more stories similar to that world. I read all of the YA classics: Divergent, The Fault in Our Stars, The Selection and so many more. The Selection was a standout novel for me because it paints a picture of grandeur and luxury. It’s full of complicated love stories, parties and colorful dresses.
Books were a refuge for me because they were simple, light, and joyful. I needed the escape.
During the lockdowns in March of 2020, I became enamored with not only YA books, but also with YA TV. In my town, the restrictions were very strict. I was so desperate to make my days feel different, so like most people, I turned to Netflix.
The first show I watched was Tiger King, which was entertaining, but too serious for me. I decided to take a huge left turn and watch Jane the Virgin with my sister and that show, as much as I hated the wild plot twists and melodrama, was the first time I felt like myself again. The weight of the world seemed to wash away whenever we would sit down to watch an episode and I felt untouchable for those forty minutes.
I get made fun of for this obsession often because outsiders think I am watching and reading for the story or the content, but really I’m searching for that feeling of liberation—escape. It doesn’t matter if the episode or chapter was bad because at the end of the day what matters to me is that I got a break from whatever was stressing me out that day.
The young adult genre remains so popular and prominent past its 2010s prime because for its older consumers maybe it’s a reminder of their simpler teenage years or that it offers such a different world view from the one they have been living. For the more intended audience, I blame social media. The influence it has over its younger, more impressional account holders is enormous. When a new teen book, movie or TV show is popular on TikTok, well then you can bet on it being the topic of conversation at lunch tables across the world. No matter the age of the consumer, there is something that everyone can appreciate about this silly and straightforward genre.