Young viewers see stories everywhere from YouTube to the movie theater, but a new UCLA-affiliated survey found they still want something familiar at the heart of them: hope, friendship and people they recognize.
“The gatekeepers have changed, and young people themselves are deciding what they want to watch and what they want to see more of in the content they choose,” said Yalda T. Uhls, founder and CEO of the Center for Scholars & Storytellers and an adjunct professor in UCLA’s psychology department.
The center’s fifth annual Teens and Screens report, released Oct. 21, surveyed 1,537 young people ages 10–24 across the United States. Researchers asked about television, movies, video games, social media and artificial intelligence, looking beyond what adults assume young audiences enjoy.
The headline-catching result needs a little unpacking. As TheWrap reported, YouTube led the storytelling list at 72.9%, ahead of television at 70.3%, movies at 70.2% and video games at 68.5%.
But the full report’s question asked which kinds of entertainment media can tell a story, allowing respondents to check every option that applied. Those percentages do not mean nearly three-quarters chose YouTube as their favorite platform, and they do not measure viewing time.
That distinction matters for parents. Young people are recognizing storytelling in places beyond a scripted series or a two-hour movie; 79% also agreed that short-form content can tell a story.
Related: Is the Fate of Movies in the Hands of Gen Z?
Yet the big screen has not lost its pull. For the third consecutive year, seeing a movie in a theater topped the survey’s weekend-activity ranking when respondents imagined that money and getting there were no obstacles.
And a large online following did not automatically translate into a casting vote. Asked whom they would cast in a television show or movie, 39.8% picked a new actor, 38.2% chose a known actor and 16.8% selected an influencer.
The stories themselves offer Hollywood an even clearer invitation. Hopeful, uplifting stories about people beating the odds topped the requested-topic list, followed by friendships and social groups, then people whose lives resembled respondents’ own.
The friendship findings deserve their own careful reading: that section covered ages 14–24, not the youngest children surveyed. Among that group, 57.3% wanted more content with friendships as the central relationships, while 63.8% preferred romances that focused on the couple’s friendship rather than sex.
Artificial intelligence brought a more complicated response. In his interview with Uhls, GamesBeat’s Dean Takahashi clarified that the emotions question concerned watching stories about AI, not simply watching entertainment made using AI.
Younger respondents leaned more toward fascination, while older respondents more often expressed doom. The survey compared age groups; it did not follow the same children growing older or establish that those stories caused their feelings.
For families, the findings offer a useful conversation starter rather than a safety rating for any app. Ask a child what story caught their attention, why it mattered and whether the people in it treated one another well.
A new delivery system does not change those questions. A short video, a game and a movie can all carry a message worth discussing together.
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