Teenagers today are not the biggest fans of watching love stories in their TV shows and movies.
An annual study conducted by the Center for Scholars and Storytellers at the University of California, Los Angeles found that more than half of the teenagers surveyed prefer to watch stories about friendship, rather than romance or sex, in entertainment media.
“Nomance,” as it’s called, is in much greater demand from teenagers than it was in 2023.
The Reality Bites: Teens and Screens survey was conducted in August 2024 and included 1,644 participants aged 10 to 24. People aged 10 to 13 were not asked about sexually explicit content.
63.5% of all teens said they “strongly agree” in wanting to see “more content that focuses on platonic relationships/friendships” in the shows and movies they’re watching.
This number was 51.5% last year.
In the 2024 survey, 10.5% said they “strongly disagree” about wanting to see more friendship-driven stories – down from 15.17% last year. 26% said they “neither agree nor disagree” in this year’s survey, compared to 33.3% in 2023.
“I think more friendship should be shown. And just because boys and girls are friends doesn’t mean
they should be romantic,” said a 12-year-old white female in this year’s survey.
The second statement in the study was: “I think that sex and sexual content are not necessary to the plot of most TV shows and movies.”
Of the 1,644 participants, 62.4% said they “strongly agree”, 16% said they “strongly disagree” and 21.6% said they “neither agree nor disagree”.
Meanwhile, in 2023, less than half of teens (47.5%) were not interested in watching sex play on their screens.
“Romance shouldn’t be the biggest part of the plot,” said a 17-year-old non-binary white person. “Relationships should involve less jealousy and the plot should not be so fixated on the relationship being created. They’re really not that dramatic.”
“It would also be great to see more diverse groups like queer people in romantic relationships,” the teenager added. “This is more realistic to the real world and I like to see more representation.”
The study also found that 46% of participants said they would like to watch TV/movie characters who lack sexual and/or romantic attraction.
Last year, this number was 39%.
The 2024 Teens and Screens survey was commissioned by Atlas Burrus Research Manager, Research Director Dr. Alisha J. Hines, consultant Stephanie Rivas-Lara, and Center for Scholars and Storytellers CEO and founder Dr. Yalda T. Uhls.
It has been conducted annually since 2022.
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