Jordan Stephens: 'You can't ban social media without giving young people anywhere else to go'

When I was about 13, I was in a burger restaurant with my mum when a man overheard me talking to her about making songs on my computer. He turned around and asked if I wanted to come to his music workshops at Brighton Youth Centre. That was a youth club called AudioActive, funded by the charity Youth Music, who work to equalise access to music. It was the first place I started to hone my creativity.  

I don’t think I would have had the career I do if it hadn’t been for AudioActive. My mum didn’t have much money at the time, but everyone there created space for me and encouraged me, and I remember eventually thinking I could get somewhere with music. So I feel very passionate about those spaces being available to as many young people as possible. 

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That’s why I became an ambassador for Youth Music, and why I’m supporting their Rescue the Roots campaign. Rescue the Roots is a fundraiser to support grassroots youth music organisations across the UK. It’s raised
£2 million so far, but that still doesn’t meet the need across the country. 

Having a youth centre – just a space to meet new, different kinds of people, and find other influences in life – is special, especially when the internet can force young people today to be more and more isolated. And you can’t introduce a social media ban for young people up to 16 years old without giving them anywhere else to go. 

I think we also underestimate how important it is for young people to have mentors and elders. Those people can save kids’ lives. I struggle to think of a youth worker I’ve met who isn’t brilliant.  

Something so beautiful happens when there’s not that pressure of product and outcome, just space and connection. Today, young people trying to get started in music are almost immediately required to make money from what should be sacred. Creativity is just an extension of something we need to be human. I don’t think anyone should struggle to be creative, and I don’t think there should be a metric around it. It should just be a part of being human, like walking or breathing. 

If I’m being very honest, seeing how the music industry has developed has led to me becoming a bit jaded. It can be an incredibly exploitative industry, and I’ve seen a lot of young people badly treated. At times I’ve been very close to not coming back from that experience.  

We need spaces where people can do what they love, and make enough money to not be drowning. In my dream world, everyone would be given some kind of financial support to enable that.  

Read more:

• Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens: ‘Men, you are beautiful. Just accept it’
• While the government plans its strategy, youth clubs like ours could soon be lost
• Labour reveals national youth strategy with vow to give every young person ‘something meaningful to do’

With technology evolving and AI able to do more laborious jobs, I think there’s a spiritual requirement for us to be back in touch with our bodies and our senses. 

Art isn’t just a luxury; it’s human, it’s survival. Why do we make music, or write poems, or build sets? It’s just to make people come together. All young people deserve the time, space and support to do that – to be inventive, to be daring, to try something weird and take creative risks.  

That’s why I love the campaign – and the phrase – Rescue the Roots. They kindly awarded me with a Grassroots Hero Award in 2024 and it was genuinely one of the biggest accolades I’ve achieved in my life so far. Now, I want to keep helping them earn the money needed so that others can have the same opportunities. 

Jordan Stephens is the new co-host of the BBC podcast Miss Me?.

His autobiography, Avoidance, Drugs, Heartbreak & Dogs, was a Sunday Times Bestseller and is out now (Canongate, £10.99).

You can buy it from the Big Issue shop on bookshop.org, which helps to support Big Issue and independent bookshops.

Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this? Get in touch and tell us more. 

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