Just like every other generation, it seems that today’s teenagers have a complicated relationship with AI. That’s one of the findings of an annual report on Teens and Screens by the Center for Scholars & Storytellers at UCLA.

As the entertainment industry continues to rapidly transform, the voices of the most impacted generations, Gen Alpha and Gen Z, which includes the 18- to 24-year-old demographic most coveted by many advertisers, are often left unheard. For the past five years, the nonprofit center at the University of California at Los Angeles has sought to change that through its annual Teens and Screens Report, providing important – and often surprising – data about what young people want in stories made for and about them.

And the 2026 Teens and Screens Report reveals that for adolescents and young adults, stories are being told everywhere and on more and more platforms, yet there is still an appetite for “traditional” media and stories as long as they offer something new and show diverse perspectives.  

Among the telling findings, this year’s report reveals that young people have a different idea about what constitutes a “story.” For adults, “stories” still mean movies and television. However, for adolescents, stories are found everywhere – on YouTube, in video games, in 30-second videos and, increasingly, in AI-generated content.

9%) ranked as the top medium for storytelling, with nearly four out of five respondents saying that short-form videos can tell a story. 5%) followed closely behind. 2%) scored the highest among social media platforms.

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