A U.S. survey of people ages 10 to 24 found that 55% wanted more neurodivergent characters on screen, while just 22.7% saw current portrayals as realistic most of the time.
The Center for Scholars & Storytellers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), published its fifth annual Teens and Screens report Wednesday, Oct. 21. The study covered respondents ages 10 to 24 in the United States.
YouTube was selected most often as a storytelling medium, by 72.9% of respondents. Television drew a 70.3% selection rate; movies registered 70.2%, and video games 68.5%. Among social platforms, TikTok was chosen by 64.2%. Seventy-nine percent said short-form content could tell a story.
A theater trip to see a new movie remained the most popular weekend choice for the third year running. Playing a new video game ranked second, the report said.
The share seeking more neurodivergent characters reached 77.7% among respondents identifying as LGBTQIA+ and 74.8% among those with a disability. A separate USC Annenberg report found that 2.8% of speaking characters in the 100 top-grossing films of 2025 were depicted with a disability. That measure covers disability broadly and does not identify neurodivergent characters separately.
Reactions to stories about AI included fascination for 28.2% of respondents, excitement for 25.6%, doom for 22% and fear for 10.1%. Asked whether AI could tell a story, 41.3% said yes, placing it sixth among eight choices. Among those ages 10 to 13, 44.2% described AI programs as fascinating. For respondents 19 and older, 27.4% named doom as their leading feeling, while 17.7% said excitement.
The survey does not directly measure attitudes toward AI-generated entertainment. Yalda T. Uhls, the study's senior author, founder and CEO of the center and a UCLA adjunct professor, told GamesBeat that the question concerned stories about AI, rather than content made with AI.
In UCLA's release, Uhls said, “The gatekeepers have changed.” The report presents its findings as guidance for entertainment companies and other content creators.
