Do teenagers still read?

Can I be 'real' a second? Do young people say that? I am honestly, just wondering if teen/ coming of age fiction is still a 'thing'? Not to show my age, though it will be pretty obvious when I mention book series such as The Princess Diaries and Tracy Beaker, but I am wondering if there is still a call for our teenagers, to actually find time to sit and read for enjoyment?

I honestly don't mind if it is in book or screen format, I am just wondering if there is still a market for a bit of teen fiction? So somewhere in-between the level the teachers think that they should be reading at, but not quite a well-read Fifty Shades of Grey book.

What is out there now, that doesn't patronize our young adults, but at the same time sits them down and says, 'Hey, forget about your exams for twenty minutes or so before bed and just escape for a bit?'

I started writing again a few weeks ago, I have deleted a lot of what I would class as more 'writing what I know' and gone for writing things that, maybe I didn't know much about at first, but I have taken time to learn as I write, which has been a lovely experience and break away from the mundane expectancies of a working full-time, divorcee, mum, who has just entered her third decade and trying to avoid writing about 'where it went wrong' and 'shouldn't have done that'.

I suddenly settled on teen fiction, not because I am trying to relive my own youth, but because I am trying to imagine what it is like now. Social media was around, but I wouldn't say it was as present as it is now and cyberbullying was just a bit of name-calling, there was no 'trolling' or 'nudes'.

Also the way my own child is going, by my next blink, she will be insisting that she is old enough for her own phone, freedom to use it her way, privacy from mum and all that teenage drama and this mum wants to be ready to deal with the pros and cons with that.

I don't want to be a 'cool mum' or 'the strict mum', I want to be the 'good mum'. I want to be the mum with the right balance when it comes to technology and my daughter. For one thing, my job is a very basic one, so she won't be upgrading her phone every time there is a new model out, even I do not do that, as putting food on her plate is more important to me than that, as soon as its paid off, I am keeping it until it literally stops working.

For another, her safety means the world to me. I do not want anyone taking advantage of her or worse. I want her to have independence to a point, but at the same time, I do not want her messaging anyone I don't know or whose parents aren't within door knocking distance.

I have digressed a little there onto child safety and the internet and that isn't really what this article is about, it is about if my potential audience is still out there? Do kids still want to escape into someone else's world for a while? Or is their own more than enough for them? In some cases is it too much for them?

Growing up I had friends on both ends of the class system: the rich ones, had parents making them do homework and not much else and the not so rich ones, wanted their kids from under their feet until bedtime or looking after their younger siblings and neither had the time for a little reading of their own choosing.

Even now it is obvious who reads and who watches the screen releases as book readers tend to view the film or TV series with an air of disappointment, but the movie buffs think it couldn't get better. Even earlier with the series I mentioned, most will be thinking of the screen versions rather than the books, with their detail and usually very funny one-line dialogues that don't make the screen.

I could lie and say that if my work ever becomes a success, I do not want it turned into a film or series, but large numbers in bank accounts can be very persuasive and so can the opportunity to see your work come to life with the help of famous names and faces, I can imagine.

My main question of the evening is: Can the youth of today read more than a status?

My work could potentially be done from two different perspectives, but I wanted to give my teenage character the chance to shine first, before her mother, who could easily overshadow her, but I am not going to let her because, the teenager is just as remarkable in her own way, just being herself and looking out for everyone.