Overview:
Love Island fills a genuine hunger for shared connection and critical thinking about relationships in an algorithmically fragmented media environment, and encourages teachers to build relationships by genuinely engaging with students’ interests rather than dismissing them as superficial.
For the past two summer holidays, I’ve shamelessly enjoyed listening to every new episode of Love Island at 6:00 PM. I make a plate of super-decent avocado toast and sit down to watch the country’s sexiest singles lounge around in swimsuits and talk about their “connections.” And your female students may be doing the same. The premise of this show is simple: a bunch of hot singles are gathered in an exotic house in Fiji and tasked with finding their strongest connection within the group. Over time, their relationship is “tested” by various challenges, new single “bomb arrivals”, and Casa Amor, where the group is split up and given a new set of islanders to “test” if they wish. Viewers are constantly given opportunities to vote throughout the season, which affects the outcome, and at the end of the show, the top 3 couples are left in America to vote for their favorite. The two may split the $100,000 prize, or one of the couples may choose to take the sum for themselves, proving to be the ultimate “test” of the relationship.
So what is it about Love Island that appeals to so many young female viewers? Is it pure stupidity, an indication of a society that prioritizes “lustful behavior,” as islanders in this era might say, over the pursuit of more wisdom?
No, I think there is something more beneficial at play. Any teacher who pays attention knows that our students are hungry for communication, despite having their eyes fixed on the information highway at all times. Mental health is a growing concern among young people, and our female students are particularly vulnerable. And long gone are the days of cable television, when new episodes of popular TV shows so everyone could tune in at the same time gave readers something to connect with during lunch and in the passing hours. Algorithms for our social media feed ensure that we only see content curated to our liking, which means we don’t see what others like. Trends still emerge, but disappear as quickly as they arrive (“6-7” is already very cool, and “Rick Rolling” has remained relevant for years).
Love Island demands more of our readers’ attention than your average TikTok feed. With almost daily episodes coming out for several weeks in a row, if you don’t pay attention to the progress it’s easy to fall behind. This often causes recent viewers to get lost between the large number of people living on the islands and the interconnectedness that accumulates everywhere.
a season before they begin to release the herd of final ballots. Viewers track down their favorite islanders, focusing on the couple they love the most. Online discourse often discusses the impact of the producer’s influence on the show’s results (definitely a form of meta-text analysis). And in an era of total social exclusion, Love Island’s shockingly high voter turnout may speak to a desire among many of us to take part in elections where we feel our vote really counts.
Our readers are hungry for meaning and connection, and Love Island gives many of us viewers a chance to commit to something, especially for those of us returning to our homes for summer break.
Communication may be casual, and there are certainly elements of superficiality, but our girls are thinking carefully about their desires and beliefs in relationships as they sing. Seeing how the male inhabitants of the islands behave and misbehave during the infamous Casa Amor challenges our young woman to make wise decisions about who she “dates” with.
It’s easy to dismiss what teenagers are focused on as counting them. But many of my most fruitful conversations with students have come from active, deliberate efforts to engage in their interests. It often leads me into strange corners, but when my students feel seen, feel like their interests matter and are validated by the adults around them, it often breathes new life into the classroom. Perhaps this coming August, we may consider our opportunities to cultivate a connection with our students by “discarding” what we consider to be legitimate forms of entertainment, and “test” something that the youth are talking about.
