MUMBAI: When teens start talking, the world better listen. MO India Today Group’s Instagram-first Gen Z brand has rolled out a bold new experiment: Secret Lives of Teenagers (SLOT), a six-part Insta-first series that puts today’s young voices front and centre, no filters attached.
Presented by Swiggy, the show assembles a group of outspoken, curious, and sometimes chaotic teenagers many of them students at top global universities who dive headfirst into the themes that define their generation. Think identity crises, ambition vs burnout, heartbreak and hookups, rebellion, mental health, and, of course, life lived perpetually online.
The conversations are raw, hilarious, and painfully real, giving audiences parents, educators, marketers, and even brands, a rare peek into the psyche of Gen Z. For teens themselves, SLOT functions as a loudspeaker for experiences often sidelined: finally their truths, in their own words.
What makes the format different is its Insta-first DNA. SLOT was born under MO, the India Today Group’s cultural playground for youth, designed to talk in the internet’s native language reels, memes, podcasts, and behind-the-scenes storytelling. With this series, MO flexes its credentials as a space where Gen Z can be messy, funny, and thoughtful, all at once.
India Today Group vice chairperson and executive editor-in-chief Kalli Purie explained: “With SLOT, we’ve created a space that’s raw, real, and completely Gen Z no borrowed narratives. Digital-first brand MO and SLOT bring out the spontaneity of social storytelling. It doubles up as a resource for anyone wanting to understand Gen Z India.”
Backing it, Swiggy Food Marketplace CEO Rohit Kapoor will close every episode with his take on the “Gen Z vibe” for CMOs. As he put it: “Gen Z don’t follow trends, they set them. They’ve rewritten how we eat, shop, and live online. SLOT is a front-row seat to their world raw honesty, humour, and bold perspectives. For brands or parents trying to understand Gen Z, this is the place to start.”
From Shoshthi to shindoor khela, festivals may belong to tradition but SLOT belongs to a generation intent on rewriting the rules of growing up. And on Instagram, where attention spans shrink and stories disappear in 24 hours, these teenagers are proving their own stories might just last longer.
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