Blog #3: Letter to my 10-year-old self
Hi me at 10 years old! One day you will embark on your social media journey and it will seem fun and innocent at first, but it will have a strong effect on your understanding of the world and your feelings and emotions as time goes on.
When you turn 12, you will get Facebook for the first time (you were too young for Myspace), and this social media site is very bare bones at this point. Facebook was one of the first websites where the privacy of your information posted was at risk, and this is still a problem to this day in 2019 with founder Mark Zuckerberg testifying before senate regarding these issues. So, I would advise to you, my 10 year old self, not to post any photos you would ever regret posting at a later time, because you can never be sure if it’s being sold or posted somewhere else. And people always say that once it’s posted on a social media site, you can never fully take it down.
With Instagram, there was definitely a social pressure to get an account, and when you would meet someone they would always ask what your handle was to follow you. In high school, how many likes you got on photos and how many followers you had definitely correlated with your popularity, so be wary of this. Especially as you’re growing up and developing your self-esteem, this can be super detrimental to your confidence and how you think others view you as a person. This still exists in 2019 to some extent, but people are way more critical of the idea of an “online persona” vs. a “real-life persona”. The amount of followers and likes someone has could be a complete facade and that same persons real life could not be so peachy.
Another very serious issue and offline consequence of social media is cyber-bullying, and people committing suicide because of continuous harassment via a social media platform. This unfortunately happened to Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old girl from BC, and this will be a story that you, my 10-year-old self, will encounter and learn from. Cyber-bullying still exists in 2019 — it hasn’t been ‘cured’ or ‘solved’, but there is a lot more teaching of it in school as well as general awareness. Media and online literacy is also being taught a lot more at a young age which is super beneficial!
Finally, there was definitely a point where social media became a tool for businesses to make more money and politicians to garner support (or word vomit in the case of President Trump). I think it’s very important to be conscious of powerful figures in society manipulating the public via social media. Lots of businesses do a great job at marketing on social media and have successful platforms that are enjoyable to scroll through. But I think the most important thing to keep in mind in 2019 is discerning which companies or powerful figures are worth focusing on, following and giving time to on social media, and which could be negatively affecting your everyday life.
