A Letter to My 11 Year Old Self
Dear 11 year old self,
You’re now in grade 6 — congrats on graduating elementary school! You’re being told by your teachers about the new responsibilities, choices, and freedoms that come with being a middle schooler. The IT specialist also recently came into one your classes telling you about the negative, scary consequences with having an online presence. She demonstrated this by asking one of your classmates to log onto their Facebook account with this plugin website called “Take this Lollipop”, and proceeded to show this personalized video using your friend’s account.
You look around the room, and your classmates have BlackBerrys, overpriced Roots sweatpants, American Appeal zip up hoodies, and Timberland boots.
You have none of those.
They also all have Facebook.
See, your social media accounts have always been something you’ve created without requiring your parent’s permission. You had MSN Messenger, Skype, YouTube, and even Twitter accounts without needing your parent’s seal of approval. Chatting with your friends without actually seeing them so had never been easier thanks to social media. You also currently do not have, or see the need for a cell phone, and your “social media life” stays with you at home. Social media is still running in the background of your life. You had logged onto MSN, and then logged off after an hour. All these sites mentioned were pretty harmless fads, but I promise that it will become more powerful and prominent in the years to come.
You are also in the minority of your friends for having a Twitter account in 2011, which a few famous people including Barack Obama and Jose Bautista follow. Please know that that means absolutely nothing, and DMing them, along with The Black Eyed Peas will not result in any response.
I see I’m a couple years too late in issuing this warning, though.
But Facebook was different. It seemed like everyone you knew had an account, and I know how much you want one right now. I also know that your parents are not letting that happen. Yes, you’re two years younger than the legal age to open up an account (who hasn’t lied about their age when opening an account?), but you just HAVE to have it. There were games, and it was an opportunity to connect with, and create a network of friends, within a database of millions of users. Wasn’t this just a grander scale, more grown up version of Webkinz and Club Penguin?
Finally, after weeks of begging, your parents will grant you permission you open one. And you’ll initially be thrilled. You’ll spend your days while you could have been studying for your math test sending out friend requests. Everyone’s accepting, and your feed will be lively.
But day by day, Facebook, along with your other forms of social media, will begin to consume your life. I want you to know that this isn’t necessarily going to be a bad thing. In fact, social media as a whole will actually have a positive impact on your life and potential career choices.
As you begin to become a more avid Facebook user, I want you to know that no one actually cares what you’re doing. Contrary to what other people think, the number of people that post on your wall “Happy Birthday!” each year, (while a nice gesture), does not define you. The number of friends you have doesn’t define you. The number of photos of you and your 12 year old friends posted on your account does not define you, and yes, they are just as cringey looking back on today. Also, please be wary about what pictures you post or are tagged in, because whatever you post will always stay on someone’s phone or in someone’s database, no matter if you delete it. Numerous people’s reputations and careers have ended because of a tweet or picture they once sent, so please, be cautious.
It will come to a time where every time you gain access to a Wi-Fi connection outside of your house, you will go straight to Facebook. Once you notice this, please stop. Your feed will still be there when you get home. Spend the precious time you have with your friends and family in person.
Maybe by this point you’ll understand why your parents are trying to derive you from, at least for now, of this platform. You’ve seen 14A and 18A rated movies at the ripe age of 8 years old, so it’s clearly not for the legal reasons.
You’ll also start to see the really, really cool opportunities that come with having a social media account, mainly the amount of contests you will win and rewards you’ll obtain just for being a visible fan of a brand.
At your age, little did I know that I’d win hundreds of dollars’ worth of products and gift cards from different companies just by tweeting and commenting on brand’s social media posts. You will win a Louisville Slugger baseball bat, countless advanced screening tickets, a month’s worth of Tic-Tacs (ok, maybe that’s not THAT valuable), free tickets to the Ex, free gift cards, shall I go on?
By continuously tweeting your excitement for your favourite store, @TargetCanada’s social team will send you a gift card for just being awesome.
By just replying to a tweet from @StubHub, wishing for Blue Jays Opening Night tickets, you will receive $100 to use on their site.
By just interacting, and being a fan of a band, (and not even entering anything) you will receive an all-expenses paid weekend for two in Vegas, including flight and hotel.
By this point in the letter, you probably think social media is the best thing that’s ever happened to your life. It’s not. Of all the physical possessions you will win, please know that there are lots of intangible moments that you will lose, and honestly miss.
You will soon begin to see social media as a double edged sword; it has tremendous advantages, yet also affects your mental well being, as it will with everyone (you’re not the only one obsessed, everyone your age will be!). Social media becoming increasingly prevalent in your life will affect your sleep, and balance in real life vs. social interactions.
Twitter in 2018 is my newspaper. It will be impossible to go a morning, or even a lecture without scrolling through your feed several times. You will be the first to hear about breaking news, and feel more connected to society than ever, when really, the opposite is occurring.
It will hinder your study habits, and you will find yourself taking several “Twitter breaks”, sharing a laugh from a meme or funny post, or becoming more informed in the viral trends and news happening across the world.
Here’s the thing though. Despite your time spent on these platforms, you will still somehow find and recognize the important balance in online and offline activity, and receive very good marks in school. You will get into your first choice university program, and all the programs applied to. You will still likely get an A on that test, despite the several Twitter breaks existent in your studying habits.
In university, you will not only be browsing Facebook and Twitter during class, but also be taking an eye opening class on social media itself, and likely be working in a career that directly involves marketing a product or service on those platforms.
In writing this letter, I was reminded of a tweet I saw in scrolling through Twitter the other day that really sums just how much our online activity has changed in the past 7 years:
While you don’t know what Black Mirror is yet, your pre-Facebook 11 year old self today involves you saying “brb” to your friends if you need to grab food, talk to someone, or go to the washroom. Social media was running in the background, while everything else in your life was at the fore front. Social media would be consumed in a slotted time period of your day, usually after school for just a few hours. Now, we are always “online”, and I honestly can’t remember the last time I formally logged off of a social media site, let alone went a day without using one.
I’m not trying to scare you, but just trying to help you navigate this inevitable change that you will soon experience. It is necessary that you are connected on various platforms and see their uses and truly life changing benefits. Social media is an incredible, powerful tool, just know when it’s appropriate to use them, and when it’s time to unplug and put the phone down. You will not miss anything, and if you do, someone else will be there to catch you up on the latest meme or news.
Hopefully you’ll listen to your parents and wait just a little longer to open up that Facebook account of yours. Seven and a half years later, I can confidently say that I’m still not jealous that I couldn’t BBM, didn’t have the now bankrupt American Apparel’s sweater, or those Timberland Boots. If it wasn’t for school purposes and having these online connections, I’d probably be better off without a Facebook account too.
I urge you to stay connected and up to date on what’s happening in the digital world, but not to forget forget to log off every now and then, especially before you go to sleep.
I’ve got to say, after reflecting, 2018 Jacob is pretty content with his choices (aside from DMing Obama and the Black Eyed Peas), but could have used a bit less social media, and a bit more sleep.
Please don’t be 2018 Jacob scrolling through Twitter at 1AM when he could be sleeping. I can assure you there’s never anything that important happening there at 1 AM.
Because that’s the thing about social media: that picture, that post, that article will all still be there — the next morning, the next day, and forever.
The destiny of your social media experience is up to you — so use it wisely.
Sincerely,
Jacob
