Dear Me,

Hey dude,

If this letter managed to travel through time successfully, that means its like 2009 or something. You’re 11 years old. Good lord, you have no idea what the next like 10 years has in store for you. Poor guy. Anyway, you’ve probably already started to take interest in social media. I know how late you stay up watching videos on youtube. I know you saw our aunt’s Myspace page on our desktop computer when she should’ve been babysitting. People have already migrated to Facebook, and all the kids at school are talking about whether or not they were allowed to get an account. Tip: don’t stop asking mom if you can sign up. She’ll cave eventually.

Your first few years of being on Facebook will probably look a lot like how it looks now. Adding people you vaguely know, being hesitant to accept the friend requests of distant relatives you haven’t seen in years, sharing the occasional song and using your status updates to make jokes you probably think are way funnier than they actually are. Facebook is innocent enough. Eventually it’ll get really boring and Instagram will be your new thing. Awwww yeah homie, this is where its at. Even now! If i remember right, then you probably got Twitter around the same time. These two are gonna be your go-to’s for a long time.

What you’ll find in the next few years is that people love to talk about themselves. People have so much to say, a lot of it is about each other. Likes, followers, and comments from your peers will be what’s important for a while, and thats okay. Expect to want to put yourself out there, but know when to draw the line. You’re a shy kid, social media can be an excellent outlet for you to express yourself easily. Don’t be afraid to put yourself there. Be genuine. Be honest. Post what you feel bets represents you, but know its limitations. If you find that you identify too heavily with social media and it starts to consume more and more of your time, try deleting the apps for a little while and taking a break for a few days. Followers shouldn’t mean anything to you yet, so don’t let that be a concern. Likes don’t measure your value. Likes don’t determine the kind of person you are. Use social media for fun. Learn about it and explore what it can do. Social media can connect you to everything you care about, but mostly importantly understand that you can step away from it if it starts to have a negative effect on you. You can always go back to it later, I think its safe to say they’ll be around for a while.

Try to get outside more,

Matt