Don’t Lose A Sense Of Yourself, 10 Year Old Alecza
Dear 10 year old Alecza,
If I told you right now that 12 years from now you’re going to make singing aka your hobby as a profession by posting videos on a platform called YouTube, I know you’ll be confused. But trust me, you’re going to thank the internet. But right now, you’re probably very interested in making a new Friendster account because all your friends have it. But please, don’t be so invested in this and don’t ponder too much on how to be someone you’re not. You’re most likely going to see Cheska as more privileged than you and you’re probably going to check her Friendster account multiple times to see what she has that you don’t. You’ll upload photos every time she does and persistently try to copy her every move. It will be a constant battle with the question “what do I have to do to be more like Cheska?”. You’ll have a very destructive mindset, but here’s a thought “how do you know that Cheska isn’t just posting photos and posting quotes “for show”?. Maybe 10 years from now, you’ll still consider having an unhealthy online behaviour but please, stray away.
You’ll come across a social media platform called “Instagram” where you can post multiple photos of yourself. And trust me, at 15, you’re going to be one of the biggest “fangirls” and meet your favourite celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. I know you probably don’t know who they are yet, but they’ll have the biggest impact on your life. You’ll constantly upload photos with these celebrities.
You’ll sign up for Twitter and spend hours making sure that Zayn Malik from One Direction retweets your post.
You’ll lose an unhealthy amount of sleep. As soon as you hit 19, you’ll transition your whole personality because it’s not “cool” and even go to the extent of deleting your meet and greet photos. You’re going to start glamorizing your Instagram photos to be able to fit in; a “highlight reel”, per say. You will do this to deceive people. To make you feel good about yourself, but at the end of the day, it will become very exhausting to keep up with what kids call “instagram feed”.
At 21, you’re going to be heartbroken over a boy and you’re going to want to travel to New York to escape reality. But hey, Instagram’s got your back to make sure that people will see you in a different city — independent and living your life. Despite all the hardships that you’ll face during that time, you’ll still manage to deceive people into thinking that way. Social media will be your best friend in terms of deception. It will stir you away from knowing who you really are and what you’re really feeling.
Little by little, baby Alecza…you’re going to learn the dangers of social media. As you get exposed to social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube, you’ll become more obsessed with getting likes, views and comments every single time you post. You’re going to be the product of your own social media account. You’re going to post many photos and delete them because they did not get as many likes as you expected, and you’ll feel really bad about yourself but don’t worry, pick yourself back up. Instagram will have an “archive” feature that will allow you to hide your photos since you value the memories that come with those.
In 2012, you’ll realize how much you love singing and start investing most of your time on posting cover videos on a video sharing platform called YouTube. It will be one of your sources of income and you’ll value the numbers that go along with your videos because this is how you’ll measure your success. Your videos will range from 10,000 to 300,000 views and it will make you feel really good, and it will make you feel a sense of euphoria when you get invited to open up for concerts — it will make you feel like you reached a milestone that you wouldn’t have been able to do if YouTube was non-existent.
It’s dangerous though, watch out. You’ll end up depending your happiness on your views and once you reach 20 years old and lose a sense of your channel because of your hectic schedule…your self- esteem will come crashing on you. Trust me, you still have all the time in your life to pick your singing career back up. Social media will just make you think the way you did because you were so invested in it.
As soon as you enter University in 2014, you’re going to be so bombarded with school work. You’ll lose a sense of all your social media accounts. It will be hard for you to keep up. During exam week, you’ll finally realize how distracting Instagram is. You’ll finally realize that no one really gives a crap about everything you post about Harry Styles on Twitter. You’ll finally realize that not everyone who likes your Facebook posts actually care. You’ll finally realize that everything in front of you is exactly what matters in your life. During your exam weeks, you’ll shut off your social media accounts and focus on what’s important — but you’re going to feel like you’re shutting off half your life. It’s going to haunt you, but you’re going to learn how to prioritize.
Alecza, it’s going to be scary. You’ll see multiple hate comments on your cover videos saying “you’re not good enough” or “you suck”, but you know who you truly are. You know you have a voice. Don’t lose a sense of this. Don’t let a single hate comment stop you from doing what you really want. At the end of the day, you are you and what other people show on the internet isn’t everything. Use these social media platforms because they are there for you to enjoy. So what if you don’t get as many likes you as expected it to be? Post photos because you want to, not because people expect you to be that way. Keep posting videos because one day, you’ll never know what could happen to your career. Unfollow those who have a negative impact in your life, maybe even friends who cause you to think a certain way. But here’s my final deal with you…
Don’t forget to look up your phone screen. There are people who care about you and there are experiences you have to enjoy.
Sincerely yours,
22 year old Alecza
