To my 13-year-old self: You were a joke, but that’s completely okay.
With Facebook memories, it’s hard to shrug off what was quite an embarrassing past on social media.
Dear 13-year-old Christy,
What made you think that it was a good idea to post a profile picture captioned: “If you can’t see me, you are blind?” I don’t even know what you meant back then but you make for a good cringe today. Up tops to my forehead as I frantically tried to close this Facebook memory.
But hey, up tops to the you then for not being afraid to be yourself, for not taking all the likes so seriously, for not just putting up highlight reels of your life but sharing bits and pieces (albeit sometimes too much), for only accepting friend requests from people who really knew you instead of adding people you’ve only spoken to for 5 minutes and will never talk to again … I could go on.
You would have found your current feed — fast forward 8 years — utterly boring, overly careful and excessively vain. But then again, your purpose of using social media has changed as much as you and the world have grown.
Back then, it was all about Happy Farm, quizzes to find out which Twilight character you were most similar to (with blatant cheating, of course), and liking all those now-debunk relatable pages that go something like “I hate it when my sibling makes friends with all my friends!”. That was cool back then, wasn’t it? That was the perfect reason not to get into the shower after coming home from school, wasn’t it? Wait — that still is.
Today, it’s a whole different ball game as you start to show your serious side to your friends and “friends”. You start seeing the need to stand for something, to participate in campaigns, to share #relate #blessed posts (before you gawk, you — thankfully — don’t actually use these hashtags in your posts) and most important of all — let yourself get sucked into a world of 15-seconds Taste Made videos for what… 15,000 years?
Today, because of the way the world uses social media — from profiling to recruiting to influencing — you’ve become safer.
Yesterday, social media was pure entertainment. Today, social media is also your tool.
These changes were all circumstantial, and all part of your growth.
While I am still embarrassed every time a cringe-worthy Facebook memory pops up, I don’t rush to delete them or delete the content because sometimes, it reminds me of how much I’ve learnt as I grew. I don’t think I would be able to advise you right, given the difference in our personalities, and that of your friends, then and now. Even if I could turn back the clock, I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently than to let you be authentically you, then laugh about it as I look back. It’s hard enough you have to portray a better image of yourself now, so you should have all the silly fun while you could. But thank you for not saying anything too offensive or stupid back then. That would have been troublesome for the you now.
If anything, you resurfacing on my Facebook memories now and then is a reminder to myself of when things were simpler; when you scrutinised less; when you were a little more carefree. I guess I’ve come to embrace the embarrassment that comes with growing out of yourself J As with growing up, your responsibility increases too. It’s okay that you’ve saddled up your steed.
Some things haven’t changed though:
1. Whatever you’ve done or are still doing is still largely in the public eye
2. You still use social media excessively
For that matter, I think I’m the one who needs the advice.
1. Social Media is a great tool to get yourself out there, especially in the industry you are headed towards. But,
2. Don’t let yourself get sucked into the chase for superficial affirmation
3. Don’t judge yourself so hard or on behalf on your followers — half of them wouldn’t notice even if you fell off the grid
4. Your physical friends and family would
5. Don’t believe everything you see on social media, and be a well-informed participant
6. Be careful in the volatile environment on the internet, but don’t be afraid of using it.
And to my future self, like how you look back on our journal entries and reminisce about the stupid things you used to care about, I hope you can look back on the me today and be proud that you’ve once again grown. Also I hope I’m less embarrassing now ;)
