Right, and I am trying to let her but also trying to encourage her to always do the right thing, not the popular thing. She will be okay, it will just be rough for a bit.
100%! Social media has ruined the ability for kids and teens to just be kids and teens. They constantly have to worry about everything they do ending up online. I am thankful Facebook only started when I was in college.
Although I've never had a Facebook account or Twitter (I refuse to call it X) I do wonder if I'd be strong enough *not* to have those as a teenager today. I hope I'd be that weird kid that they'd have to bully in person and risk finding out how good I was with an aluminium baseball bat...
This is why in a strange way I'm glad to have been raised in a really obscure sect of Pentecostalism that is so off the radar it doesn't even subscribe to the Nicene Creed: I grew up knowing that we were outsiders, but it didn't matter so long as we were right. It's doomed me to be a contrarian, long after I escaped the sect. :p
I think I was born that way. I rarely take anything at face value, rarely take anyone's word for anything. I was that kid who touched a hot thing after some other kid touched it and said it was hot - so don't touch it. I've always felt outside & different. So, long ago I made a choice: should I try as hard as possible to fit in, or should I just say 'fuck 'em' and be the person I am?
I did compromise a *little* bit and become (at least on first impression) reasonably 'normal', but once you got past the paint-thin camouflage you realised I wasn't a run-of-the-mill human...
X is stupid and don't worry, no one else calls it that either. I love that news articles always say "X, formerly known as Twitter". It makes me cackle.
Trying so hard to instill this in Eleanor again. Especially now that she is going into...middle school *crying in a very not cool way*
ReplyDeleteShe'll want to fit in *badly* at that age, but I'm sure that she'll come out the other side who she is on the inside again.
ReplyDeleteRight, and I am trying to let her but also trying to encourage her to always do the right thing, not the popular thing. She will be okay, it will just be rough for a bit.
ReplyDeleteYup.. the Teens are *rough*, especially these days... I'd hate being a teenager now. It was bad enough back in the 20th...
ReplyDelete100%! Social media has ruined the ability for kids and teens to just be kids and teens. They constantly have to worry about everything they do ending up online. I am thankful Facebook only started when I was in college.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I've never had a Facebook account or Twitter (I refuse to call it X) I do wonder if I'd be strong enough *not* to have those as a teenager today. I hope I'd be that weird kid that they'd have to bully in person and risk finding out how good I was with an aluminium baseball bat...
ReplyDeleteThis is why in a strange way I'm glad to have been raised in a really obscure sect of Pentecostalism that is so off the radar it doesn't even subscribe to the Nicene Creed: I grew up knowing that we were outsiders, but it didn't matter so long as we were right. It's doomed me to be a contrarian, long after I escaped the sect. :p
ReplyDeleteI think I was born that way. I rarely take anything at face value, rarely take anyone's word for anything. I was that kid who touched a hot thing after some other kid touched it and said it was hot - so don't touch it. I've always felt outside & different. So, long ago I made a choice: should I try as hard as possible to fit in, or should I just say 'fuck 'em' and be the person I am?
ReplyDeleteI did compromise a *little* bit and become (at least on first impression) reasonably 'normal', but once you got past the paint-thin camouflage you realised I wasn't a run-of-the-mill human...
X is stupid and don't worry, no one else calls it that either. I love that news articles always say "X, formerly known as Twitter". It makes me cackle.
ReplyDeleteThat cracks me up too. I wonder how long it'll be before it goes back to being called Twitter - officially?? [lol]
ReplyDelete