Think back to when you were 12-years-old. Were you concerned about the latest trends or were you content with your sparkly skirt, braces, and awkward hair styles? We were just kids going through an awkward phase on our road to discovering who we are.
This is completely different than the tweens of today.
Gone are the days of 11- to 13-year-olds shopping at stores like Justice or watching the Disney Channel. Instead they are hitting the whip and twerking on Vine. How could we have let this possibly happen? When a teen star begins to prematurely act in an adult way, such as Kylie Jenner getting lip fillers at 17-years-old, the media is quick to blame growing up in the public eye.
If you think about it, celebrities are not the only ones growing up in public. With social media, the average kid is growing up in front of everyone on the internet and it is creating new obstacles. With apps like Snapchat, people can basically tape their entire day and put it on their "story" for everyone to see. It’s like having your own personal reality show. Twitter lets you tweet about everything you do and Facebook and Instagram allow you to post all the pictures about it. When younger kids have access to these kinds of outlets they become obsessed with the amount of attention they receive.They become addicted to the likes and the views. It is safe to say that social media has a way of enabling narcissism. However the worst impact must be on self esteem. Many studies indicate a correlation between social media use and increased anxiety. Tweens feel pressured to live up to the beautiful people that grace social media. Tweens get this distorted image of how they “should” act or look like.They see things like the #dontjudgemechallenge that ridicule common traits like acne and glasses which most tweens are faced with. Not only is it forcing them to want to "improve" how they look and to look "better" but often times they are faced with bullying. Since these kids are putting themselves out there for all of the world it's not a surprise that they are faced with hurtful comments. The scrutiny can cause most kids to feel insecure and bad about themselves.
But who is truly to blame? Tweens influenced by what they believe is normal, or the ones setting the example of what is deemed normal? I am not saying that we should stop younger kids from using social media or stop using it ourselves. Complete isolation from social media is unrealistic and it isn't all bad. It's an outlet that makes it easier for us to connect with people in our lives and those who have similar interests. We just need to set a better example and stop posting every single minute of our lives. It’s time we live in the moment and disconnect If not for ourselves, then for the future.
