Growing up, I had days of thick blue eyeliner, Lisa Frank everything, hand-me-down clothes, braces, and flip phones once I became old enough for a phone. I ran around outside constantly, roughhoused with my friends, and never cared what boys (or really anyone) thought of me. Nowadays, I see little girls with their noses in iPhones, posting on social media, and looking like they're at least five years older than they really are. These are the same girls who skipped the awkward middle school (and sometimes high school) phases I went through and jumped straight to the Kylie Jenner "baddie" trend that lots of girls are falling too.

This "baddie" fad is something young girls should not even be exposed to. Even the name sounds provocative and what it means is even more so. According to Urban Dictionary (a commonly used search engine for defining slang words), "a baddie is a bad girl. She usually is thick and has 'FLEEK' makeup. Posts booty pics and can be defined as a 'freak'. Girls who are 'bad' are extremely attractive to guys."

THIS *IS NOT* WHAT YOUNG GIRLS SHOULD BE ASPIRING TO BE!!!

The last line, "Girls who are 'bad' are extremely attractive to guys," is the worst part. It is instilled in our brains at a very young age that our main purpose is to be attractive to men. Not to finish school, get good grades, maintain family relationships and a good social life- but to be attractive to men. That mentality being shown in girls as young as 11 years old is absolutely terrifying.

The root of the problem is the smartphones we give our children. That's where young girls get these images for their standards. They see girls who get lots of likes and comments on their posts and lots of guys trying to talk to them and with the mentality of "having" to be attractive to men, they try their hardest to be like the girls they see online. What they don't realize, though, is that everything you see online can be altered. There are ways to alter your appearance in a photo- whether it be reshaping your body, whitening your teeth, or clearing away acne. Girls who are just starting to find themselves are making artificial, online people they've never met their role models and therefore falling to the same trends as them. That's why these young girls look like they're 20 when they're actually 12.

We have enabled this coming up generation to grow up way faster than they should be and it's ultimately going to hurt everyone involved. Parents need to step it up and regulate their kids' phones because next thing they know, their little girls are going to end up in a really bad position. I have two little sisters and I am so thankful that their innocence and childhood has been preserved. I don't know what I would do if it hadn't been. I don't know what society's going to do if we don't do the same with future generations.