When I was in seventh grade, I wore bright blue eye shadow with pink sparkles and pink mascara. I bought all of my clothes from Aeropostale, Old Navy, and, if was lucky, I got a printed shirt from Hollister every once in a while.

I didn’t care about my bra size and if my breasts were perfectly round, I certainly didn’t worry about if my butt looked good in my jeans, and having underwear lines was perfectly normal. I didn’t care that I never had dyed my hair before, or that I had horrible side bangs. I didn’t care my eyebrows were caterpillars on my face, and I didn’t care that my lips were thin. I was going through puberty, and like most kids at the time, I had acne, a chubby figure, and a huge gap between my two front teeth.

I didn’t drink any alcohol, and I had no idea what marijuana was. I always knew there were a few kids that engaged in that behavior, but I never even had access to it, even if I was curious enough to try it.

I was afraid of liking boys. Thinking about even kissing a boy made me sweat, and relationships weren’t even relationships. We would put that we were in a relationship with someone on our Myspace profile and let our “boyfriends” and “girlfriends” post on our profile about how much we “loved” each other, but when we saw each other in the hallway at school, we would walk the other way intentionally.

I didn’t have a cell phone. I didn’t have constant access to social media or what was going on in my friend’s lives, and when I finally got a phone when I was 13, I was only allowed 500 texts per month and had zero Internet access on it, because smartphones didn’t exist then.

I idolized Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale, belted "Pocket Full of Sunshine" by Natasha Bedingfield in the shower, in the car, at school dances, and on the bus when it came on my MP3 player, and fell in love with 12-year-old Justin Bieber.

But today’s early teens aren’t going through this awkward stage in life. They are in actual relationships, they care about the newest trends and their appearance, and they all have cell phones, something I think is the driving factor behind this.

Today, young girls look up to the Kardashians and the Jenners. They want a curvy figure and thick lips, with long eyelashes and hair extensions. They all want to be Instagram models and do everything they can for likes.

Young girls are sexualizing themselves, and in result, they are losing their virginity at the age of 13, or they are experimenting sexually with older partners, resulting in early pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases.

Pre-teens are also experimenting with alcohol and marijuana, and think that it’s “cool” because they saw a Tipsy Bartender video on Facebook or saw Wiz Khalifa talk about how good his “KK” is, but they don’t understand how much harm these substances can do to a maturing body.

Ultimately, I blame social media. I blame social media for telling impressionable girls how they should look, act, speak, dress, etc. I blame social media for letting young girls grow up too fast.

I always hated my awkward stage. I hated being chubby and I hated not being able to do anything I wanted to do. But to be honest, I am so happy I went through the “awkward stage.” I am so happy I looked up to respectful female actresses, and never thought about engaging in sexual activity or harmful substances. I am so happy I didn’t have constant access to social media, or the latest trends circulating the country.

I feel bad for girls who don’t have an awkward stage like majority of my generation did. I think it really made us all appreciate growing up just a little bit more. I want these young girls to know that it is okay and perfectly normal to go through an awkward stage. You are a developing human being, turning into a beautiful woman. You aren't expected to have big breasts and a big butt, you're not expected to have flawless skin and the latest makeup from Sephora, and you will never be expected to have these features. Living your young life is a lot easier when you spend it figuring out who you are as a person, rather than trying to figure out who you think you should be.