Meme Monday: Kids and the Internet

Via @3.1415926535897932384626433832/Instagram

Seriously though! I feel like 9-year-olds are 15-year-olds and 15-year-olds are 25 because of how self-aware and anxious they’re becoming. I most definitely blame it on social media and the internet because well, that’s the one place that puts us all together in one large room. According to research by C&R Research, 22 percent of young children own a cell phone (ages 6-9), 60 percent of tweens (ages 10-14), and 84 percent of teens (ages 15-18, making the internet easily accessible. It’s not bad but also not good. Bad because regardless of age (and parental controls) kids are easily exposed to bullying, harassment, abuse, sex and nudity, and crime. Kids become curious about what sex and drugs feel like, how a short skirt, long nails or a boyfriend or girlfriend can change them. Kids become curious about sexual orientation and the stigma around it is reason enough to check it out. Yes, this is all normal in a human, but at a much later age than eight years old. The internet is amazing and one of the most impactful discoveries to date. Don’t get me wrong, it is what it is because we made it that because on it deeper level, it houses and provides information, beauty, inspiration, connection, and community.

So don’t believe everything you read or see, even in your schools! Be you, take your time, love your mother, be open to the possibility of others loving you, trust your gut, learn as much as you can and read as much as you can, form your own options, be aware of your fears so that you can use it to become the best version of yourself that you can be. Stay informed and inspired but don’t grow up too fast y’all, being an adult is only fun after you’ve been a kid first and foremost, fully. Truth is, though, one never truly stops being a kid.

And for all of my adults in this world, everyone can be a mentor. If you’ve had a mentor, you know it can make all the difference. So… go speak at your high schools, take your nieces and nephews out, be a brief example on the train or in the streets. Whatever you do, share your lessons with kids and push them toward their dreams.