The Digital Future

My friends are not Australia but I wish they were. Because if they were, then there would be no world where I have to save them from doom scrolling thousands of perfect bodies that a 13 year old can't and shouldn't have. In fact--no one should if it requires 500 calories. I wouldn't have to worry if a man will slide into their accounts and that I would never know till it's too late because "he's a nice guy" who stalked her every move. I wouldn't have to be looking up therapists for my friends who really need the help after what happened to them, making more and more spreadsheets because personally, I don't have a phone but my brain is the camera that captures every moment. I rewind everything every day wondering if there was more I could do in the towering wall of these addictions taking over everything that used to make kids live their childhood instead of practicing for adulthood. 

And the effects don't end there. I see it every day. I see the impacts of the Sephora girls roaming everywhere with retinol infested skin, though it is scientifically proven that it actually damages the youth's skin. And these children, children, are doing this because of their excessive access to online platforms such as Tik Toc. And the dramatic decline in literacy with these high school graduates who have never finished a whole book, when that is what I do in a week at most. I'm thankful that my family has rules in place that bar my mind from even more outlets of pain because the news channels are enough. 

Even though all I have said is about everyone else, I worry for myself as well. When I get a phone, social media, and all these platforms that are constantly developing, will I become another statistic that right now I am fighting against? Will it spare me or will it manipulate me over to another site swarming with predators and bots analyzing my every move just to put out more content that bleeds my eyes and cuts my tongue and voice straight from my throat? Will I speak these words again or will they be from blood pressed into an Amazon package Tik Toc convinced me to buy, laced with retinol as if we are back to history where everything was laced with lead.

The U.S. banning social media for under 16 will never fix everything, but it is the best start to bring back our lives instead of the new trend that makes us the next statistic.