Dear younger self

A class I attended last year asked us to write a letter to our young self about the impact social media would have on our life. The assignment asked us to give our younger self advice, while seemingly simple enough I did not realize how deeply writing this letter would affect me, as such I advise everyone to try it, you might surprise yourself.

Here’s the letter I wrote

Dear Younger Self,

Social media will be both your best friend and your greatest enemy. At times it will feel dark with little hope of light but it will also help you find a passion and a voice. Your first experience on social media will be with Instagram. Here you will face your first challenge which is to not compare yourself to the people you see online. Please know that social media portrays unrealistic beauty standards that are altered by photoshop and plastered with filters so that no “flaws” can be seen. These images will be directed at your young age group causing all types of harm and questioning of self-worth. Because of this, I want you to know that the books you are never seen without do not make you a nerd and the glasses that you wear do not make you less beautiful despite what social media and your classmates will tell you. Therefore my first, and most important piece of advice to you is to not let what you see online define you. The next thing I want you to be aware of is that online actions have offline consequences. Even when posts are deleted they are not forgotten. Although you will never experience this first hand you will see how the consequences of online actions affect people close to you and change the people they become. Please know that there will always be an online footprint so be careful about what you post and also who you trust. In years to come, you will see how the new girl at your school is labelled as a “slut”. All because she sent one singular photo to a guy she thought she could trust. You will then see how fast this is photo spread to every guy in your school and how the blame is never placed on the guy who shared it but the “stupid” girl who sent it. Here your trust in boys will dwindle and you will put up walls so high that people will have a hard time getting to know you. I want you to know that it is okay to let people in. While you should be aware of consequences do not let fear prevent you from trying something new. Now that I have told you about all the negatives I also want to give you a glimpse of what's to come. Social media will give you a voice to raise awareness about issues close to you, such as education for all women. Social media will keep you in touch with old friends and also help you make new ones. Most importantly you will learn to use social media to grow both as a creator and a person. So younger self, be cautious but not fearful, push boundaries and do not let anyone tell you that you are anything less than smart and beautiful.

All my love,

Future self