The history books

In the future, there will inevitably be a lot of random Instagram profiles used in

history books to show what the “everyday people” were like in the 2010s. They’ll show how all our biggest celebrities interacted with their friends, family, and fans online via comment sections and direct messaging. Social platforms like MySpace, AOL, and Youtube set to rise to the idea of “online friends” as opposed to friends you see “IRL”. Omegle opened up the door to talking face-to-face with people you’ve never met (and then subsequently being traumatized them). Skype eventually lead to FaceTime which is now an essential part of any social platform that has direct messaging. All these are everyday things to us now, but they weren’t always like this and they won’t always be this way. I think it’ll be really important to showcase how these platforms blurred the lines between a person and a celebrity. It can teach us a lot about how people’s minds shifted when social media became the “norm”, and I’m sure in the future we will know more about preventing unhealthy relationships with our computer screens. The rise (and fall) of the “influencer”, and how people are slowly letting content creators off of their pedestals (although that certainly has to do with the mass amount of people that have a pedestal… but really should not). Parasocial relationships are another huge thing I think will be talked about a lot, although it’s only coming into the conversations recently. Maladaptive daydreaming, and dissociating disorders. Will social studies classes teach about the content creators who set foot into uncharted digital territory, and unintentionally changed the world? History might teach about the events that lead to the internet we have today, from ARPANET to the World Wide Web. Psychology classes might teach about parasocial relationships that have become a huge topic of conversation recently. I think, realistically, these all ought to be things we learn about now. Given that most social media require users to be 13, we probably ought to make an effort to teach kids about the dangers of these platforms before then. From the incoming body dysmorphia to the risk of sex trafficking. Kids would be infinitely safer if their educators (schools AND parents) looked into the things they care about. I never understood why mental health was a taboo subject in schools? But the internet has provided a safety net for individuals struggling with mental health problems that schools seem to be indifferent towards.

I said before, I know my generation and the things that impacted it. Gen Z is

between 25 and 10 years old now. Ever so slowly we are developing our own sense of the world. Growing up in the age of social media that was dominated by millennial's

we were bound to copy them for some time. But over the last few years, we’ve experienced the death of the skinny jeans, straight long hair, and avocado toast. In came baggy, shapeless, and layered clothes. People embrace their natural hair and body. In came online accessible therapy, body positivity, and equality for all people. There are a lot of things on social media worthy and deserving of ridicule, but I think it’s a good thing in the long run. I’ve said it before, and I’ll probably say it a million times by the end of this blog: If a group of YouTubers can bring their audiences together to raise millions of dollars to fight childhood cancer: then I believe the good can outweigh the bad.