Read This Post If You Think I'm Beautiful!!

Like I said before, I attended 4H and became super emotional, but let's not talk about that right now. If you want to know more, just read my old post. This new post however is going to connect to the 4H one. During the weekend I spent with the children, I was super surprised by one thing. Although we did not have Internet access at the time, the children voluntarily wrote down their social media accounts like Instagram, Oovoo, and Snapchats for the teen tutors so we can follow each other and keep in touch afterwards. I was definitely in shock at the amount of media these elementary school children are exposed to everyday. I got Instagram when I was in seventh grade, and I was most definitely not as aware in fifth grade as these children are today. However, are they being aware of the "correct" things? In this specific case, I mean aware as in aware about celebrities and the "new hottest trends," and not social justice issues affecting the world.
Even when I had Instagram in seventh grade, I was not posting the same content as what these fifth graders are posting now. Sevie year little Steffany would post pictures with her friends or cool trips she went on. Now I'm not saying these fifth graders don't post with their friends, because trust me they do, but they are also posting pictures that crave for attention from others.

Posts like these crave for compliments from one's followers. This pictures specifically is defining the person based on whatever emojis his/her followers might comment. As children become more exposed to media, the more consumed they are. Some are even at the point where they allow simple emojis and others to define who they are. One of my absolute favorites is this picture.

Not only is this picture again allowing simple likes to define one's character, but this picture also stresses the fact that children rely on media to strengthen themselves. They are relying on simple taps by people behind a screen to reassure they are beautiful, which is absurd in my opinion.
What is no one likes his/her picture? The damage that could be done to the poster is unimaginable.
As technology advances in 2016 and on, not only are children being exposed to media at an earlier age, but the reliance they have on media is also higher, which is something we as a collective whole need to watch out for.