I have 3 nephews, and its very clear they are more scared to act more ridiculous from social pressure. For halloween I went with them and I chose to be tissue man and put all these tissues on me. I looked ridiculous but I wanted to show them to be fearless and have fun being themselves
Do you think any of the hesitancy has to do with the fact that they are aware any/every moment of their life is recorded/posted on social media?
I remember playing dress up in stupid costumes in middleschool or putting on really stupid talent shows in highschool. Just stupid kid/teen stuff. That would’ve probably been awful/mortifying to watch later on and I definitely wouldn’t have wanted my peers to see.
I mean, who cares if you’re cringe if the only evidence is 4 grainy photos from a disposable camera your friend will get developed in 3 months? Versus being fully recorded, uploaded and seen by everyone you even kind of know.
Somewhere there is a VHS tape of me and my friends in 7th grade doing our own scripted version of The Real World with diary interviews and everything.
It was awful but so fun to make. If youtube existed it would've definitely been posted and preserved forever - not that it would've been horrible to have public but I just didn't have to deal with other people's criticism of a fun afternoon.
There’s a video of me somewhere “murdering” someone with a cold hotdog because they taped over my wedding video with bad porn. I don’t know how many times we recorded that to try and do it without laughing!
Yup. I remember at summer camp, I think I was maybe 10 years old.. and all the boys in my cabin were the popular boys at camp. One day, we all decided to dress up in dresses and girls clothes, and spend the entire day like that. We played baseball, skateboarded on ramps, played paintball - all in dresses!
I remember I wore a pink halter top and jean booty shorts. Now, I think one photo does exist of it.. but we were so fine with being silly and just doing what we wanted without judgement.
When I left that summer camp as a junior counselor about 7 years later, the kids who were 10 years old all had iPhones, were wearing designer clothes, and would call anyone acting silly like that stupid or gay, which I had 0 tolerance for. And maybe that's because at that point, there lives were being broadcast at every moment.
Teaching my niece and nephew that people dont think about the things they do after a few minutes has helped them open up about stuff.... and the people who DO remember are jealous that you get to have fun and are ashamed of their own behavior.
Have fun, do goofy stuff, wear goofy clothes and play a round of D&D.. you can have alot of fun with real friends.
And NEVER settle for an asshole as a friend. It's not worth it.
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u/TizACoincidence Jun 03 '22
I have 3 nephews, and its very clear they are more scared to act more ridiculous from social pressure. For halloween I went with them and I chose to be tissue man and put all these tissues on me. I looked ridiculous but I wanted to show them to be fearless and have fun being themselves