An Essential Metaphor of Culture as a Tree for Teenagers to Understand

An Essential Metaphor of Culture as a Tree for Teenagers to Understand

There is little doubt that the digital technology and social media has already a significant impact on culture. Towards the end of the 19th century artists sough to capture their subjects through portraits of individuals who were absorbed in the act of reading a book. Today, it is the pictures of people standing in the middle of a crowd, captivated by what they are reading on their smartphone that best symbolizes the 21st century subject.        Professor Frank Furedi

Culture is everywhere, that is the first fact. Human beings are bound by culture which can be described as the ordinary processes by which a given society observes, trains, tests and finds meanings to its true purposes. Every culture is in active development through contact, experience, education, discovery and active debate or communication.  

Culture can also be segmented for closer interpretation. It creates SOCIAL MORES which are the codes of behavior that are important because they establish manners, customs and habits and add moral significance. SOCIAL NORMS or conventions are created by like-minded people.

Culture can create MEMES which are ideas, symbols, behaviors, styles or even phenomena that can spread from person to person becoming self-redirecting and even mutating through selective pressures.

Who would disagree that our modern-day technology has drastically changed our culture in its directions, observations and meanings?  Every adult, teenager and child are facing changes. Old rules for many are deleted; new rules by a few are imposed and spread like a virus.

My greatest concern is how the obvious pressures of social media disproportionately affect teenagers especially girls. Where did this subculture come from to be perfect with a perfect body, to act perfectly to have the perfect group of friends. If you miss the perfection standard, then you face depression, self-loathing and bullying.

So, let’s imagine in a creative sense, that our culture can be symbolized by a magnificent tree deeply rooted with a sturdy trunk of common values and a crown displaying branches of society’s rules. Our ideas, words and images shine and shimmer as silvery leaves as we experience changes through the seasons.  How horrible it would be if the beautiful sentient leaves of a vital tree can now be displaced by the grinning blank Selfie screens.    

First, look at the deep roots of traditional culture…the tap root is your parents; the lateral roots are your siblings. They encompass our youthful rituals we hold dear; family, community, religion, education, celebration of holidays, birthdays, honoring weddings and funerals and all the other social rites of passage.

Second, let’s say the trunk embodies the traditional values such as honesty, responsibility, discipline, equality, gratitude, respect and the Golden Rule. The thick bark protects the historical significance of a civilized society.

Third, the branches diverge into a cumulative crown  showing the parameters of a well-functioning society including an economy, legalities and politics;  science and knowledge; education, technology and progress; environment and co-existence; arts, literature and music; as well as personal  relevance and wisdom with fairness and ethics…all noble institutions.

But look, there is a different device standing by today’s tree.  Plugged into the trunk is a large cellphone with visible scarring weaving its texture from the trunk up into the branches. 

 A smiling selfie with spaghetti straps is busy texting some kind of momentary impulse.  This insta-image tries to reinforce itself, reflecting  various pouts, poses, postures and outfits using filters to fit in. It wants a heady transpiration of likes, follows and re-posts from random other impulses and selfies.

Looking up at the crown, the glow of the internet permeates the atmosphere like a strip joint. Various social media branches, some huge, some just new twigs show their interfaces. Here and there are seen an assortment of pop stars, reality TV stars and more professional narcissists with webs of  influence capturing these aspiring selfies to be juvenile narcissists, too. Tweets fill the air; hashtags hang like a cloud of spiders on their spinnerets. Novelties inspire excitement.

A kind of cultural appropriation is taking place where the poor and underprivileged are made to feel attuned to the rich and famous by buying into their lifestyles which are not their own, fading away with feelings of inequality, oppression and depression.

We are committing to our cultural paradigm even as we look around. But what exactly are we creating? These new prevailing winds circulate around social media interaction which can incite so much addiction and manipulative behavior based on false cultural values.

Happiness is based on status symbols minus the price tag. Instant gratification, even in filtered states, dominates the sheer ego without effort.  Literacy is not reading and writing but viral images and confetti thoughts abound, many without civility. Attention span and engagement are trivial; there is no reflection or deliberation. Thinking is about comparing each other, skimming and scanning instant platitudes looking for mob crowd applause, the more offensive, the more shareable. It’s possible that parental competition helps to promotes prices and trends for their stylish teens.

Think about this Selfie tool, not with the force of an ax, but with the endless intonation to engage or disengage with a new reality that advertises, full of seductive resources with glitters and sweet appetites. Innocent young brains like attention but have no life experiences to predict adult dilemmas.

Try and smell the air. Can you sense a worthwhile contribution to store as human knowledge or anything philosophical? Or is there a feeling of wasted potential and opportunities mitigated by overt public interests in private data collection of details? Are we pawns helplessly creating new social norms?  Is traditional culture dying a slow death eroded by one painful tweet by one painful tweet?

My concern again focuses on how we protect our young people from  radical memes and habits when they do not even know a world where social media doesn’t exist. How do you manage your ideas or opinions where character is dictated by false role models? Who will pass the torch to the adolescent so that their character doesn't become a causality? Who will help them to stay strong and smart in managing this vast subject matter of viral social reality?  

There is no doubt that this digital world has fundamentally changed the way we work, play, interact and even educate. The bottom line is that social media will continue to change our society in permanent ways both with its advantages and disadvantages. 
Check blog: What About Boyfriend in Closet (from Dr. Phil's show)

What about you? How has social media changed your life for the better? Did I miss any huge negatives that you see? Do you think the world can improve their social networks, for  better or worse? Everybody has an opinion or conviction. The secret, though? Never let your character become a casualty of that reality. It counts for everything.

Sincerely,

Annemarie Berukoff

amarie10@gmail.com

833 471 4661

Excerpt:  Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

Today the real tragedy with young people is how to overcome the huge problems created by a Giant Media Monster; like a Medusa manipulator using her vast army of words and images to twist, to seduce and undermine the ability of people to think critically and freely. It's like a vast army of fake selfies attacking what's good and normal.

The great personal tragedy is made worse because most young people do not use their real characters to take offensive action but rather create their own fake Selfies to closely reflect what the Media Monster promotes. These are soldiers on the same side with the same goals which means the Monster wins every time. Like I said before, the Monster has no regret for what it is doing; it will never apologize if you keep liking her artificial ugliness again and again.

She takes a deep breath, "In fact, I believe it behooves society to take another look at what is happening and stop this unnatural domination." Her voice is raised louder than I have ever heard. I know she is angry now, a strange feeling for her.

Putting the Story Pieces Together for Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

Putting the Story Pieces Together for Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

One Selfie swipe will instantly show me images and words with as brief an engagement as I wish. There is no debate; it's not a relationship. It can show me ignorance, intimidation or threats, bombast, or absolute fakery.  It is normal to favor only cosmetic standards with plastic interventions and sensational spectacles where regular common everyday things and people no longer matter....  

Is this what communication has flat lined to … short term attention spans, immediate reaction, fear and anxiety and judgment calls without facts?

(excerpts from Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand)

The previous three blogs have summarized this story and explained the challenge of portraying time and the rational for using visual language and symbolism.

1. How to stop social media from taking advantage of a rash and brash teenage brain still in development personified here as a Giant Clown Face of epic proportions.  (blog 1)

2. How to start looking at value of Time and power of choice as a super power tool to avoid making bad mistakes that may affect or change  the total Time Line. (blog 2)

3. How to use diagrams or symbols as a base for discussion of growing up in a mass media world, of visualizing strong social forces, and structuring experience of time. (blog 3)

Now there is time to share a few closing personal words.

There is no simple answer to what is a good life because it makes a unique symbol for each of us within our circumstances. As an old person I have the privilege of looking back at my time line and breathing a sign of satisfaction and relief. My young brain was never assaulted by a social media clown face. Now young people need to be warned about the dangers of growing up too early in a mixed-up media's brew with adult lifestyles and attitudes with no defense from their immature brain development drawn naturally to affection and rewards.

The change is made so much more profound when I fondly remember my teen years. The poster on my bedroom wall was of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who celebrated success as a musician, writer, humanitarian, and philosopher; and, yet decided as a doctor to open clinics in the poorest villages of Africa.  His photo with his large drooping mustache was the only one that inspired me.

My pop icon wore poodle skirts to her ankles covered with bobby socks. Gyrating was jiving…a good exercise. Drinking and smoking were simply not permitted and to talk back to parents was a matter of being sent to your room without supper.  Only once it happened to me and the guilt of disrespecting my mother still lingers sixty years later. School and good report cards were a serious responsibility with parent's pride in a job well done was the best star of all.

So how in the world did this all change?

The true tragedy is that young girls with their nascent beauty and nurturing spirit now need to be protected from losing their innocence by trying to become desirable "like me" adults before their brain is able to make deductive judgment calls or take on adult responsibilities.

The deeper tragedy is that there seems to be a tolerance to allow any young people to use their cell phones to present a falsehood to the world and still get applause even if it's fake. 

What kind of lesson about morality does this teach them?  What does it mean to manipulate truth on purpose ? How will this carry on into other activities and beliefs about society and norms that are the very fabric of culture and civilization?   

It is a hard exercise to look at all the possible addends in a potential Life experience, and see how a few beginning years (7 teen years) can interfere, derail or even cause death to young people's spirits. The time for youth is short enough to explore, self discover , experience AHA moments, take pride in learning and achieving in daring to climb the mountain of achievement because parents will be their cushion when they fall.

This main theme in of this story is to hold and respect time as if you can hold it in your hand, invisible but all powerful in its choices. To better manage the passage of time, there are numerous pictures or symbols for consideration.

Another recurring theme is that it is not the teenage girl's fault if a Mass Media Circus influences her young rash and brash adolescent brain and corrupts the potential of adulthood before its time.

The moral or lesson is not to give away your privacy to a public sphere but to protect your independent Self, separate from media rule or mob control. There is no pretense of any kind allowed based on predatory influence.

Interestingly, a little damselfly plays the role of life's fragility yet respect. Her nymph larva is about well prepared survival in a pond environment versus an adolescent feeding off social media.

But, how sad, that this abnormal transmutation continues to disrupt the adolescent nature into an adult, based on social media criteria? This book addresses one way to possibly divert or contain it.

How terribly sad when you do a worldwide web search with the words teen girls, and after the first 3 titles about clothes, shoes and accessories; the next items are about real teens twerking, why teen girls crave older partners and a Facebook page for hot teen selfie shots!  Even pornographers have found that they can get more clicks and  views with extreme encounters involving with  teenage girls and boys.

As well, it is time to pay more attention to beginning research that finds "social media use can make profound changes to the brain in similar ways that drug addiction can…receiving likes on the internet releases dopamine in the brain.This creates a sense of pleasure. Similar triggers for this experience includes eating chocolate or winning money."

In the last chapter as Kit wanders down to the beach where she retraces her sand drawings, she realizes the power of Self and protection of Choice.  She comes to terms that many things in her past are not her fault.  Her story serves as a warning to young teens not to fall prey to social media pressures and addictive impulses.

The story concludes with how to use personal cell phones to set boundaries and interact more positively with the social media and environment. Also, there are 10 separate exercise to download and practice some of the concepts outlined in the story.

Check out Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand.

Your questions, comments and concerns about teen girls in a mass social media culture are always welcome. Together we can work on a resolution, if this matter bothers you, too.

Sincerely,

Annemarie

You understand that the future only appears as a vision and today is the only time you have to react to anything. What if you had the power to connect to the future to help direct your present actions to fulfill that future?  I wonder what kind of choices you'd make ….would they be the same?

But what if there is some kind of super power tool to help make better choices to take you into adulthood? (excerpts)

INTRODUCING: Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand E-Book

Introducing:  TEEN GIRL FACES TIME IN THE SAND

They buy into the electronic Hall of Mirrors where everyone is watching and comparing themselves, trying to find some piece of wisdom in a crowd or mob, not sure how not to stop suckling from an alternative reality not their own... (excerpt)

On one hand, there should be no reason for a story like this for teenage girls in the process of fulfilling their natural roles as young women.  On the other hand, this story is essential for every teenage girl to read and understand the significance of making a smart choice with respect to her Timeline.

Who doesn’t have a daughter or sister or know a young teenage girl who seems attached to her cell phone but who is really on the leash?  Who is leading whom?

There are three reasons to read this e-book:

1. How to stop social media from taking advantage of a rash and brash teenage brain still in development

2. How to start looking at value of Time and power of choice as a super power tool to avoid making bad mistakes that may affect the total Timeline

3. How to use diagrams as a base for discussion of growing up in a mass media world personified here as a Giant Clown Face of epic proportion.

A main challenge is the difficulty of talking about the value of a Timeline with teenagers who often see Time as a gift of beauty, vitality and invincibility with no visible ending.  It is a normal to trust that success will be delivered with age and purpose in mind.  Youth is a time for curiosity, exuberance and self-discovery as well as mental and social development.  

However, in a brief matter of a decade or so, there has been a transformation of subjects and thoughts unlike anything experienced in human history where Internet Communication has created Great Changes in our society and culture forever with no safety nets for young brains.  Teen girls, especially, are surrounded by a brand new vocabulary and motivation in a Selfie Domain with no training or denotation.

And therein are two problems. First, a general lack of knowledge how to cope with this new subject matter. Usually, any new subject requires learning with clear objectives like any other study; preparation, asking questions, analyzing content, decision making and evaluation.  Unfortunately, there is no training for young girls at any level to gain any kind of understanding much less mastery over these overwhelming changes.  Ignorance and confusion are a lethal mixture.

Young developing brains naturally respond to curiosity, endless stimuli and challenging contrarian messages and too often they are left victims through no fault of their own.  There is nothing more tragic than a 14 year old girl who is influenced to make bad choices and pays for those mistakes for the rest of her life surrounded by negative circumstances. A bright beautiful spirit lies broken and, in some cases, can die.

The second problem, based on lack of not understanding the context, is how young girls are taken advantage of by mass media which brainwashes their minds with adult prerogatives.  For example, how unnatural is it for young girls to sexualize their bodies to be "LIKE" adult images or role play? Part of this assault is their addiction to their cell phones and manufactured Selfies.

The challenge in helping to overcome these problems is to show teenagers the importance of making a smart choice as a pivot point on the future Timeline instead of thinking of their choice as a given right to follow their own sense of direction and belonging.  They are natural risk-takers, and don't like to be preached to help avoid life's bad turns when engaged midstream in huge unprecedented changes all around them night and day.

They would rather learn from their peers.

The key question is asked in chapter one: "What if, you had the power to see the future and how your actions today may affect it? Would you make the same choices today?"

And so, this story is told of a young adolescent girl's journey.  Amazingly, it covers a period of three days of discussion and contemplation to turn her life around, with a nightmarish dream included.  It follows her struggles in a hyper media environment, the realization of her rash and brash adolescent brain, her descent into drug addiction, her nightmares of media control, and her gradual awareness of the transient TIME measured not by numbers, counting hours or days, but with blocks and circles of experience as first drawn in the sand and explained by her Grannie.

She learns about a super power tool as a simple exercise to respect Time itself, as if it could be held in her hands, to help make smart choices in immediate kinds of situations.  This tool or idea, simple as it is, becomes even more powerful in the context of normal social rites of passage into adulthood and surviving in a social media Selfie circus. 

The time is right to discuss these problems and solutions.

Check out the e-book.

Included are ideas for using positive selfies and cell phones. If interested, also available are ten lesson plans to practice the ideas in the e-book.

Comments are always welcome,
Annemarie

New website: https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com


Excerpt: One Selfie swipe will instantly show me images and words with as brief an engagement as I wish. There is no debate; it's not a relationship. It can show me ignorance, intimidation or threats, bombast, or absolute fakery.  It is normal to favor only cosmetic standards with plastic interventions and sensational spectacles where regular common everyday things and people no longer matter.  

Is this what communication has flat lined to … short term attention spans, immediate reaction, fear and anxiety and judgment calls without facts?