A Confluence, Assumptions, Crossroads and One Uncommon Solution for Teen Girls on Social Media

A Confluence, Assumptions, Crossroad, and One 

Solution for Teen Girls on Social Media

 "But here is the strangest paradox of Time that it can only be managed in a very small-time frame called TODAY. And TODAY can sometimes be sparked by a tinier matter of CHOICE." Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

In Geology, a younger rock formation isolated among older rocks is called an outlier. So, if an older person stands up among younger people to share wise experience is she also an outlier because she cares?   

Can we set the table with some common assumptions?

• The internet revolution is here to stay and grow.
• Social media will be the communication channel for better or for worse.
• Almost all levels of mainstream culture are digitally disrupted with necessary adaptive changes 
• Teen culture is the more vulnerable because of adolescent brains still in formation to build a rationale, deductive frontal cortex.

Here’s my Big Picture view based on observations and continuous research.

Teenagers, especially teen girls, are at a crossroad with 4 different settings, story lines or solutions…

One: Everything is fine…they will grow out of teenage angst on social media…maturity is a step away at 20 years as independent, competent adults.

Two: There are serious problems with internet exploitation of teen girls via various platforms, body images, psychologists’ reports re depression, etc.

Three: Much advice about tactical control tips for parents, self-esteem worksheets, meditation practice, new curriculum objectives re sexting, etc.

Four: Change internal MINDSET that my OFFLINE TIME in my space is more important than ONLINE TIME in others' virtual reality. 

  

New assumption: What is the best way to overcoming conditioned reflexes and relearning new mindsets?

Best way to break a habit is to find reasons to reset new behaviors…

Best way to undo conditioning is to recondition with a new mindset…

New theory: show teenagers there is a reality far more important and more valuable than social media gossip, games, being influenced, liking and looking for approval from strangers with physical codes.

HOW? Consider the one commodity that all teen girls have in common ... namely TIME and how they spend it.

Therefore,  how can time be understood better, described and managed,  using symbols when necessary?

New idea: Read a story based on the theme of time within a broad overview. A teen girl narrates her story of making some bad choices about Selfies and drugs pointing to a symbol of the Social Media Circus impacting an adolescent brain in a dream. She keeps asking, “Is it my fault?” Her grannie helps to explain the transition of time as experiences with symbols in the sand and the power of choice made in reference to a timeline with 3 essential questions. Redemption follows with new mindset to believe in Self not Selfie.

Note the fragility of life and destiny with no choice is drawn from a damselfly.

Then practice a few lesson plans to help reinforce some basic timely ideas within context. 

EXAMPLES: get to know areas of the brain, draw powerful neuron connections, word webs beyond self, predict rites of passage, new calendar of time based on experiences, practice making smart choices, note difference between choice and habit, connect morals to self-esteem with actions, compare time charts (offline vs online) and celebrate MY TIME like a Mandela of vision ... no cellphones allowed. There is life beyond the small screen face.

The story takes two hours to read. The exercises may take longer. But, at least, perhaps, a SEED may be planted that holding a timeline in your hand is your responsibility.  Perhaps, a couple pages in the minds of teen girls may turn to being a special Self not a media Selfie.

Could this be a better antidote than taking the cellphone away or writing a daily journal when their future adulthood may be on the line? Is this a better way to relate to morality in our culture when some people think amorality is the new normal?

As a citizen of the world and a teacher who deeply respects education and always wants to teach the Big Picture, the total unit, I worry about other long-term options. The truth is we are in the middle of an unprecedented confluence, “a tide in the affairs of teenagers” where the “current we take” will either “serve or lose our ventures.” …adapted William Shakespeare. I hope we are not too late in turning the tide.

I sometimes wonder if our society may be losing a generation of young women to the siren calls of a Social Media Clown Face. Teen girls probably cannot write a story like this when their train is just leaving the station on routes of their choosing where one wrong mistake can derail a lifetime.

Finally, mass media has created this situation and mass media can help to reduce some of the undesirable effects.  Imagine how a good film producer can produce a wonderful short movie with TIME as a radial center to respect the rites of passage for young women.  

Questions and comments are always important. Podcast shows are important to debate. What are other options? Has our culture crossed the line or not? Has it done enough to protect our amazing teen girls?  

Sincerely,

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

833 471 4661 (leave message and best time)

https://helpfulmindstreamforchanges.com

 Excerpt:  "It is starting to make sense. My Experience of Life will not be planted by a Celtie Selfie in a social media circus. The circus is in town, but I don't have to go to every show."

Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand - a Timely Tale of Social Media Struggles, Regrets and Survival with Superpower Tool

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.

What About the Boyfriend in a Closet and the Biggest Question for Dr. Phil?

What About the Boyfriend in a Closet and the Biggest Question for Dr. Phil?

I picture that young living brain in my hands again pulsating to the vibrations of what I think I want to call the Media Monster.  A bigger question crosses my mind about how to protect teenage girls from falling prey to this giant clown face with its cavernous mouth feeding off Celtie Selfies, power-tripping them, stuffing them with stuff the crowds want to see, rather than something that will benefit them as an individual. 

Excerpt from Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

I do not regularly watch Dr. Phil ... lack of time, depressing topics of families hitting rock bottom in full frontal view of the world. But when I do, I am always impressed how he can turn around the most bitter vibes of accusations and dysfunctional relationships to get both sides talking with reasonable tones when focus is on regaining personal truths and traction. Given a choice, don’t most of us want to choose to be better? 

But I did pay attention to one show this week called Social Media Meltdown Parenting Gone Wild.  It centered on two mothers who were live streaming, or posting videos, for what they thought was for their private audience of social media friends; but which reached over 100 million combined views due to the  voracious media’s nature of seeing vengeful feedback verging on psychotic.

Dr. Phil was interested why these women’s buttons were pushed but I was interested in how this giant social media circus swallowed them by the millions and spat out their bones according to their tastes. 

Late one night, the first mother knocked on the door of her 17-year-old daughter’s bedroom  and found a 20-year-old boyfriend hiding in her closet! Out whipped the cellphone with video and out came the most profanity infused dialogue with the furious mother overcome that  her daughter and a visitor were exercising a forbidden dalliance which may be followed on Snapchat but not in her scope of upbringing. How would you feel about this?

Yes, the case can be made that a mother’s disappointment is justified, but what degree of virulent anger and condemnation needs to be posted for other people to stare at, share and maybe joke about? Who looks for this kind of volatile distress for what purpose?       

And, then, unexpected reactions started to surface. First, the daughter defended herself saying, “We are just doing what teenagers do, having fun. Parents just don’t get we are growing up.” 

But what really blows my mind is how abnormal this new social reality has changed  because her girlfriends came to her rescue … applauding her right to hook up with convenience and decrying her mother for interfering and spoiling their fun.  I just can’t stop thinking about this is new kind of cavalry arriving on the scene to protect the trivial frivolity of social media against traditional family values. Such an unnatural state of the young devouring the old.

When did this transition take place that rules and respect and social norms are relegated to second place values behind the first place demands of a rapacious, selfish, immature, momentarily fixated social media culture? 

         

Then there were so many reactions from other parents who applauded this critical tirade of  her daughter in full rant and view. What were they thinking that this is a good parenting technique to manage their teenagers by yelling, swearing and humiliating their actions? What is the right role model for parenting teenagers in such a risky, persuasive, addictive, peer-pressured, hype-controlled internet environment?        

  

Dr. Phil’s comments were measured and precise as usual. You do not embarrass a teenager in public…it is one of the worst things to do. Never underestimate the viral power of virtual reality. Data never goes away. Embarrassment never dies.

The second mother became upset after a conversation with police officers and her children’s school and vented with live video on Facebook. Again, a very loud, expletive-filled, threatening voice that so many others found worth their time to watch…for what purpose? It turned out the woman who was bipolar had stopped taking her medications but with words so hateful that the school had to be put into lock down.  A momentary explosion now stamped on virtual reality forever to be watched and shamed.

So, what is to be taken away?

Where does such explosive anger from adults come from?  Are they products themselves of social media interactions where it’s alright to be mean, loud and overpowering without regard for others? 

Is this how technology has brought down social rites of passage to our knees? When did young teenage girls question their rights to have unlimited sex and temper their parents for daring to interfering with their privacy and choices?

Is this how young teenage girls believe they are like-able, mature and responsible players in a Snapchat world dominated by adult prerogatives when their brains are still developing long-term logical consequences?

Where do well-meaning parents turn to find strategies to help their children understand their unique roles in society’s future minus the social media circus? No parent wants their child to make a mistake that can derail their lifetime of positive choices.

Maybe it's time to check out how our culture is taking a beating with Selfie swipes. 
Note this blog: An Essential Metaphor of Culture as a Tree...

If I had a chance the biggest question I would ask Dr. Phil is how in the world did our social discourse degenerate so radically in a short time in this topsy- turvy culture? 

 What are your thoughts about our teenage culture, social media impositions, parent's rights and a hundred million views of distress? 

Questions and comments can make a difference,

Sincerely. 

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com

1 833 471 4661 

"The best way to describe the next years was as a separate state unto itself called Welcome to the Domain of Celtie Selfies. There were many different interactions, of course; but, if there was a central condition, it would be that we were too young to understand if there was even a problem with the fact that there were so many lies for its own sake. And when somebody lies, they stop telling what is true, and with no truth, they soon lose respect for themselves and others.  No respect means no love to live the normal truth." 

Excerpt from Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

Wanted: Creative Writing for A Kinder Superhero for a More Moral Social Media

Wanted: Creative Writing for A Kinder Superhero for a More Moral Social Media 

Imagination is greater than knowledge ... Albert Einstein 

Do you ever wonder why there is a general fascination with superheroes, especially for young people in their mastery of maturity? This complex question must be examined in reference to ancient mythology, today’s social conscience within social media, and creative writing to create a kinder, gentler superhero for our times.

 Who hasn’t been fascinated by Greek mythological heroes, creatures and what they represented about the origin and nature of the world? There were gods, goddesses, half human, half god, magical mortals with and without superpowers, battling fearsome creatures like the Minotaur or Medusa, who are still  part of our modern folklore. It can also be said that many of these brave heroes were willing to take risks, face dangerous  situations in order to gain more understanding of society itself with many moral affiliations.

For whatever reason, children are fascinated by grim tales of ogres crushing their bones or wolves hunting their grandmothers. Perhaps there is solace in reading such an ending where everybody seems to live-happily-ever-after; a common phrase deeply embedded into our daily stories as well.

The effect and value of myths or superheroes cannot be understated because they can actively impact our thinking or cognitive frameworks as to what is right, wrong, good, bad, enemy or champion. But ancient champions never had to face the cyber world, an interactive matrix where the dividing lines between virtual reality and the real world are often blurred.

So, what kinds of superhuman forces affect our modern social conscience? Where do superheroes exist today? Who lives happily-ever-after in our current struggles and culture?

It makes me weep like the myth of the weeping willow tree that serves as a reminder that love cannot exist without tears. Take a look around at what young people see and acknowledge as superheroes. One type is found in comic books via movies and video games; and a second type is found in the social media circus, especially for young teens.

Today’s cultural heroes on films have almighty superpowers to vanquish evil forces that would destroy humanity or the earth itself. They display great fights with dismemberment flying everywhere in a violent phantasmagoria. Good wins over evil but at what spectacle on the visual cortex and collateral damage to the innocent?

Video games particularly add a depth of hyper realism with graphics that bring the actions closer; blood, guts and brutality are now full frontal. At which point can game violence  jump from the screen to the family room or public front? The impact of violent media on kids is relatively unstudied or unknown; never a problem with Pegasus, unicorns or dragons until their violent modernization in Game of Thrones.  

Today, our culture has been impacted and controlled by an almighty Zeus known as the internet with its lightning bolts of interdependence and interactivity. There is no doubt that interactions with open-ended, unlimited media exposure have profoundly influenced the social, economic and even political arenas; as well as impacting the mythic and moral spheres of influence.

Two new kinds of internet action figures have arisen.

First, there is a new class of social media heroes or heroines who have mortal characteristics but with super normal magnetic attractions based on looks, money, connections, or fame who call out their siren song for everybody to like and follow them. But they live in reality shows that are as elusive as the Elysian beautiful meadows in the mythological underworld where only the godly favored could find perfect happiness in an ultimate paradise where popular brands abide, where money talks, with or without justification or morals. Mere mortals dare to dream, like mini gods and goddesses, as close as their fingertips as much as their newly programmed mind can turn the abnormal godly world into normal. Do these self-entitled heroes have the right to feed on dispossessed and vulnerable victims for what purposes like old ogres in Grimm tales?

Second, there is the active digital cyber hero who wants to be the all-mighty "tough guy;” quick to bully, derogate, and offer safe haven for followers of the same stripes and scars. This profound leap from ignoble loser to worshiped hero would never happen in a mythological world where strength in morality was as important as physical might. It can be said that only a socially abnormality like this can threaten the shared social consciousness where such mass media control can produce and endorse an anti-hero. Even democratic rules can dissipate in the flood of the richest and boldest celebrities who offer the most happy-ever-after mantras.

As a teacher, the point I am trying to make is that any cultural system helps to reproduce itself by the value of its symbols and heroes. We are all plugged into this public arena, watching and participating with different distinctly human behaviors; honor, pride, respect, or guilt, selfishness, shame, disgrace and dysphoria. 

So, how do we find a social conscience in a digital society where approval and disapproval are determined by narcissistic rewards of living up to hyped-up, unnatural group expectations even when virtual group standards are less worthy of social unity and freedom?

Remember what happened to Narcissus who was a very beautiful young man in Greek mythology, loved instantly by many for his looks for whom he only showed contempt. He even cast aside a nymph now forever called Echo because she wilted away from her unrequited sorrow to a mere sound. In retribution, a goddess, led Narcissus to a pool to see his own reflection, but when he realized that a reflection can never materialize into reality, he committed suicide. Therein lies the moral that narcissism or ego should not be about vanity and true self is beyond self-reflection or public perception. 

So how does this morality apply to posting Selfies for gratification for the sake of whose morality?

We can never undermine the fact that the combined power of the group in our culture is what makes our social conscience; greater than an individual, a collective rule of thumb. Our society’s heroes, groups and norms are us. 

However, the ingrained problem in any culture has always remained that we cannot remove the images, icons and concepts once they have marched across the stage or infiltrated the brain. People just want to believe in the impossible, in following the promises of heroes to add some magic to ordinary lives. Contradiction is futile in any cognitive schema of hope and living happily-for-ever-after.

Finally, so how can creative writing help?  We need to create new heroes who are gentler, kinder and more interactive who believe in the greater good in a more equitable and democratic society without recourse to violence. We need a brighter “heroic imagination,” with attitudes about caring, helping others,  and moving forward to defend moral causes. The internet offers such potential where every person can collaborate and share our acts both online and offline.

Here are two examples of creative writing to help set new role models for noble goals.

A story about a teen girl’s survival in social media with a personal superpower tool; namely, the management of a timeline connecting in real time the intangible past, present and future. What can be more powerful than that for success?

A story about a special water sprite with roots on a mission to discover cyclical truths in the natural ecosystem with continuous surprises about the interdependence of all living forms from the smallest to the invisible largest inhabitant. 

Our culture needs more stories and movies especially for younger people. How about your imagination to create a reality that matters to humanity? What kind of superheroes can you introduce with morals and beliefs to change the world? How can we work together towards to making the dream real and to live-happily-ever-after?

Comments and dialogue are always important. What are your ideas and thoughts.

Sincerely,

Annemarie

amarie10@gmail.com   Please set a time that works for you.

Check out two e-books:

Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

The Incredible Journey of a Water Sprite with Roots  

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?