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)

The Challenge and Power of Using Symbols about Teen Girls in Social Media

The Challenge and Power of Using Symbols about Teen Girls in Social Media  

And here's the true tragedy. Many young people who inhabit their smart phones will refuse to face any other truth beyond their existence on their smart phones because it becomes the core of their experience. Think about that. Mass media will never apologize for what it is doing because it makes money. Cosmetics and fashion are expensive.

 Sex sells whether you are 14 or 40. (excerpt)

This blog helps to describe the third main reason for writing this timely e-book called A Teen Girl Makes Time in the Sand. The first two blogs outline reasons 1 and 2.

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 One)

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 as symbols as a base for discussion of growing up in a mass media world, of visualizing strong social forces, and structuring the experience of time.

Once more, the challenge was how to represent ideas or concepts with complex meanings in today's situations or outcomes caused by forces that are hard to describe if limited by words and given or implied interpretations. 

How can these forces be considered in abstract terms because they have no physical referents?

It is clear that abstract meanings can be powerful and can exist in imagination but the framework is formulated on more kinds of physical experiences; for example, the word love undergoes many physical transformations through time.

It is clear that we first learn about the world of objects through our senses like seeing, hearing, touching, etc. Then it takes a lot of concrete experiences and often specific words to learn more abstract meanings that, over time, can be integrated to show the value of a lesson or moral.

 So how can a teenager learn about qualities like independence, freedom, trust, loyalty, morals and power of choice if they first don't run through a gamut of experiences to qualify as a higher meaning with the value of purpose?  

For example, they can't pick up a bag filled with responsibility; they must learn its implications or lack of.  I can't pick up a choice like a carrot in my hand and tell them to find their own carrots. But I can draw a sign that represents the full context of "choice" and the difference of a "smart choice" if based on past, future and present factors.   

How can I show moral outrage over cultural disruptions or the extreme social  disadvantages played against young teen girls?  I could write a lecture or I can draw a simple diagram with identified key words and symbols.

I can take many of these changing complex concepts and give them some kind of sense impression; namely, a picture as well as a symbol. These images and associations will be better recalled and utilized.

The purpose of using a symbol is to show several deeper layers of meaning representing more details, actions, and consequences beyond its first appearance or literal meaning.

In fact, there are several symbolic intentions in this story. The complicated situation of a Social Media Circus and is effects are represented by a giant clown face.  

Another main symbol, in contrast, is the element of personal choice as a small circle attached to the spiral circle of a daily routine.

Now social media can be compared to a Giant Clown Face which is facing a small independent circle of a "smart choice" that incorporates past, present and future. How can words express this fully for individual assimilation at different levels?

Other consistent symbols are: a square represents a closed past, no replay allowed;  a spiral circle represents the energy of today; and open-ended lines represent the potential of the future yet unformed but based on yesterday's and today's actions. 

Throughout the story there are numerous examples of pictures or images which try to show the extensions of self identity, media control and social networks:

What is the difference between choice, decision and habit?

How can Time be charted on an Experience Calendar?

How can bad choice disrupt a total life line?

How dropping-out of school affects the normal social rites of passage?

How can a young, rash and brash adolescent brain survive in a Selfie Domain? 

Interestingly, I have always had a strong interest in using visual language to communicate meanings.  I sincerely believe that many of these images have been kept simple enough for others to draw and elaborate on if they wish.

I believe that an image can be worth a thousand words, and in these critical times, society can use all the words of empowerment and characters that it can find.

Check out A Teen Girl Faces Time in the Sand

Note: a separate download with 10 lesson plans for teen girls to apply these ideas.

What are some issues that you feel young teen girls face now? 

Comments are always appreciated. 

Sincerely,

Annemarie

Excerpts

Imagine, you are just 14 years old, yet your brain is wired for positive feedback which gets a dopamine spike with every click, every buzz, to keep the story fresh and wanting more.  How could it be any other way? Your habit of posing and posting becomes like an itch, somebody else's itch, but you got to keep scratching it, painful as it may be at times, because sometimes you get the word LIKE.

 

Now I draw a heavier more rippled line above my lifeline. This, I think, is the internet  social media circus line.  It is powerful and here to stay forever. But I will not allow its size and influence to affect this small section of my life called teen years. I will not fall into a hole created by the Media monster. 
I am deeply trying to find some purposeful longevity in living.