Our parent’s think we have it easy, and in a way we seriously do. We are twenty years old during a social revolution, a pivotal marker in human history where things have changed and will never go back to the way they were.

We are the generation of smart phones, social media, and yup, we invented the selfie. Being twenty years old to us means posting artsy pictures on Instagram, capturing every moment on Snapchat, and writing sentimental Facebook posts to people we care about. We’re the generation of sharing and sometimes it’s not as easy as it looks.

We’re the ones who, thanks to Facebook memories, learned the hard way that the Facebook post from high school homecoming talking badly about our ex boyfriend…is still on the internet. We are the ones who have to see new relationships broadcasted for our broken hearts to have to learn how to withstand, the ones who are shaped to think that likes direct to popularity, and the ones who have to date through Tinder. Trust me, there’s a reason we’ve coined the term F*ck Boy.

So how do we pull off making it through our twenties in this brand new social media filled world?

1. Making sure we don’t make the personal, impersonal.

This is a tricky line that can get crossed too easily. Yes, wishing your friend happy birthday on social media is great and sweet, but did you sit them down and tell them those things in person? Did they get to hear all the nice things you have to say about them come from your mouth or through the bright screen of their smart phone? We can’t let this get lost in our generation. We have to keep the habit of actually telling people how we feel and not just telling them through our social media accounts. Our children, nephews, nieces, and younger cousins will learn from us so we have to teach them the right way to express their feelings.

2. Learning from our mistakes.

We have to be so careful posting opinion based things on social media. You never know when it might come back and haunt you and everything going on the internet you can plan on staying there. We had no idea in our myspace days that our posts were permanent, but now we have no excuse. Don’t retaliate on any social media, don’t write mean things about other people, don’t do anything that you wouldn’t be 100% happy with being there in fifteen years.

3. Taking advantage at what is at our fingertips, literally.

There is SO much potential for our generation through social media. We are the generation that grew up with it and have the best understanding of each social network. Whether you want to make money off of traveling the world, start your own blog, advertise your business, or make new friends across the globe, it can all be done because we have access to the largest network of human beings on the planet. This is so big that huge companies that have been around for decades and have tons of resources are still figuring out exactly how to go about social media, while to us it’s just another day in the life. Take advantage of the opportunities while we’re still ahead!

 

Social media is without question a blessing and a curse. It’s really cool to be inspired by other peers around the world making big moves and doing motivational things but it can also make us feel poorly about our lives and where we are now. It can be awesome to share our new relationship but crummy to see an ex holding another person. Like I said, it’s not as easy as it looks.

We can survive as the first generation of social media and we can go on to show our younger siblings, cousins, nieces, and nephews that just because social media is here it doesn’t mean that personal moments are gone. We can understand that everything we put on the internet is there forever and we can take full responsibilities for every action that we take on any website or account that we have. Most importantly, we can take incredible advantage of a tremendous gift that has been given to our generation and use it to help create beautiful lives for not only us, but for everyone else partaking in this social revolution.