Hashtag #Social Media Challenge

As someone who grew up while technology was growing up too, I know how significant it is to be able to connect with your friends online. Back in my days of dial-up and AOL Instant Messenger (yes kids, DIAL UP), having to keep that phone line open and refrain from logging on is like not being able to go to a party. It feels like you're missing EVERYTHING. Not having access to the internet is like having your friends taken away from you. You can't connect, you miss out. Now I'm not supports all the effects of technology. There are many problems: impatience, need for immediate response, increased inability to talk with someone face to face. But I do remember and understand the need to be able to connect with  peers online. It's real. The pain of being left out is real too. Social media is an important way our world connects which is why how we use it is so important.

Unfortunately, it seems like teens these days can't get it right. A lot of bullying and irresponsible behavior is featured online. The cinnamon challenge, the fire challenge, and other dares that put people in harm's way.Youth are all labeled as dumb and careless for many unfortunate online trends. Likewise, when young people jump on board with things like Stop Kony or the ALS ice bucket challenge they are called selfish or shallow. Yes, it is important to be informed of the causes you fight for. But regardless their motive, at least youth are becoming interested in something bigger than themselves. Even if every teen doesn't understand the extent of the complexities of ware fare in various African countries or what makes ALS different than cancer, someone is learning these things. Someone is benefiting. What's the harm in that? Sometimes peer pressure can be destructive. Other times peer pressure gets us to make a positive impact, even if the impact is just with our own world view. And with each hashtag activism, we can strive to make each campaign more effective.

So here's the challenge:

If you don't understand social media, learn about it. Why people use it, what's popular, what 'trending' means. Even if you don't join the community at least know enough to keep up with the more important conversations happening off line.

Know your cause. Tweet, text, insta, hashtag away. And know why you're doing it. It takes 5 minutes to read about ALS. or check in with Ferguson. or the Middle East. Know why you are supporting what you support.

So what is ALS?

a place for international and national news

You have 24 hours.

Middledom.

When I was 16, I had a life plan. I will admit, part of this is due to my personality. Not all 16 year olds decide they need to know exactly what they are doing and when they are doing it. But I thought I could do anything I wanted, I had worked hard, and people that followed the rules get rewarded. My time line was as follows:

Age 18: Go to college
Age 22: Graduate college and enter a PhD program
Age 25: Get married (I knew I couldn't plan when I would date someone just when I could get married)
Age 27: Graduate said PhD program
Age 28: Have first child.
Age 30: Have second child
Age 32: Have third child
Somewhere in there become a tenured professor.

An adult friend told me, "Don't let life get in the way!" I thought clearly she underestimated me. I underestimated life.

What I did not foresee, along with many others was that my generation is taking a long time to do anything. We get married later, start our careers later, buy houses later. The line where college kid ends and self-sufficient adult begins got washed away on Spring Break. The 2008 market crash made it socially acceptable, if not practically unavoidable, for college graduates to live at home while job hunting. I have friends who are 25 and married, and friends who are 25 and living like senior year of college. There is no one way to do things and no common goal. What's the American dream? 2.5 kids, white picket fence? I don't think so. I don't know what is, because my goals are different than someone else's. What I do know, is I feel like a kid trying to pay bills with my allowance. The transition to adult hood takes a decade of mistakes and magic.

Welcome to Middledom.