Earlier today, I served as the “young woman’s voice” in a panel of local experts at a Girl Scouts speaking event. One question for the panel was something to the effect of, “Should parents read their daughter’s texts or monitor her online activity for bad language and inappropriate content?”
I was surprised when the first panelist answered the question as if it were about cyberbullying. The adult audience nodded sagely as she spoke about the importance of protecting children online.
I reached for the microphone next. I said, “As far as reading your child’s texts or logging into their social media profiles, I would say 99.9% of the time, do not do that.”
Looks of total shock answered me. I actually saw heads jerk back in surprise. Even some of my fellow panelists blinked.
Everyone stared as I explained that going behind a child’s back in such a way severs the bond of trust with the parent. When I said, “This is the most effective way to ensure that your child never tells you anything,” it was like I’d delivered a revelation.
It’s easy to talk about the disconnect between the old and the young, but I don’t think I’d ever been so slapped in the face by the reality of it. It was clear that for most of the parents I spoke to, the idea of such actions as a violation had never occurred to them at all.
It alarms me how quickly adults forget that children are people.
weirdest art trick i have is that sketching limbs is easier and neater if you slice em at the joints instead of using those little circles
When Bluesky, an app I just found through a friend, makes me feel like I'm taking a breath of fresh air. Here just take a look at it, I already like it despite having not used it yet. I just had to look around and it's nice- a break from the shitty bullshit of the Internet
It looks better then Twitter/x to be honest. For me anyway.
(the link will take you to the app on Google play. Idk if it's on any other devices. And obviously it's called Bluesky) ((if you're uncomfortable with clicking the link just look it up.))
Bluesky
JUST REMEMBERED I HAVE FREE WILL HAHA
ANYWAYS EVERYONE GO WATCH THIS RIGHT NOW, IT IS 100% CRIMINALLY UNDERRATED PLEASE
(DISCLAIMER: I did not draw nor create this, but by god does this entire video live in my head fully rent free <3)
That's what I call it when I start obsessing over the numbers I get on fics or posts. When I refresh AO3 every five or ten minutes to see if I've got more hits or kudos. When I keep my tumblr activity page open in a tab to see new notes as soon as they come in.
It's not fun. Not really. Even when I sometimes tell myself it is.
You see, it starts out exciting! I've put a thing out there and now I get to see the reactions to it! I'm like a kid on their birthday who can't wait to see their presents. What are people going to say? Will they like it? Will they talk to me about it?
I'm lucky enough that I do get notes on tumblr posts and I do get comments and kudos when I post on AO3. But depending on how excited I am about the thing that I made and depending on how uncertain I am of whether it's any good, I want to get a lot more attention than I end up getting.
I know that that's a normal feeling. I know it's even a rational one! I've put a lot of effort into making something, or I've made something that I think my community will like, and not hearing back like I'd hoped can sometimes feel like rejection. It can be a huge disappointment that makes me doubt myself, my abilities, my connection to my community.
That's why I say it's not fun. Because even though 'engagement' can give me a really high high, it can also give me a really low low.
When I finally realize I'm in one of those lows (and it sometimes takes me a while to realize that I am), that's when I know that I need to step away.
When it's really bad, I just stop posting until I'm in a better mental space. For me, I now recognize that those feelings are often coming from me wanting a connection of some kind. The need for attention is coming from a feeling of loneliness or isolation, and so I need to counteract that by reaching out to people I know and care about to have a chat or a meal or just some time spent doing something communal.
When I can catch it early, then I force myself to close the activity tab here on tumblr and hide whatever stats are making me spiral on AO3. I've learned to recognize that I'm looking to those metrics as a way to feel important or special or cared for in some way and that I need to figure out where I'm feeling insecure in my life and how to get some reassurance - because strangers on the internet won't be able to give me what I need.
If you're currently spiraling, first of all lemme give you a hug ❤️ I hope you can take some time and figure out what it is that you want those stats to tell you about yourself or what it is that you think those stats will give you that you're not getting from somewhere else.
And if you haven't heard it lately, I'm glad that you're in this world - no matter what kind of numbers you have on your posts.
friends asked me to draw a bee with a binky here you guys can have it too
this is the thumbnail for my dustfell animation!
This is one of my favourite things I made because it's my best looking work yet.
I hope you all like it!!
= )
the way sesame street, a pbs puppet show for literal babies, is pressing on with pride content despite vitriolic monsters descending on every post to insinuate they're pedophiles or demons while some of the biggest companies on the planet who could swim in olympic swimming pools of money like scrooge mcduck on steroids buckle and cave just emphasizes how completely and utterly pathetic these corporations are. they'd butcher a baby if it meant saving a penny.
Just someone that does drawing, sketching, photography, singing, writing, and character creation; Such as OCS, inspired characters, or head canons. Please do not repost, copy, use in Ai, etc, unless you ask my permission. 20 years
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