Curate, connect, and discover
TW:self doubt, negative self talk
(This is going to be a multipart series of Daphne learning her relationship with the internet)
(I know the timeframes could be off but bear with me for the sake of the plot)
Daphne wasn’t good at anything. She wasn’t strong like Jason or smart like Stephanie or fast like Jessica or creative like Fiona or anything. She was just average at best, forgettable at worst. The only positive thing anyone ever seemed to have to say about her was how pretty she was and her parents were so incredible. She knew, even in seventh grade, that she was destined to be another forgettable wannabe who died alone. There was nothing she could do about it except to wait for the inevitable to happen.
Then something unexpected happened. People started talking about these new ways to connect, through social media and short form content. Daphne always knew social media existed, but never really put any weight behind it. Her parents didn’t really use social media to promote themselves, and neither did most of the truly rich and famous people she knew. Then she researched how much money and fame people could get on a 30 second video. If somebody was determined, they could become a millionaire. The one thing Daphne had in spades was determination, so she figured it would be harmless and made a video, low quality and effort with 0 thought put into it, and went to bed. It was a travel video, something Daphne would become known for and was very simplistic.
When she woke up, the video had 18 views. 18 people had seen her video. She was instantly obsessed with the idea and began to create more and more content, eventually going viral after 3 months, with 7 million people viewing her video. She neglected everything else in her life, locking her mind on her social media and what people thought about her, changing who she was. She poured hours everyday into studying trends and changing herself and her content to fix these trends. Eventually, her account exploded with her having nearly three thousand followers by the end of her seventh grade year. She may not be strong or smart or fast or creative but she could be what she always wanted to be. Famous. Nothing else mattered. Her problems would disappear if she was famous and her stepmother and father would finally accept her for who she was, not who they wanted her to be. Fame is all that matters. Fame is the only thing that truly makes Daphne happy. Daphne is a failure without fame. Being famous would fix everything and finally make her lovable. Her family tried to reason with her but they couldn’t understand the need Daphne had to finally be somebody independent of her family for once. She had to be different or else she wasn’t special and maybe she really was worthless. Daphne placed her entire self worth into what strangers thought of her on the internet, what could go wrong?