Eighteen & Screens
A Young Adult’s Perspective On Managing Social Life Online
One of my favorite things about teaching sexual safety to teens is the ability to have conversations with amazing and inspiring people like Celeste. At 18, Celeste understands that being a young adult in today’s world is no easy thing. In this interview, she candidly shares the difficult aspects of managing screen-life, and its effect on self-image and relationships.
Me: “What do you understand about sexual safety that’s different now than what you knew when you were younger?”
Celeste: “Sexual safety for teenagers is more complicated than society as a whole assumes. Nowhere in history has technology been so prevalent, this not only creates a divide between generations, it complicates the sexual assault world. Technology adds another aspect to talk about and figure out in preventing sexual assault, because it’s so new, and not everyone is comfortable talking about it, therefore the issues that arise because of it don’t get fixed.”
Me: “What are some ways that technology affects sexual safety specifically?”
Celeste: “Technology has a weird effect on self-consciousness which creates dynamics that we have never had before, like the habit people have of hiding behind their screens, or the ability to see friends’ locations at all times. Both of these examples have many implications and downfalls. Being able to hide behind a screen enables people to send inappropriate and hurtful texts. Location sharing brings up a lot of potential problems, too, like the insecurity that comes with being left out, or the discomfort with random people knowing where you are at any given day and time.”
Me: “Now that you’ve gone through the Be Strong, Be Wise course, what aspect of the learning do you think most applies to the challenges of screen life?”
Celeste: “Be Strong, Be Wise starts the conversation of how and why technology is affecting sexual assault rates. I think all of the learning can apply to my life. If I had to highlight one part, when we reflected on the five safety tools and what we would be best at and what we were challenged by, that felt really important to me. It helped us get a better sense of where we needed improvement. The safety tools are so important within the sexual assault prevention spectrum but in so many other areas as well.”
Me: “How do you think the course might help you in the future?
Celeste: “Learning how to self-reflect and self-analyze is a skill that not many possess but a skill everyone needs. In the Be Strong Be Wise program we focused on reflecting on our natural safety tools. As a young teen or adult, the self-reflection that we did was great because it focused on aspects of ourselves that we already possessed, but maybe hadn’t had a chance to focus on yet. In a changing world, young adults need to be able to reflect on themselves, especially because of the impact that social media has had on people’s self-esteem.
Being able to reflect on these parts of ourselves is so important in the long run.”