Girls Are Becoming More Mature At A Younger Age

One of my favorite procrastination techniques in college is going through all my girl friend’s old Facebook photos and statuses and “liking” or commenting to bring back memories of how horrific and awkward we all were in eighth and ninth grade. Being of a victim of this “Facebook humiliation” is not only super embarrassing, but also extremely hilarious. The early teenage years were a very interesting time for my peers and me, but I have noticed that the young teen girls of the present seem very mature, and a lot less awkward than I was when I was at the ripe age of fourteen.

I believe social media is the cause of the seemingly more mature young girls. They follow all the older students or recent graduates from their high school, or surrounding areas, on social media and see how they act, dress, do their hair, make-up, pose, how their photos are edited, how wording can make or break a tweet or status, and so much more. Honestly the list is endless. The younger girls see the example of how older girls are acting and appearing and seem to be quick when following the older girls’ lead. These young girls see what the older girls post, and turn around and post something very similar. Recently, a close guy friend of mine mentioned how he could not believe that some of the girls he had seen walking around our college town on football game-days had been freshmen in high school. This goes to show that most young girls are skipping the “awkward phase” because of social media.

Oh, the awkward phase. It was such a great time. In my awkward phase, I had lime green braces, hair that was a little too short, and was the farthest thing from a fashion trailblazer. At the time though, it was cool. Everyone accepted it and no questions were asked; it was completely normal. I sometimes wonder what I would have been like if I were to be the same exact person, but just a few years younger with accessibility to every social media site possible to influence my perception of “cool.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for getting ideas from Pinterest and other people, but these sources could have caused me to see older and more sophisticated images that would have guided me in the direction of having a different appearance.

It is easily recognizable that soon-to-be preteens will be robbed of the awkward phase and the humor that comes along with it after several years have passed. Finding old photos on Facebook of my friends and me doing embarrassing things gave me so many laughs while trying to avoid studying. I guess the young teen girls of the present will have to find another way to embarrass their old and new friends come college.