Drained because you are online all day or getting mean reactions on social media? Most youth are attached to their smartphones, but not without risks.
In the Eindhoven youth centre Pitstop, the famous influencer twins Quinn and Aaron, with 950,000 followers on TikTok, talk to young people. They gave tips on how to use social media consciously and safely.
With their enormous online influence, Quinn and Aaron reach thousands of young people every week, mainly between the ages of 8 and 14. During the event in Pitstop, organised by the Eindhoven Library, they share the challenges of online fame. Quinn and Aaron emphasise the importance of learning to deal with negative reactions.
“It’s important to decide for yourself what you’re going to wear,” Aaron says. “It’s not always easy, but sometimes you just have to let things roll off.” Quinn gives a personal example of a time when he felt insecure. “There was a time when I had acne, and people said they could tell Aaron and me apart because I had more spots. When you’re already insecure about that, it does something to you,” he says.
Screen time
The young people present shared their own experiences with social media. A 15-year-old boy doing an internship at Pitstop says he recently checked his screen time and was shocked by the result. “I recently looked at my screen time, which was nine hours a day, and I thought for a moment: ‘That’s too much.'” Another young visitor recognises this. “Sometimes I scroll for a moment in the morning, and before I know it, the day is over, without me realising it. And then I think I could have just asked friends to play football outside.”
A 16-year-old girl indicates that she spends less time on social media than her peers. “It often has disadvantages.” For her, it was nice to spend less time online. “I just live in the now and prefer to talk to my friends in real life.” There is also someone who, like Quinn and Aaron, wants to become famous online. He indicates that the profession is not always easy. “You must have a thick skin because people can be very mean online. I try not to let it bother me too much, but ‘online’ can sometimes feel so real.”
Balance
The message Quinn and Aaron want to convey is clear: maintain a good balance between your online and offline life. “It’s not just about the hate comments, but also about your online safety and mental health. Being online is unavoidable at this point in time, but we must be conscious,” Aaron believes. “You can’t always control how people respond to you online. But you can control how you deal with it.”
For Eindhoven News: Beena Arunraj
