The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

instagram

#JUSTBEYOU Builds Awareness of the ‘Inescapable Bullying’ on Social Media Platforms

by

Final Stop for the Random Farms Kids’ Theater Production #JUSTBEYOU is November 3 in Armonk

The Challenges of Growing Up in a Digital World Come to Life in the Cautionary Tale of ‘InstaPop’

Armonk, NY — In 2008, Random Farms Kids’ Theater began their Anti-Bullying Tour, visiting hundreds of schools to teach about the importance of being true to yourself and accepting others. The tour ‘s original show was called The New Kid and had been running successfully for 12 years before it got shut down in 2020 due to Covid. When starting the program back up this year, Random Farms decided to produce a new show with a continuing and strong anti-bullying theme reflecting today’s digital realities: #JUSTBEYOU.

As the internet and social media rapidly grow and evolve, bullying transforms right alongside it. Despite the many benefits of living in an interconnected world, this growth of technology comes with many new struggles for adolescents. Eric Webb communication manager at Random Farms and the writer of #JUSTBEYOU, along with composer Stephanie Bianchi, says that in many ways social media can create an inescapable bullying platform: “It used to be like if you got bullied at school, you got bullied at school. You know, it’s like you left school and it was over, but now they have access to you at all times.”  In recognizing this major shift in the avenues for bullying, Random Farms commissioned a new show: #JUSTBEYOU.

Ben Wohl as Jordan in #JUSTBEYOU

The new script is centered around a “geeky”, “unpopular” middle-schooler named Jordan who is part of the Comic Crew. When the new social-media app “InstaPop” comes out, everyone at the school is invited except for Jordan and his friends. “InstaPop”, a make-believe app, is essentially a combination of various social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok; however, this app allows you to like and dislike people, not just posts. Rather than staying true to themself, Jordan sees this as an opportunity to rise in popularity, losing their sense of self along the way and becoming a bully to their own friends. However, in the end, the kids are able to work their way towards realizing the toxicity of this app and the importance of staying true to themselves. 

The part of Jordan is played by eighth-grader Ben Wohl who attends HC Crittenden Middle School and has been acting since he was only four years old. Ben shared that he looks forward to teaching other kids about “the dangers of cyberbullying, social media, and bullying in general.” For elementary and middle schoolers struggling with identity and fitting in, this show will provide valuable lessons as well as a sense of comfort in knowing that they are not alone. “Theater’s a great avenue for a lot of things. It entertains, but it’s a great chance to educate… and give audiences a chance to see themselves on stage in many different ways,” shares Webb.

When kids are taught through theater, it allows them to engage and actually retain what they are learning. Ben discussed how he felt that a play performed by kids was one of the most beneficial ways to teach about such a pressing issue: usually “someone might come to their school who’s older and give a speech for like 30 minutes about bullying, but instead we come as kids their age… and we perform our musical with singing and dancing… so instead of them waiting for the assembly to be over, they don’t want the assembly to end and they also gain something from the experience that hopefully they can keep with them for the rest of their lives.” 

#JustBeYou has already been performed at schools in East Chester, Hastings, and Greenwich, and, as expected, the reception was phenomenal. Webb shared that he “got to go see one that was in East Chester and… kids seemed to really be responding to it.” The tour makes its final stop for the fall at Wampus on Thursday, November 3. After taking a break for the winter season, they will return in the spring to perform four more shows, continuing to spread their impactful message. 

As kids struggle with the difficulties of growing up in a digital world, it is important that they learn at a young age how to be kind to others and embrace each individual’s uniqueness. #JustBeYou is teaching children exactly that in a fun and exciting way.  For more info, please visit https://www.randomfarmsny.org/

You Are Not Cool.

by

Photo courtesy of https://www.someecards.com/usercards/viewcard/MjAxMi05YWE4MjBkNzM5ZGYwYmZk/

 

When people think of social media, it is typically associated with teenagers and early adults being obsessed with likes and who can project their best lifestyle. Generation Z and millennials are usually linked with social media taking over their lives. The expression “phone eats first” and people, especially girls (I can confidently support this being a girl *wink* ), snapping a million pictures until getting the right one. However, I would like to argue that this logic is wrong. We are the scapegoat for the older generation to hide behind. We are not the true culprits of the epidemic of social media taking over. Adults, especially parents of teenagers, are the true OCD consumers of social media. 

The smallest family gathering happens and you already know all the mothers are going to line up and want to make a huge photoshoot to later post on Facebook, where their 76 friends will comment. Saying “So cute! My kids could never!”, “They grow up so fast!”, and on and on. Cut the BS. We both know you do not care that Sheryl went to Turks and Caicos for the fifth year in a row. And the same goes for Sheryl–stop acting like your kid did not just throw a fit because they missed their sleep away camp meet up in the city to go on this vacation. Social media portrays such a falsehood of what is reality. Simply commenting on someone’s post does not mean you are close with them. Send them a text or call to show you care. These moms are so obsessed with portraying a different (read: fake, or at best, idealized) perception of their family. I truly think that if these moms keep trying to portray their family dynamic like how it seems on social media, that maybe one day their manifestations will materialize. Get a reality check, but it has not been all smiles and a love fest at Thanksgiving with the in-laws. Maybe get some crystals and family therapy. Stop dragging everyone else into your family’s mess.

However, the moms of Facebook are not even the worst of them. The worst are the wannabe influencers. They just learned about Instagram a month ago and think making reels is revolutionary and they’ll become famous for showing their outfits every day in their story. It has been done. And yet, still few have actually become that famous. They think they are hip and cool being on Instagram, posting their lives, thinking that people are just WAITING at their phones for the next post. Like no, what do you think you are influencing? What does “influencers” even mean? What are you changing? The times people want to block you? Because that number is only going up. The only brands that reach out to you to promote are probably bots or a pyramid scheme. There is a reason no one has heard of these companies! Okay, maybe if Gucci or Versace is sponsoring you, then none of this applies to you. But to those of you out there not making this cut, fun fact but typically the number of likes usually lines up with the number of followers you have. We can tell, you buy your followers! Right, because you have 14.7k followers but on a good day get 53 likes, yes! Love the PEMDAS that is happening.

Social media does have its positives of allowing people to stay connected all throughout the world and depicting the time that has passed. But, people own up to the reality of your life and stop posting inspirational quotes that you do not even implement in your life. Time to make social media casual again.

 

Redefining Beauty in the Age of Social Media

by

We live in a digital world, a world in which eye contact has been replaced by the glow of backlit screens, chatter has been swapped out for the familiar sound of keyboard clicks, and “Happy Birthday!” cards have been transformed into posts on our friends’ Facebook walls. And as the world has become more digital, so, too, have our socialization trends, with social media becoming the primary means of communication for teenagers in my generation. While social media allows for a more interconnected, open, and limitless world, there is a hidden danger that people tend to gloss over when talking about its constant use: The effect on our self-esteem.

Whether it is a photo that a friend just posted on Instagram, an ad on Facebook with a near perfect looking model, or a makeup artist’s tutorial video on YouTube, it is only too easy to see photos and videos of people on social media and start comparing ourselves to them. In fact, I would argue that the constant slew of images that we are bombarded with online each day creates subconscious definitions of beauty, success, and happiness in our minds, definitions that are narrow, limiting, and unrealistic; definitions that we can never live up to. She’s so beautiful, why don’t I look like that? He has so many followers, I could never be that popular! Look at her friends, his hair, her clothes, his life!  But despite taking on a semblance of reality, most of what we see on social media is a lie. It’s 21st-century deception. Because unlike ever before, social media gives us the unique ability to curate our lives, to reveal to the world only what we want them to see. And if we can post the photo where we look the happiest, the prettiest, the most put together, why wouldn’t we want the world to see that?

And that, right there, is the danger of social media: By only sharing snapshots of our lives, we highlight the perfect and pretend that the imperfect does not exist.

We immerse ourselves in fictional worlds where all we see are images of sunny beach vacations, smiling family portraits, aesthetically pleasing coffee, and people at their prime. However, what we don’t see are all of the moments in between, all of the moments of sadness, suffering, and imperfection. And because we tend to keep those less-than-perfect moments hidden from our feeds, it is easy to compare our real lives to the “social media lives” of others and feel like we just don’t measure up. After all, when we are constantly surrounded by images of people whose lives look so put together, it can make it seem like we are the only ones whose lives aren’t.

Thankfully, social media is slowly starting to change. Now more than ever, companies, celebrities, and other social media users are embracing the idea that imperfection should not be hidden. With companies like Dove working to improve body confidence with their body positivity campaigns, celebrities like Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Sarah Hyland opening up about their mental health battles, and couples like Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade sharing their struggles with fertility, social media is slowly becoming more transparent, communicating the idea that not only is it okay to be imperfect, but it is also okay to share those imperfections if we choose to do so.

Although social media often makes it seem this way, no one’s life is a continuous slide-show of vacations, parties, smiles, and friends. And while there is nothing wrong with choosing to share on social media the photos, stories, and videos that make us feel best about ourselves, there is also no shame in sharing the imperfect aspects of our lives as pivotal parts of our stories. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what social media is: Platforms that allow us to share the stories of our lives with the world. And no matter what narrative we choose to tell, it is important to put everything we see online into perspective. Because, for better or for worse, what we see on social media is not the whole picture of someone; rather, it is merely a few pieces in the puzzle of who they are.