Pretty In Pink, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller… these movies are iconic. But they are so much more to an 80s kid. The characters in these movies were our influencers. It was acceptable to be the underdog. It was OK to be nerdy, weird, or come from a working class family. I was the epitome of social awkwardness, so as a kid these movies gave me a little hope. My brother as well, but more in a Weird Science kind of way. He kept feeding magazine clippings to our VCR, and there might have been an unmentionable lunch box full of Barbie parts stashed under his bed.
I feel bad for our kids. The expectation is to be rich, travel, or have extreme experiences that look perfect posted on social media. Now, we have tweens aspiring to be the next Kardashian. When I was a tween, all I wanted to do was make a dress out of our drapes because Andie could sew. Of course, I couldn’t sew and I got in a lot of trouble for cutting crap up, but that is not the point. I am sad that my kids only have the fake-doctored realities of social media to compare themselves to. Don’t get me wrong. Things never played out like they did in a John Hughes movie. I never triumphed over my awkwardness and I did not suddenly become appreciated by the popular crowd in high school. Our VCR just broke instead of providing my brother with the perfect woman. However, our influencers were real and relatable. They had flaws and problems.
It is no wonder so many kids are experiencing depression today. Ask kids what they want to be when they grow up and most will say a You-tuber or an influencer. Seriously. My brother and I would have worked any job if it meant we could afford a keyboard like Ferris Bueller had.
Our kids need a John Hughes, or at minimum, a dose of reality infused into social media. Instead of posting a photo of your perfect family – snap a shot or two of your kids or your spouse having a melt down. SOMEONE had a melt down. They always do. I don’t want to see your perfect plate of food; I want to see you looking chubby and miserable. Bring back the celebration of all things awkward, uncomfortable, and non-conformist. We need to trash the picture-perfect narrative, because…
“We’re all a little bizarre, some of us are just better at hiding it.” – Andrew Clark (Breakfast Club)
General Musings of a Gen Xer 