Don't 'Blank' Your Canvas

Social media has come to stay as one of the major means of socializing and the current generation of young adults are at the frontline of anything social media-related, from money-making, to stardom, endorsements, learning, entertainment, you name it. But then for most of these young adults whose brains, according to research, are yet to be fully developed, finding social solace on social media can spell doom if not properly checked. According to Idiom.thefreedictionary.com, a person can be described as a blank canvas if they project themselves as having nothing of substance or permanence within or imprinted upon them, such that they can be easily filled with entirely new things. It refers to a painter’s canvas that has yet to be painted on. I am not debating for or against social media. A lot of research has highlighted its advantages (Brown and Michinov, 2019; Tefertiller et al., 2020, Twenge and Campbell, 2019) and disadvantages (Dhir et al., 2018;  Tonacci et al., 2019). What I am really saying is for every time you want to visit social media for validation, don’t ‘blank’ your canvas. Rather, show up with your canvas already painted with a clear definition of who you are, what you stand for and your intention to grow on that path even though you are keeping an open mind to things. Remember that most of what you see on social media has been refined to look that way, which may be far from reality. If you want to be real and authentic, don’t ‘blank’ your canvas because you want validation, it can lead to another kind of problem for you in the long run.  As the world celebrates this year’s International Youth Day and tries to bring more attention to the youth and their peculiar needs, I want to join in this celebration and at the same time challenge every youth out there to understand that the world needs their peculiar brand of originality, their special uniqueness. As you go about chasing your dreams, don’t ‘blank’ your canvas. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. <