birlinterrupted:

its like super weird seeing like preteens and early teenagers i know start engaging w social media on their own terms because they like replicate like many of the same cadences and styles of like professional(/esque) influencers and like the concept of ‘self-branding’ in a way that is so alien to me. It makes sense, but it makes me realize how much of like my early exposure to the internet was really not attenuated to like those concepts. like, i didnt ever really think my xanga/livejournal was going to get me some sort of celebrity status or monetization. obviously it was a thing that was going on (Tila Tequila, as a clear example) but i think its a really strange reckoning w how much like the raming and concepts of advertising/marketing has like really taken over everyone’s self expression