A Girl’s Life in the Cyberbubble

Aug 13, 2010
Mary Rose Somarriba

It’s back-to-school time. Soon, girls and boys will be saying goodbye to summer and heading back to the classroom. But we know that doesn’t mean they’ll get to books and learning. Many of today’s kids are heading to the classroom with their Blackberry or iPhone in hand, Facebook account active, and hyper-sexualized clothing on, even at a pre-pubescent age. Suffice it to say, they face some distractions.

Which is why parents, especially parents of teen and pre-teen daughters, should read Girls on the Edge, the latest book by doctor and psychologist Leonard Sax. Sax, also author of Boys Adrift (2009) and Why Gender Matters (2006), sees a lot of distractions keeping girls from healthy development today, and he lists what he finds to be the “four factors driving the new crisis for girls”: issues affecting sexual identity; the “cyberbubble,” including social-networking technologies like texting, sexting, and Facebook; teen obsessions ranging from hyper-competitiveness in school to anorexia and other self-harms; and environmental toxins that bring on premature puberty. the rest

Think of a girl you know between the ages of 13 and 16 on Facebook today. Look at her profile picture: Is she smiling? Chances are, no. Chances are, we see someone who is making an expression that is saucy, or rolling-the-eyes irritated, or simply deer-in-the-headlights stoic, but chances are it’s not a smile. Something’s gotten between the girl and her smile, and, as Sax diagnoses it, it’s self-objectification: “As these girls get hyper-connected with their peers, they get disconnected with themselves.”