The children of today have lost the art of the “awkward phase.” All too often I see 12 year olds buying products for their Drunk Elephant skincare routine, buying outfits from Garage and listening to Sombr.
There is a huge lack of pre-teen media, leading to a loss of the true cringey “childhood experience” so many of us had. A rise in the use of social media and exposure to more mature content at increasingly younger ages has caused many children, more specifically young girls, to want to “fix” their insecurities rather than embrace them and discover who they truly are.
The early 2000’s saw the peak of pre-teen culture: Disney stars like Hannah Montana and the Sprouse Twins, stores like Justice and Claire’s and of course, a bedazzled flip phone filled with lipgloss.
As opposed to embracing their quirkiness, pre-teens are now being pushed to mature faster due to social media. According to Omega Pediatrics, children are now being introduced to social media as young as eight years old, with the average age being 12.
“The overuse of social media can actually rewire a young child or teen’s brain to constantly seek out immediate gratification, leading to obsessive, compulsive and addictive behaviors,” said Dr. Nancy Deangelis, Director of Behavior Health at Jefferson Health Abington.
Children who are being exposed to social media so early on in their development are negatively affected, both mentally and physically. They begin to mature at a much quicker rate than younger generations who were able to experience each phase of childhood.
“My little sister missed out on the world of magazines, toys and shows made specifically for pre teens,” said freshman student Audrey Booher. “She went straight from Cocomelon to scrolling on TikTok and there was no in between.”
The blame is not all on social media platforms though. As it turns out, there are no outlets for pre-teens to express themselves anymore.
Justice, marketed as one of the largest tween clothing brands, began closing its stores in 2020 and 2021. Claire’s now has a new owner, and it has resulted in the shut down of almost 300 stores nationally.
Today, young shoppers go to places like Brandy Melville or Hollister. While there’s no explicit issues with this, it raises some alarms when an eight-year-old is in the checkout line buying the same outfit as a 24-year-old.
Recently, there was also controversy surrounding artist Sombr’s recent tour, highlighting the need for pre-teen music.
According to one TikTok user @meganator_, the 20-year-old artist’s concert was filled with thousands of shrieking pre-teens who “lacked decorum.” That wasn’t the worst part though. Sombr reportedly made inappropriate comments for the age group present, telling them to “bark for me” and asking a member of the audience to get on stage and call their ex.
The incident caused many on TikTok to criticize the artist, stating his behavior is inappropriate when he knows he has a much younger fan base. The point was also made that nowadays, there is little to no appropriate music for children ages 11-14 to listen to, so they begin listening to much more mature content like that of Sombr or Sabrina Carpenter.
In the mid to late 2000’s, children had musical talents like Taylor Swift and One Direction, who curated music for audiences in the preteen and teen years just like them. It allowed children a safe outlet for music that was appropriate but still relatable to them and their experiences.
A recent TikTok trend also dubbed this “new age” of pre-teens the “Sephora ten year olds,” pointing out that extremely young children are shopping around Sephora for expensive makeup and skincare that they honestly don’t need and shouldn’t be using.
“Kids don’t even need most of what Sephora sells and they are ruining their skin in the process,” said one TikTok user @ashley_g1287.
“Why did they take all the Claire’s and teen stores away,” said another.
It’s time for there to be a new age of pre-teen media. Rather than forcing them to be stuck between choosing a Disney cartoon or a Netflix drama series, we need to curate media that fits them. It’s so important to allow younger audiences to retain their innocence, but also still allow them to feel seen and heard through the media they are watching and listening to.
Hannah Valdivia
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