two peas in an unprotected pod

I was 20 minutes deep into " On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" before my eardrums registered a girl's outcry.

Friends were late as usual.  I knew it was coming—track records.

I lifted my head and peeped into my phone. To check where the girls were. Had I found a new entrance into Westfields and lost them?

"Nearly there, the train was delayed, sorry!!! Xoxo"  Okay, it wasn't me.

After I'd put the book away, a girl, no more than 15. maybe 14  turned to her friend and complained about her lack of presence online.

She said, " I haven't posted since August! it's nearly October!!", her friend said it doesn't matter!

The girl replied with " that's okay for you to say, your pretty and skinny!! it's okay for you to say!"  

Had I been so out of touch, or were these conversations the new norm?

Social media had warped the meaning of reality for this girl. How many other girls felt this way? Even after a pandemic, this was the primary concern running along her synapses?

I relayed back to how I felt at her age. It was Facebook, not Instagram, that was the picture-perfect pod. Yet, the apps have no small print on how to protect the mind of a growing pea. I wanted to lean over and tell her she needed no validation from strangers online. That showing your worth and knowing your worth are two different skills.

All those words would have meant nothing. You cannot teach someone a lesson they're not ready for. I can attest to that, and I have ten years on her. Still learning.