WhatsApp! Err, I mean what’s up?! Here’s what: It’s a selfie world and we’re all living in it! Instagram, Snapchat, Vine, oh my!
Gone are the days of destroying the negatives. Back in the “old days” adoring fans of Marilyn Monroe only learned of her many issues with drink, drugs and men in retrospect. Her insecurities and fragility were skillfully hidden by her handlers and Marilyn herself, who had final approval over all of her photographs.
Today we are free to watch the lives and reputations of celebrities, politicians and young people everywhere, implode in real time. I can’t help but wonder what Marilyn Monroe, Audrey Hepburn, Julia Child (who would have been 102 last week) and, of course, my beloved grandmothers, would think about this digital age and the ability for young people (and all of us) to share everything.
I was inspired over the summer to write “@Sophie Takes A #Selfie”, a small but mighty little book of rules and etiquette for girls ages seven to seventy-seven. It is written with my own daughters in mind and with the desire to encourage them and young ladies everywhere to be the kind of girls today that the self-assured, successful, grown-up women of tomorrow can look back on with confidence and pride. I hope to inspire more thoughtfulness in the way young people communicate and interact with one another. I hope to encourage conversation and awareness between parents and kids about what constitutes appropriate online behavior.
I look forward to sharing it with you soon and have created this fun space to start conversations and share information as an extension of the book once it has been published.
Many thanks to all of you who have encouraged me to pursue this project! I appreciate you more than I can say here.
Thank you for reading! Stay tuned ~
Jen
J. J. Cannon 