Fear of Missing Out

Inanna sailing
Jason and Gro
Thu 15 Dec 2016 15:56
Their self-worth shouldn't be tied up only in selfies and likes.
Mozilla
Brenda Hernandez of the Mozilla Leadership Network
Hello there,

When I was younger, I fell in love with the Internet. I remember that moment of awe when I discovered something new and cool — when I hacked the code on my MySpace page to do something that made my friends want to copy it.

My name is Brenda Hernandez. I work for the Mozilla Leadership Network with Hive Chicago as an educator, a youth and community leader. I'm going to ask you to donate to Mozilla today to help support our work. If you'll give me a second of your time, I'll tell you why.

Kids today are born into the Matrix. I got to decide what pill to take. They didn't.

Because I'm of a generation just slightly before the Internet was everywhere, I learned how to decide if I want to live within the Internet. Or if I want to jump out and take a break.

Too many young people today don't have that luxury. The culture they're growing up in can best be described as FOMO — Fear Of Missing Out.

FOMO means young people today place so much value on their online identities. These identities aren't always real. Who are they? Where does their self-worth come from? Is it likes on Instagram? Or good grades in school? Or good deeds in their neighborhood?

I fear fewer and fewer kids are makers online today. We need our next generations to understand how to think critically, to understand what's real and what's not online, to make new things and grow, to inspire themselves and others, and push the direction of the Internet. We need them to do this so they understand their self-worth isn't tied up only in selfies and likes.

The Internet is a remarkable tool that touches and changes nearly every element of our lives. That is awesome. That is why Mozilla works to build an Internet that is innovative and open to everyone. But that is also why it has become so important to teach kids the skills they need to engage online, so that they can become the next generation of makers and builders.

I care about young people, I care about their future, and I care about the future of the Internet.

That is why I hope you will support our work here at Mozilla with a donation today. Here at Hive Chicago, we'll use that donation to keep working with museums, libraries, higher education institutions, after-school programs and tech start-ups to inspire kids to learn and make and innovate online and off.

Donate now

Thank you so much,

Brenda Hernandez
Mozilla Leadership Network