Little Red in Modern Life

Emma just has her 15-year-old birthday with her friends. She is an extroverted and cute girl, even though she is not gorgeous. Since her parents passed away when she was a little girl, she lives with her grandmother. Her grandmother gives the best she can to Emma since she loves Emma so much. Every year, grandmother knits a red cap to Emma as birthday present, and Emma wears it every day. Probably because Emma does not have parents, she is a sensitive girl, and she believes no one can love her as her grandmother does. She loves and respects her grandmother as well.

This year, the grandmother gives Emma not only a red cap but also a brand new iPhone as birthday presents, which makes Emma overjoyed. She finds she can check her friends' updated condition and share her life in social media. After getting her new phone, she cannot stop browsing her phone and texting with her friends. The phone is a such a new thing, a new world world, for her. Gradually, she starts sharing her life detail online, including how she is going on, where she goes, whom she hangs out with. Some of her friends "like" her photos and give her nice comment under her postings. However, not every one is being nice. Some of her "friends" comment offensively. Some girls comment "boring" even "ugly" under her posting, which makes her sad and upset. She is scared since she does not who comments her so offensively and how to react to those malevolent words. She wonders whether her friends can see those "offensive" comment. She is scared that her friends believe rumor and do not like her any more. Then, Kelly, her best friend, suggests her that she should Photoshop her photos before posting, which makes her look prettier. Emma does as Kelly told. More and more comments make Emma feel happy at first. "Wow, Emma, you look amazing!", "Gorgeous!", "love it!" … She keeps checking the comments after every posting. She cares about what others think. She cares about her body images and her physical appearance. Her posting is not only for sharing her life detail any long. What she wants is "like" from others. She spends hours of a day to Photoshop her pictures and browsing social media, which makes her not focus on study, and she even browses her phone in class.

One day, after she posting a photo that she is having dinner in a restaurant and says "best restaurant ever!", a guy "like" her post and comments "you're so cute." Then, they chat with each other every day. The guy is funny and charming, and Emma thinks she is attracted by him. A few days later, the guy asks Emma to have dinner. She is surprised, excited, and of course, a little bit nervous. After all, he is a stranger to her in a real world, even though she thinks he is a nice guy, even though they have an interesting chat. She decided to say yes to that guy. When her grandmother knows, she is angry and tries to stop Emma, "Emma, you can't go. You don't know that guy at all. You even don't know if he is a fraud. No, I said no!" "Grandma, I really want to go. He is a nice guy, I promise. I've already said yes", Emma replied. Grandma tries to stop again, but she fails.

Emma goes out the other day happily. Her grandma is so worried about Emma's safety. Even though she does not know Internet at all, she still does not think that it is safe for a young girl to hang out with a stranger, especially a man. Therefore, she calls her friend, henry, a police, to help. They stalk Emma, and find her going in a restaurant. Then they find Emma and the guy, frankly, a charming guy. They seem to have an interesting conversation. When Emma goes to the restroom, the guy drugs her drink secretly, which is witnessed by grandma and Henry. Henry catches the guy and the guy commits his crime eventually. When Emma knows the truth, she can't believe the charming guy is so evil. She realizes that not everything in Internet is real. She should distinguish what is real and what is not to protect herself.