If someone said they'd pay you $1,800 to stay off social media(社交媒体) for 6 years, would you do it? Could you? An American mom challenged her son to do just that, and he succeeded.
Sivert Klefsaas is the youngest of Lorna Gold-strand Klefsaas' four children, and his three older sisters all used social media growing up. It was influencing their feelings, as well as their friendships. So, Lorna thought, "If I could, I'd be willing to do whatever to keep Sivert off social media as long as I could, whatever that looks like." And that's where the idea for this challenge came from.
It all started when Lorna heard about a similar "16 for 16 challenge" on the radio, where a mother called Amanda Green gave her daughter Teresa $1,600 when sheturned 16 if she stayed off social media. So, Lorna decided to create her own "18 for 18 challenge". Not only did Sivert
finally complete this challenge, but he would do it again, too.
"It wasn't too difficult to live without social media, and I didn't think about it much during the 6 years," Sivert said. "As time went on, it was more of a pride thing."
He had his friends keep him up to date on the latest information. Sivert added, "I got to avoid all the unnecessary things that were on there. It also meant I had more time to focus on my grades and sports instead."
Now that he's done with the challenge, Sivert joined Instagram, but has no plans to let social media define (定义) him.
"Social media is great. We certainly need to use it,"Sivert said."But also make sure you
spend time in other areas of your life, especially those personal relationships."
Still, Lorna is proud of her son's success. "We are certainly not against social media, but it's the healthy using of it," Lorna told CNN.