Lolita Girl Takes the Internet by Storm

and never looked back.

Photo by Xyz Shoot on Unsplash

The place was an absolute mess. Anything electronic one could think of was there. State-of-the-art equipment covered the carpeted floor, and a futon was smack right in the middle.

The only sense of order was provided by soothing classical music blasting from the Bose speakers and an open window allowed very much-needed air into the premises. The curtains flowed magically in sync with the sound as if directed by a conductor in an orchestra.

Although they were three people in the room, they didn’t speak. Didn’t have to. Each of them had a function, and each function was done with complete precision. There was no need for human talk. It was all about efficiency.

****

Back in the sixties, she’d have been called nerdy. Today, in 2023, she’s a social media influencer. At any time during her busy day, she’s making all the right moves to succeed in a world that spins only for her or because of her, she thinks.

Photo by Thomas Pollart

Her real name is Grace, but she’s chosen to be called Magenta. Always competing, she spends innumerable amounts of hours on her two cell phones, two “burner” phones, one Windows laptop, an iPad, and a Macbook. When you hear her speak, if you didn’t live in this century, you wouldn’t know what she’s saying.

Between SEO optimization, streaming, tagging, keywords, optimization stats, plug-ins, churn reduction, charts and traces, input algorithms, and last but not least, chatGPT and platform parameters, you’d think English is not what she’s speaking.

She’s got no time to waste, and whatever you have to say, say it quickly or you’d lose her. She’s gone to another call.

She’s lost all touch with the real world. She lives in a separate reality. One of her own making.

Strangely, this isn’t the way she’s always been.

This is a different person. But her change wasn’t even gradual; it was surprisingly fast. In a not too recent past, she was the average teenager “from the block,” as she liked to call herself. She was nice, and she was kind. She went to school and graduated with honors. Because of that, several top colleges offered her full-ride scholarships. Her sights were already fixed on her pick for one.

Photo by redcharlie | @redcharlie1 on Unsplash

She wanted Dartmouth. There were many reasons for that decision, one of them being it was close to home and since she was Gracie from the block…

Also, it was an Ivy League university; and not only was it her favorite basketball team, but also her boyfriend, Sandro, was a star in their rowing squad.

Enough reasons, she thought.

Maybe things changed when she broke up with him. Or at least, it could have been one of the reasons.

Or when she met this MIT tech graduate, Kumi, forty-five years her senior, who became smitten with her and showered her with presents and compliments, himself a powerhouse of virtual knowledge. A walking human AI.

But breaking up is hard to do, as they say, and she wasn’t exempt.

And, of course, Kumi always seemed to be there to provide solace and comfort. But not of the kind she was looking for.

Looking for wisdom and proper advice, she felt lost and almost to the point of panic.

But then, a world she didn’t know existed, and by complete chance, suddenly opened up for her. A bulletin notice posted at school asking for an apprentice assistant caught her eye. There was a number listed.

She called.

Everything changed after that.

She was soon to be part of the world of “Social Media Influencers”. And, naturally, Kumi was there to help.

Her online presence became an almost immediate sensation when she was one of the first persons ever to start using and discussing AI on social media.

She became what she was selling, day and night.

Obsessed isn’t powerful enough of a word to describe her behavior.

Everything in her world was tech-inspired, and she built a global enterprise that reflected success from every angle you could look at, including financially.

It didn’t take long for her to make it beyond her wildest dreams. Her partnership with Kumi worked to the point of making them both rich and him even richer, and it didn’t show any signs of slowing down.

She decided to postpone going to college for another year, much to her family’s disapproval.

She thought, and rightly so, that she couldn’t do both. That something had to give.

As it usually is, in these cases, only time will tell.

The question that begs an answer is: Did she make the right choices?