This texting service is here for all your back-to-school worries
If it feels like you're the only person quietly freaking out about the new school year, rest assured that everyone else is having some version of the same internal monologue.
It goes something like this: Am I wearing the right clothes? Am I taking the right classes? Will my friends still be my friends and can I make new ones? I'm totally excited but also feel a little like throwing up.
The team behind Shine, the free texting service dedicated to helping you "feel your best self," knows exactly what that's like. That's why the company just launched a short-term campaign called "The Flip Side" to help college students calm their nerves. When students sign-up to receive the texts, they'll get five days' worth of brief supportive messages that link to research-based advice and tips on Shine's website.
The first text is a challenge see the "flip side" of mixed emotions, like simultaneously being nervous and excited. While that sensation might feel frightening, Shine points to research about how mixed emotions may be related to our sense of purpose and the drive to create a meaningful life.
The idea for "The Flip Side" campaign started with a rising college senior who spent the summer interning at Shine. After she gave a presentation to Shine staff about the anxieties that college students feel about achieving perfection in every aspect of their lives, the team began brainstorming about how to reach young adults with supportive messages at an opportune moment.
"There's always been school pressure, but what’s fundamentally different in this day and age is there's more pressure to be a fully formed, perfect self," says Shine cofounder Naomi Hirabayashi.
So Shine's five days of messages are designed to help recipients feel more normal about their worries. The other texts highlight research about why we remember tough moments more than good ones, how to manage FOMO, how to embrace your authentic self, what to do when burnout strikes, and how to make distractions a positive force in your life.
Students can get the notes through text messaging or the chat platform Kik. The last day to sign up is Sept. 10 and the campaign stops on the 15th.
Hirabayashi hopes the messages help college students who need or want encouragement and support as they navigate those complicated back-to-school feelings. She also wants them to take comfort in the fact that Shine, which has 500,000 subscribers, is addressing a common experience that often goes unspoken or undiscussed.
"If Shine is talking about this issue, [people will know] it means I’m not the only one," says Hirabayashi. "It's not a fatal flaw, it’s just a human quality."
Topics Health Mental Health Social Good
Rebecca Ruiz is a Senior Reporter at Mashable. She frequently covers mental health, digital culture, and technology. Her areas of expertise include suicide prevention, screen use and mental health, parenting, youth well-being, and meditation and mindfulness. Rebecca's experience prior to Mashable includes working as a staff writer, reporter, and editor at NBC News Digital and as a staff writer at Forbes. Rebecca has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and a masters degree from U.C. Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.
