You can't just download success

You know how I knew life had become the Internet? When I started to bitch constantly about it. It’s like I’m the captain of my own fishing boat sailing across this vast sea of information, casting my net upon entertainment blog entries, Vampire Diaries torrents, and every goddamn Twitter tidbit about Justin Bieber. But as I fill it up with all this cyber catch, where is this boat going, really? Nowhere, it seems. 

But if someone like me, who’d first beheld the magic of the search engine around the time I’d discovered hair growth in my nether region, was experiencing spurts of World Wide Web-weariness at this point, then what of the generation of kids born during the information gold rush?

Let’s face it, you can’t quit the Internet these days; no, you might as well start churning your own butter while you’re at it. And the idea of social-networking seppuku is — well, how do you feel about being dead to the world? Not only do we need to live our actual lives now, we have to check constantly on the multiple lives we lead online as well.

Growing Uploaded

Ultimately, this birthright of access-anything-to-excess on the Net could prove to be a burden. Already, we are experts at time wastage, of filling up that fishing boat to no end, so to speak. And while a little video editing know-how, some dedicated choreography to a Lady Gaga song, and the resourcefulness to turn electric fan encasement into a steering wheel can turn you into a national treasure, the Internet incentives of instant celebrity and influence can be a lot more appealing than what our daily, real-world grinds offer. So while Lady Gagita and the dude behind @PCOSmachine have reaped a Startalk appearance here and Philippine STAR column there from the seeds they’d so casually sown on YouTube and Twitter, this generation’s got quite the conflict of interest going for it.

If the spread of Bieber fever is any indication, it seems even parents know the immense power of a simple upload. Release a three-minute clip of your son singing Ne-Yo on YouTube and it’ll be like sending baby Moses off into the Nile again, popularity of biblical proportions maybe following. The same goes for Greyson Michael Chance, whose name you aren’t familiar with but who’s probably taken up minutes of your time, entertaining you with the piano-accompanied performance of Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi his mom took of him and dispersed to the world. Now the 12-year-old’s got a record deal. And don’t even get me started on Charice Pempengco.

These are special cases, I know. Still, from the insta-matic authority the Internet has afforded some, an overwhelming sense of urgency has been cultivated in many. There is more do-it-yourself independence and more possibility for today’s young ’uns, but then there’s also too much self-entitlement, and too much choice, as well.

Getting To The Core Of The Problem

We are, after all, living in the age of the slash-something; the most coveted job, it seems, being that of holding as many as you possibly can. And if you aren’t dissatisfied with your first job out of college or distracted by another life you aren’t leading (that of internet celebrity, maybe?), you’re stuck in the deep end of dependence.

“A lot of children are taught to be so dependent on their parents and then they’re suddenly thrown out there… and that’s how you get Jason Ivler,” laughs Pia Magalona, widow of King of Pinoy Rap, Francis M.

Of course, if there’s anyone who gets the Best Mom mug, it’s Momma Magalona. Having raised a showbiz-conditioned yet well-rounded brood of eight and continuing on admirably after her husband’s succumbing to leukemia, Magalona had been a guest on a good parenting episode of The Sweet Life, where she met relationship management entrepreneur and director of Ateneo’s Student Activities Office, Pia Acevedo. The latter’s amazement at the former’s maternal skills is what led to the two combining psych-grounded mentoring (Acevedo) with a healthy dose of masterful mothering (Magalona) for OneCORE, the Committed Organization for Real-life Education they formed in June of last year.

“We encourage finding the best in yourself and we also teach to unlearn stuff that we have in the culture which is hindering our growth and maturity,” says Magalona of OneCORE’s core objective.

“I’ve been doing it hit or miss. Kasi I also have a background of being kind of messed-up,” Magalona continues, attributing the values-integrated “emotional guidance” she brings to OneCORE to her experience as a young mother. “There’s a clear sense of urgency now more than ever. It’s better if we arm (young adults) with the tools they need so they wouldn’t have to go through decisions hit-or-miss. To realize the reality of things.” 

For OneCORE, it isn’t just about sifting one’s potential and true passions from the muddle of get-rich-quick motivations, call center-realized or otherwise. It’s about getting the guidance skimped on by parents and replaced by all that face time with the computer screen. While today’s first recourse would be to try Googling some direction for yourself, nothing beats sitting down with someone who can get real with you about you — and, well, for your own good. “I want people to realize na yun yung important: for people to say, ‘I feel good around you’ and ‘You’re not a hassle to others,’” Magalona says. “Especially to the community, to society.”

Cores Of Action

Whether you’re a high school senior anxious about what your college course of action might be or a fresh grad looking to free yourself from the family biz’s ball ‘n’ chain, OneCORE’s specialized programs, be it classes of seven or one-on-one sessions, are all about you not going at that next step alone.

Discover Your Core: The two Pias serve as guidance counselors for life, pointing out that stutter, your daddy issues, or the androgynous way you dress at job interviews, all the better to encourage an owning of skills and a change that’ll do you good. Besides, dealing with what’s got you down is the best way to get down to business, get a life, and live it, too.

enCORE: Pay your self-realization forward and learn to mentor others to come into their own. An interesting component of the program: wielding your sexuality and sensuality in the workplace to motivate and inspire the people around you. 

eMANcipate: It’s a new day for gays, OneCORE helping them come into their own in work and love. If they haven’t already come out, that is.

TORCH - Teen & College Edition: A summer leadership program that ignites one’s self-awareness to stand out and shed a light of positive influence for others.

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For rates and further info on “the first and only success center of the Philippines,” call 436-4143 or head to www.theonecore.com.