Mother Gives Teenage Son Over R27k to Stay Off Social Media for 6 Years
- Staying away from social media for one hour would be unimaginable for most people, but a young man stayed away for six years, which earned him over R27k
- Klefsaas was challenged by his mum to go off social media when he was only 12 years old; he did it because of pride
- When he reached 18 years old, his mum gave him the money as promised and he made a beeline for Instagram to keep up with the trends
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A young man has earned R27k after meeting a challenge that would bring many people to their knees; staying off social media for six years.
Because of pride
As you pick your jaw from the floor, it will also shock you to learn that the competitive Silvert Klefsaas went ahead with the challenge because of pride.
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According to CNN, Klefsaas' mum Lorna Goldstrand Klefsaas challenged him to stay without visiting social media sites for six years upon which he would have earned himself the princely amount.
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"I thought it was awesome. I thought, ah, what's 6 more years?" he added.
Claim his prize
February 19, 2022, was Klefsaas' birthday and he finally got to claim his prize.
In 2016, Lorna was inspired by a challenge she heard on the radio called the "16 for 16", where a woman gave her daughter $1,600 (R24 268,64) after staying off social media for four years.
Lorna increased the number of years and the prize by $200 (R3 033,58).
Living without social media
Happy Klefsaas said living without social media wasn't too difficult, and since he was only 12 years old, he didn't need social media much, anyway.
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"I wouldn't say there was ever a time where I thought I was about to break," he said.
"As it went on, it was more of a pride thing," he added.
With good friends, the determined boy didn't fall off the latest trends or news.
Didn't have to struggle
On her part, Lorna didn't have to struggle with checking on him because of his competitive nature which would want to see the challenge to the end.
With no social media distraction, Klefsaas had time to focus on his grades. Although he is excited to get his prize, he has not decided what to buy with his money but hinted at buying something for his dorm at the University of Northwestern St. Paul.
Instagram first stop
Now that he won the prize, first stop will be Instagram.
"There's definitely a learning curve," Sivert said.
"I see my friends fly through their social media apps and I can't do that quite yet," he added.
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Source: Briefly News
Kelly Lippke (Senior Editor) Kelly Lippke is a copy editor/proofreader who started her career at the Northern-Natal Courier with a BA in Communication Science/Psychology (Unisa, 2007). Kelly has worked for several Caxton publications, including the Highway Mail and Northglen News. Kelly’s unique editing perspective stems from an additional major in Linguistics. Kelly joined Briefly News in 2018 and she has 14 years of experience. Kelly has also passed a set of trainings by Google News Initiative. You can reach her at kelly.lippke@briefly.co.za.
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