Every time you post something online you have a choice. You can either make it something that adds to the happiness levels in the world – or you can make it something that takes away from them,” Penny Porter, Zoe Sugg’s sixteen-year-old heroine, writes in Girl Online.

At the heart of this newly-published book by 24-year-old Sugg, known by the millions of people who follow her YouTube vlog as Zoella, is a compassionate and well-observed commentary about teenage life in the era of the internet.

YouTube vlogger Zoella at the launch of her pop-up store at Westfield Stratford City in London on Saturday October 18, 2014.
(Matt Alexander/PA)

Through the fictional character of Penny, Sugg takes us through the experience of starting a blog and explores how the internet can broaden, support and nurture you, and at the very same time, warp and confuse your reality.

Her book also explores the importance of anonymity in a world saturated with the intimate details of the lives of public figures, and shows the challenges of protecting your ‘real-life’ identity on the internet.

She begins the book with a blog post in Penny’s voice, mimicking the anxiety that she – in February 2009 when she started Zoella – and thousands of other people have probably felt when writing their first post:

“Thank you for reading,” Penny writes, “(if anyone actually has been reading!)

With a place on the best-seller list within hours of its release on Amazon and a six million-strong body of subscribers, it’s safe to say that Sugg can now feel pretty certain that someone will be reading.

We managed to get our hands on a copy of the book this morning and with a cup of tea in hand,  read it cover to cover to compile a list of the nuggets of truth it’s left us with:

1. The stakes are high in real life, but they’re even higher online

(Johan Larsson/ Flickr)
(Johan Larsson/Flickr)

“My email notification goes off again. Five more messages telling me that total strangers have mentioned me on Twitter. I click on one and see the word ‘hate’ and quickly click out again.

“I sit on the edge of my bed, staring at my phone in terror. I picture people all over the world reading about me, posting hate-filled messages about me. People I don’t know. People who’ve never even met me…What if they find out where I live? What if they come to this house? My body starts shaking and tears start streaming down my face. What am I going to do? I have to go back to school tomorrow. How will I face everyone?”

2. Identifying with someone, and knowing you’re not alone, is essential

“I have this dream that secretly all teenage girls feel exactly like me. And maybe one day, when we all realize that we all feel the same, we can all stop pretending to be something we’re not.”

3. Socially constructed ideals of beauty are internalised by teenage girls and damage their self-perception

(Ian West/PA)
(Ian West/PA)

“As I hear his front door slam, I quickly look in the dressing-table mirror and sigh. I sigh pretty much every time I look in the mirror. It’s like a reflex action. Look in the mirror- sigh. Look in the mirror – sigh.

4. Mental health is something we need to feel more comfortable talking about

Penny has a panic attack at the end of the first chapter, and finally decides to blog about it.

“As I quickly scroll through the comments, I see words like ‘thank you’, ‘brave’, ‘honesty’ and ‘love’ popping up again and again…On and on they go until I feel as if I’m wrapped up in a toasty-warm blanket of love. In a way, it’s nice to know that ‘panic attacks’ are an actual thing and not just my mind going crazy.”

Sugg has spoken very frankly about her own problems with anxiety on Zoella, and has been commended by Mind, the mental health charity, for doing so. This year she was named their first digital ambassador.

5. A blog – and anonymity – can be a safe space

(Laura/Flickr)
(Laura/Flickr)

“I remember what Bella said to me the time she caught me crying over Elliot. Whenever you’re sad, you should think of three happy things to chase the sadness away. I wrack my brains. In the end, all I can think of is my blog. Right now, it’s the only thing that makes me feel remotely happy. At least on my blog I have people who understand me. At least on my blog I can totally be myself and everyone loves and supports me.”

6. Things can run wildly out of your control on the internet

“It’s so weird to think that when Megan posted that video of me, imagining the whole school seeing my underwear felt like the worst thing ever. But now the whole world’s seeing it. Now, thanks to Elliot, I truly have gone viral. Just like the Black Death. Or smallpox. Great.

“Can I truly say that I’m facing the world if I’m still too scared to go online? I pull the laptop out and stare at it for a moment. Come on, you can do it, I tell myself.”

7. Reading comments is self-destructive but unavoidable

A boy using a laptop
(Oliver Berg/DPA)

“Thousands of people have now posted comments. I tell myself to shut the laptop, to put it back in the wardrobe, but it’s like I’m on some weird kind of self-desruct mission and I automatically start scrolling down. ‘Ew gross‘ and ‘What a state‘ are the nicest comments on there. The rest are so horrible I can barely believe what I’m reading.”

8. The internet can turn on you, so it’s essential to realise the support that those immediately around you can provide

“I nod, unable to speak. My teeth are chattering like crazy. ‘What caused it?’ Dad says. He hugs me tightly. I want to stay like this forever, snuggled in a Dad-and-duvet cocoon.

“After about ten minutes, I feel ready to go downstairs. Tom is already up and sitting at the table.

“‘I’m going to give you a lift to school,’ he says as soon as he sees me. ‘And I’m going to wait outside in the car all day, in case you need me.’

“‘What? You can’t do that!’

“‘Oh yes I can.’”

9. “You can’t take away a teenager’s online access; it’s like taking away their right to breathe”

(Dick Vos/Flickr)
(Dick Vos/Flickr)