How I Learned To Be A Better Me From My Miitomo Mii

There's a lot of "Mii" puns in this, sorry.

Hello. It me. No, not that me. This Mii:

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

So, Nintendo released an app called Miitomo.

Nintendo / Via cdn-image-f3580964b8e711e5b95f2ff191a1c838.baas.nintendo.com

Here's a Baby Mario summary of it:

You make an adorable miniature avatar version of yourself and interact with your friends' adorable miniature avatar versions of themselves. It asks you a series of personal questions that I've definitely answered before on OkCupid, the answers to which act as open forums your friends can respond to. With the in-game point system, you can buy outfits, which range from normcore to... quirky.

Like this incredible ensemble:

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo / Via apogeephoto.com

Yep, that's Mii dressed in a cactus suit. With pot pants! POT PANTS!!!!

You can also add your Mii to any picture you want in the app.

Disney / Miitomo / Via ardent12.ipage.com

Mii as my fav Disney princess because BuzzFeed.

But as ridiculous and irreverent as Miitomo seems, I have to admit: I LOVE THIS APP.

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

To understand why I love it so much, there are a few things you need to know about me. No, not that Mii. The real me.

After testing my patience and sanity on the daily with a two hour commute to work in HELL-A traffic, I decided to move closer to the office. It's been a bit of a rough adjustment. Despite the fact that some weekends, I go back to the other side of town I used to live in to hang with my friends, they rarely come out to hang with me in my new area. And I don't know if you know this, but trying to make new friends as an already awkward and socially anxious 27 year old is not easy.

Many of my weekends end up looking like this:

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

Which is honestly fine, I'm an only child and being alone doesn't faze me.

Another thing to note: I don't use social media. Like at all.

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

Part of me feels like my life isn't cool enough for insta. Part of me knows that when I do participate in social media, my ego and need for constant validation get a little out of control.

I've also spent every free moment and all of my savings for the last three years on writing, recording, and producing a soon-to-be-released album.

Derek Nakamoto / Miitomo

When I'm not making the dank memes at BuzzFeed, I take myself as a singing-songwriting artist pretty seriously. Perfectionism would be putting it lightly. I've rerecorded each of the nine songs on this album at least three times each, at five different studios, just because the sound and my performance wasn't "right." All of the songs on it are heavy, dealing with feelings of millennial angst, not measuring up to my peers, and how I manage to Netflix and kill every brief flirtationship I right-swipe into.

But with Miitomo, none of that matters. For me, it's perfect for getting outside of my overthinky, anxious head.

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

Because Miitomo only broadcasts your activity to your friends on the app and there's no real way to gain random followers, it makes for a completely different social media experience. I found myself dressing my Mii up in ridiculous outfits and answering the questions Miitomo asks with absurd, funny answers, not for hearts or likes from strangers, but simply to amuse myself. Because it was fun.

In fact, every interaction you have in Miitomo is meant to be fun.

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

Your Mii reads text out loud in a voice you select the tone and cadence for. Some peoples Mii's actually sound like them. Others have comically high-pitched voices. It's stupid fun to find stuff like this out by interacting with your friends Mii's. The answers your friends provide to questions will make you laugh and might even reveal things you never knew about them. (How often do you ask your friends what their favorite type of bread is?) Even seeing how people style their Mii's is entertaining.

This made me wonder: Am I taking myself too seriously IRL?

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo

My Mii dresses in a hotdog suit and wears dog ears and yet real me is out here stressing about driving in post-work traffic to see friends on a Friday night. My Mii lays around in flirty positions on fire backdrops, lit like an '00s mall photoshoot studio, and yet real me is worrying that the 10 fans of my music are going to think my new album isn't good enough.

Miitomo has reminded me that it's not always about me.

Tyler Haruta / BuzzFeed

A combination of living alone in a new area and trying way too hard to force a career in music on top of my day job has made it easy for me to sit at home feeling sorry for myself. But I've learned that approaching things like how my Miitomo Mii does: focusing on having more fun, taking myself less seriously, and maintaining relationships with friends by being my most quirkiest, ridiculous, but also genuine self, all make for a much happier Mii. And a much happier me.

From my Mii to yours:

Tyler Haruta / Miitomo