So my wife and I were having one of those nostalgic conversations about our childhood the other day and the topic of teen heart-throbs came up.We recounted how when we were in those pre-teen to teen years, the big thing was to fall in love with some teenage movie/TV/music star, know everything there was to know about them and then plaster their face all over the walls of your room. So, in just about every teenager's personal space you would find posters of Ralph Macchio or Kirk Cameron looming over their bed.
I must admit I too made a foray into this practice. My choice was Alyssa Milano circa her "Who's the Boss?" era. But the whole idea didn't seem to fit me well. It was a tad embarrassing, so I quickly moved to posters of comic book heroes and my favorite bands.
But our conversation led me to a cultural question: Do teenagers still use posters?
Of course we have all those little Bieberites out there continuing the teen heart-throb mentality, but do they still use their bedroom walls to create their space or...
Has the pull of the virtual world become so great that teens use cellphones, Facebook pages and the like to create that picture of who they are and who they want to be.
I'd love to hear some feedback for the purpose of cultural research. Help me answer this question.
2 comments:
Maybe their Facebook is their new canvas?
I would first like to say that your use of the word Bieberites was fantastic, and secondly that you may definitely be onto something here. I have noticed that people tend to use their 'lives' online to define who they are in their everyday life. I think it's partially so that they can let people know who they are without having to actually get comfortable with expressing who they are to those people.
Post a Comment