Yes, it is really mean to call them all loser kids, but you remember high school, right? High schoolers are mean.
Anyway, the more appropriate and accurate description from my current older, more dignified perspective would be to say they were the lower income, underprivileged, possibly dysfunctional family kids. And the cool kids were likely the white, middle class kids--also likely dysfunctional, just better at hiding it.
So jump to the digital age. Kids hang out online now. They pick favorite social networking sites and they text and they Tweet.
Is MySpace the new SuperPumper? According to a report on NPR yesterday, it might very well be.
According to the report, MySpace is out and Facebook is in. The reason? As one teen interviewed stated, "It seems trashy to me. The only people who use it are trashy people."And as the reporter went on to find, the 65 million "trashy" people on MySpace have their own theories about who uses which medium.
(Quoting directly from the article)
"I have friends who are white," says 19-year-old Diego Luna. "They are my white people friends and they are mostly on Facebook. That's why I use Facebook. My brown people are on MySpace.".....Benito Rodriguez, 16, adds, "Not to be racist or anything, but there's more white kids on Facebook."
Are MySpace and Facebook the modern version of the Sharks and the Jets?
And if so, where do we sign up to learn the dance moves?
I think I would have to identify myself with the Jets/Facebookers.
Not because I'm white--I am very white. Unfortunately exceptionally pasty white.
But more because all my friends/gang members are part of the Facebook crew. And once you're a Facebooker, you're a Facebooker all the way, from you're first wall post to your last status updaaaaaaaaaay--te.
But according to the article, the artsy-types hang with the Sharks/MySpacers. I love artsy types. I want to be an artsy type. I'm going to have to start creeping around behind my Facebooker friend's profiles to see what the MySpacers are up to, maybe pick up some great design tips or new hip band suggestions. At least most MySpace profiles are viewable without doing a friend request. I would for sure be blacklisted if my Facebook friends found out I'd been friending MySpacers.
It's going to be a difficult life trying to bridge these two worlds, but I guess I (along with all those salivating advertisers out there) will have to try. It's just too morally rupugnant to me to live in such a digitally divided world!
Kudos for the West Side Story reference. It's one of my favorite movies. I never thought of Facebook and MySpace as rival gangs before, but I suppose in a sense, they are...which means I'm a member of the Jets, since I am Caucasian and only have a Facebook account. It was a really good parallel between what is relevant in real life and an older movie. I always knew there was more to WSS than pansy dance moves.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that high schoolers are mean. It is very sad that there are so many cliques in not only high school, but the world too. Although, it does get better once you get out of high school there are still going to be cliques in the world. As for the MySpace and Facebook issues, I used to be a MySpacer in junior high and part of high school. MySpace was the cool thing then, and then I transferred into a Facebooker in my later years of high school. I recently just deleted my MySpace account because I figured I do not use it anymore and why have it up so random people can creep on me. I have a feeling there will always be a competition between social networking sites and “cliques” as to who uses what sites.
ReplyDeleteAimee -
ReplyDeleteVery cool article, plus you have West Side Story in there! I never thought that we would be so divided out there on the internet. We have enough cliques at school. Why would we need some on a website where kids are trying to get away from those cliques and divisions? I have never had a MySpace, and I guess I don't see it as much as other people do. I would hate to see social networking sites turn into racially divided groups. That's not fair, and no should feel inferior when it comes to Facebook.
When I saw the title for your blog, it brought me back to the days when all the popular Rock Lake kids would go to Rolla and hang out at Bill’s Service Station. The more adventurous of us would sometimes even make the trip to LaDots in Belcourt. Oh, those were the good old days :)
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, as I read your article I was surprised that the use of social media tools hasn’t bridged that gap between the haves and have-nots. I would have thought that by not having to meet face-to-face the lines would blur and eventually disappear, allowing all kids to be equals on the internet. Now I know better, so thank you for sharing that information and setting me straight!
This blog was fun to read and oh so true. High school kids are mean and cruel and no matter the size of the school it is always divided into the clicks. We had the kids that hung out in the parking lots in Valley City one in particular had an inappropriate name and was derived from drug users so if you hung out there you were automatically labeled a ‘druggie’ whether you truly were or not.
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of an oxymoron to say that social networking sites are divided by class or race because isn’t a social networking site meant to ‘network’ and ‘connect’ you to other people and your friends no matter their status? I would agree though to an extent that MySpace users tend to be a bit creepier, I wouldn’t necessarily say trashier because that can mean a lot of things but creepy is a good word. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that you can see people’s profiles without being their friend.