Oh to be young and ignorant. The two often go together like peanut butter and jelly. The current influx of young adults seems to have a skewered perception of life. Perhaps it has always been this way, but not until after surviving my early 20s did it become apparent how naïve an entire demographic could be. For this age range, appearance is very important. As much as they will say they don’t care about the way they are perceived by others, being cool is the most important thing to them. This is a small sample size of the things young people think make them cool.
Traveling
A common question one young person will ask another is where their parents have bought plane tickets for them to travel to. They of course word it differently, like they actually worked hard or earned this trip. All humans feel an instant connection to another when they have been to the same faraway place where possibly terrible war atrocities happened hundreds of years ago. Traveling may seem cool when you are young, but the older you get the realization sets in that you are supporting foreign government and the inept airlines more than creating memories.
Having a Lot of Useless Knowledge
Music, sports, science, and other topics young people like to talk about are full of facts. The more a young person knows about these the smarter they are. The smarter a person is the less likely you are to hear them go silent. For some reason young people think being smart is a good thing. Are they unfamiliar with J. Robert Oppenheimer? He suffered due to his smarts. Instead of being known as the nerdy kid who posts science puns on Facebook he became destroyer of worlds. Being the smartest person in the room gets you nothing other than a lot of questions. It’s the furthest from cool.
Gym Memberships
Young people, no matter what shape they come in, think sweating in a public place makes them cool. The most popular place to sweat is at the gym. Owning a gym membership is harder than most people think. You need to sign papers AND initial them. These same people like to talk about their fitness, the progress, and the “lifestyle change” they are undertaking even if it pauses for 3 days a week when they spend it snacking and drinking. According to young people, access to a judgment free public gym is this century’s golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.
Loud, Shiny, and Fast Cars
If the neighbors down the block think your car is too loud then you’re probably pretty cool. Youngsters like their cars loud, shiny, and fast–just like their Vin Diesel films; the shiny coming from his head. Anyone who doesn’t have a car offensive to the senses is probably going to end up alone when they grow older. Your personality is three-quarters based on the type of car you drive. The sportier it is the cooler you are. The same can be said about cellphones, but you should never even talk about those while talking about cars. Cool kids don’t text and drive. They ask their friends for a ride and never return the favor.
