‘Doing it for the kids’ – the impact of consumerism on teenagers and young adults
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By Colin Mathieson
As an adult, I cringe when I think about the (questionable) decisions made in my youth to dress in baggy jeans, with stainless steel chains looped from belt to pocket. My hair was black with an ‘electric-blue’ tint and I could often be found clad in a hooded sweatshirt with my favourite band plastered on the front. My friends all dressed almost identically. Rather ironically, we believed that our ‘individual’ or ‘alternative’ style defined who we were and made us stand out from the crowd.
Unsurprisingly, this was not the case. Our usual Saturday day out was spent standing with another thirty to forty people who were dressed identically to us, listening to the same music and making the same sweeping statements about their own individuality and their unique perspective on the world.
The irony here is that this is not a standalone phenomenon specific to my generation. ‘Fitting in’, whilst having the courage to demonstrate one’s own individuality is an important part ...
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