Do You Need IPod or Other Fancy Gadgets to Be the Cool Kid on Campus?

I live in a small University town in
Indiana
. Although the noise from constant partying and reckless driving is not an issue for me, uniform appearance of students is. Everyday when I am walking to work I see large groups of students, looking just the same. Almost everyone has iPod stuffed into their ears; some are busy sending text messages, while some are talking on their cell phone while shuffling their iPods.

The students are from all the ethnic and racial groups, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, with many being international students. So can we say that all young people around the world think the same way and want the same kind of things? Or do we congratulate the makers of iPod for being able to conquer the hearts and mind of young people, regardless of their culture or nation of origin?

I would congratulate Apple; not only have they created a campaign which make you feel that you are a bygone if you don’t have an iPod, they have also been able to make it a necessity. A young person in college or school who wants to be cool or who just wants to fit into the sea of cool people around needs an iPod. That’s a success for Apple. It is not that young people around the globe want the same; it is the global marketing that makes them want the same.

So does this mean that to fit into the modern college scene you have an iPod or any of the fancy gadgets in market that everyone seems to have? To find the answer I tried on a small experiment or sort of fact finding mission.

One day I dressed up like a regular student, jeans, t-shirt, but no iPod and no cell phone and went to the college library. While I was walking up the stairs, I was looking around to see if anyone is staring at me or maybe pointing at me. To my surprise none of that happened. Nothing happened while I was in cafeteria. People were just normal around me. Ok it will be somewhat different if I was friends with them but overall I can say that no one will treat you as if you are some alien from Mars if you do not have the cool stuff.

It is not the gadgets that define you, so you are ok without them. Instead of running behind every new trend, buying every new cool gadget, young people should focus on defining themselves. Define your beliefs, you values and you will be comfortable no matter what, no iPod, no cool stuff, will not be a problem.