It used to be that the most popular kids were a step ahead of us in everything -- trends, grades, social skills. They liked the newest bands and had the coolest friends; they mingled at parties and could chat with teachers, as well as their peers. (Although the definition of popularity varies by school, you all thought of someone from your high school when you read the first sentence.) In a time when the internet is changing every aspect of our lives, however, the definition of "popular" is also shifting.
My story is a little bit different than that of most. I was homeschooled until junior year of high school (but I went to class with other kids, had friends, and played Cards Against Humanity like a normal teenager). When I enrolled in high school, at a tiny school in Berkeley (think "hippie school"), I made friends with the girl with blue hair, and not the ones wearing American Apparel who partied on school nights.
Somewhere along the way, like many of you, I discovered Tumblr. Everyone has a different taste in blogs, of course, but most of you have seen the posts: Simple comics about staying in and eating pizza with your Netflix account on Saturday nights, making friends with the cat at parties, wondering how everyone else seems to have their lives together. And it isn't just Tumblr: Everyone's excited about Girl Scout cookies coming to campus, for example, and most of us will buy too many boxes and eat all of them while binge-watching "Doctor Who" or "Game of Thrones" this weekend.
Everyone walked into their new classes this month and panicked because they didn't have any friends to sit with. We all picked the friendliest face, or the chair closest to the corner, where we could hide. I made a new friend by following her around at tea, during class break, and nonchalantly informing her that I didn't know anyone else in the class and I liked her and we were going to be friends. And I, at least, felt that we had bonded over our mutual feeling of awkwardness.
Maybe it's just college. Maybe that's the reason I freely admit to watching "30 Rock" in bed last night, instead of pretending I crashed a party at CMC or planted miniature succulents with my friends. Maybe it's the internet, with Buzzfeed articles like "17 Graphs That Are Too Real For Everyone With Social Anxiety" trending on our news feeds. Maybe it's toxoplasmosis that makes us all want to be introverts and stay home with our cats. But whatever the reason, I maintain that the definition of popularity is changing for our generation.
