Who Follows Fads?

Here's a picture of my AP Language class.  Notice anything similar amongst each of the girls?

Anything falling under the category of "technology" has exploded over the past decade. Devices have been introduced to our society that are so powerful, they seem to have taken over people's lives. Life without a cell phone or laptop can be considered equivalent to life on a deserted island. These intelligent devices which we rely so heavily on have been deemed necessities, not merely something we want... but everyone does, in fact, want them. Now we are getting closer to the word fad.

MacBooks. A laptop brand, made by Apple Inc. Something that a teenage girl will tell her mom she wants so badly, because it is absolutely necessary for high school. Personally, I do not own a laptop. I'm currently typing on a first generation Mac Desktop computer... and I am one of only a few girls in my class who does so. I don't mind taking notes by hand, in a notebook, just as one would imagine any student doing. My computer stays at home, stationary on my desk. It seems to me that this was the way things were for almost everyone when I was a freshman. I don't recall seeing an overwhelming amount of MacBooks in the classrooms. There were notebooks of all different colors instead.

Bringing a laptop to class to take notes was far out of my reach. In my household, the laptop comes upon graduation from high school, which is something I have accepted and do not mind. When the time comes, however, it is a MacBook that I will be asking for, not a Dell. I'm not making this choice because everyone in my class has Macs now, and I want to be just like them. It's not because I want to be "in" on what is clearly the latest fad. No, this is not the case at all. I would choose to get a Mac because I like them and I prefer them... just as I liked the light blue Vans that I bought over the summer. I am reiterating what I said in my previous blog post--not everyone picks up on a trend just because their peers have. But here's something interesting for you to consider:

A few days ago, I was leaving a funny video of myself singing to Dirty Talk on my cousins laptop (a MacBook, may I add). It was a very funny video. Before leaving her room to let her finish her homework in peace, I warned her, "Make sure to turn the volume off when you watch this during class, I don't want you getting in any trouble!" Her reaction was a burst of laughter. "You think I bring this to class?! I would be the joke of the grade if I did that... no one brings laptops to school." I found this a little hard to believe. Surely, there had to be some students who took notes on their laptops at my cousin's school. 

Apparently not... not even one student would do such a thing.

It turns out that whipping out a MacBook at the start off class isn't exactly what people consider a regular thing to do, no matter how popular the device has become. My school, and other schools similar to it, is probably a minority of schools that has students who are capable of taking their MacBooks to class everyday. This fad isn't one that would be followed by a group such as the students at my cousin's school, for example. 

So that's my analysis of the second half of the dictionary definition of the word fad. There are some cases where fads followed enthusiastically by a group. There are also times when trends are taken on through personal interest, with no concern to the popular wants and needs of society at the moment. 

Either way, fads are everywhere.