Digital Young

My interest in this subject was to point out the various forms of socialization for young people and their ways of appropriation of social space. A first classification can be made in function of frequented spaces: indoor and outdoor socialization. There is a strong identification with Bucharest urban space, specially for those teens born in Bucharest. Spare time is also organized in function of daily activities. Mainly, in Bucharest, socialization places frequented by young people depend on time, moment and activities.

Peer group…	With colleagues…
Indoor …

Ex: during the week, as they have classes, socialization is expressed through time spent with friends either it is realized indoor or outdoor. In the morning or in the daytime, socialization if for making activities with peer group (pubs, cafes around high schools or colleges).

Here, I saw a gender differentiation: girls usually have the habit to socialize in groups of two, as they are interested to spend time with their best friend. Activities that have to be the same and interest are made concrete by going everywhere together (shopping centers, libraries, little clothing shops, cafes). For boys, this time is used differently; the socialization logics is different than the girls’ one. They socialize in big and various groups: school group, football group, clubbing groups.

Girls …	Girls …
and Boys ….	Skaters
Break dancers

Sometimes, these groups are constituted from different people, sometimes they converge (meaning that friends from a group can take part to constituting another type of group). This variety of socializing groups is for boys very effective, in the way that they function as more diversified and relaxed social relationships. Girls have more chances to be disappointed, because they invest emotionally in one person (the best girl friend) and here, dramas are more frequent and more powerful in terms of impact. Therefore boys spend time with friends that they make in different activities (sports, computers, games).

Evening time is differently allocated. For girls, it’s time to spend with peer group (their friends). Also, in the evening, time is used for communicating with boyfriend / girlfriend and meeting with him / her. In the case of teenagers, boys wait for their girlfriends when they finish classes and after that, the boy accompanies her on the way home. They may have the same route or not. If they have money, the boy takes out the girl (to have a drink or to eat something); but this is valid just for teenagers with a good financial status. In the other cases, teen boys just spend time with their girlfriend in cheaper ways. If a meeting is not possible (one of them(one of them is not available), they go home and they will communicate through Instant Messenger or by mobile phone.

This scenario is characteristic to teenagers. Being a student, the social status is changed, meaning that they become more independent, they are seen differently by their parents (as acquiring a more serious and adult position). Their life style becomes more and more demanding (going outs, parties, clothes etc). Relationships occupy a big space of their life.

Time and spaces for socialization becomes from outdoor marked (as teenagers) to indoor specifics. In both cases of relationships (friendships or love involvements), they have to meet in a certain place and in a certain moment. The organization of time becomes more important, due to another social dynamics of their life, inscription in work field. Time and space become more compacted and students start working from first year of faculty or second year from two main reasons (they might be more numerous, but we’ve seen only two of them): a more demanding lifestyle and the instability of work market. Urban life in Bucharest becomes more and more expensive, from rent payment to other utilities; pleasures become, them too, more expensive (books, clothes, spare time, socialization going-outs). In this dynamics, they order their time, therefore it becomes labeled: faculty time (who is less and less represented), work time (more and more represented), socializing time.

Students socialize in pubs and cafes that are placed in the surroundings of their faculty or work place. That is valid for week time. In the evening, they try to see their friends, but that becomes very difficult, due to the fact that they spent almost all time at work. Weekends remain the major time possibilities to explore, in order to socialize and see their friends. They can stay in Bucharest and explore the weekend cultural activities (theatre, clubs, concerts, pubs with live concerts as Green Hours, Laptaria lui Enache). Mostly, they gather around University Place and Ancient Centre of Bucharest, where they go for socializing discussions, dancing or listening to music of different genders. Students who are not from Bucharest, go home (once at two weeks) in order to bring food and take some money from their parents.

Their inscription in work field depends on faculty’s profile; if the faculty is too demanding (as the Politehnica University or Medicine University), they can’t work. But these students are under-representative from the number point of view. Most of students get a job, in a part-time system or full-time. Weekends can be used for going-outs of Bucharest, for those students who have a more important financial status (they have a job or their parents give them a substantial monthly allowance). These going-outs depend on the season: seaside in the summer and 1^st of may and in the mountains during winter. Again, they choose the resort in function of their finances. But if they are strongly interested in one activity that can take place in one expensive resort (as Poiana Brasov or Sinaia), they do not care so much about the money.

Spring came and with it, all sorts of fairs in Bucharest where you can sell handmade accessories like earrings, necklaces, purses, personalized t-shirts, dresses etc. Fairs which are organized for a niche category of public, sign that the campaign is made only through blogs: www.craftybusiness.wordpress.com, www.kittenwear.blogspot.com, www.cerceiunici.blogspot.com.

All in the same weekend, this one. The places where these fairs are organized are special also: old Bucharest houses, with a retro image, in a perfect match with the ideology of people who make these items. These are a new cultural presence, reality in Bucharest; and maybe not only. The need for a personal aesthetics, a personal image and a specific one made young people to become bricoleurs, to make themselves objects. It is not a strange thing what they make. In a very commercial world, it should be and it is very healthy and normal to be also an anti reaction. Therefore, these are the young people who CREATE.

They are the new urban bricoleurs, the urban artisans. Here are some pictures from the artisans fair from this weekend. This first picture is a display of accessories of one of the artisan present there. You will see that every one of them makes something special and unique.

The fair took place in a backyard of a typical ancient Bucharest house. Here are the stands.

In this picture, you can see one of the artisans, a girl who made purses, like the one you see on her. And now, just some snapshots of people who came at this fair.

Now, the organizers served also lemonade and home made cookies. Here are some pictures of the table and how it was arranged.

In this picture, you can see an iron made from iron… Between lemons, cookies and flowers, you can see this iron which is very old and which functioned, not a very long while ago, with coals. Also, people played twister and felt really good.

Oke, and now, what about the objects they made? Here are some of the things they made by themselves and sold at this fair. First, special cards. Cards with different shapes, made from organic materials like basil, coco nut, so organic materials that smell nice.

And now accessories: earrings, necklaces. Made from cooked plasticine and let to cool down. The artisan made various shapes from plasticine and after that she put those ones in the cooker, and after that, the plasticine became solid. Here are some examples.

Beside plasticine, I encountered at this fair other artisans who made their accessories from clay and wood. It seems like finding unusual materials to make objects from is a challenge and also, the mark of an artisan.

Here are some paintings made by the two boys you will see in these pictures.

And just for you to see the bigger picture, here are some pictures with the house and the little balcony filled with flowers. It was a very beautiful day today in Bucharest.

If you are not bored, I will continue to research this subculture and community of practices and get deeper in their ways of fabricating these items, their influences and the representations they have towards their handicraft. And, by the way, the fair was called Crafty Business.

I think we all have seen young people texting messages about wherever they can: in the streets, in buses, during classes, in libraries and reading halls. When they have a moment, they text a message. Here’s a guy to a film festival who, in all that craziness, he was just sitting on a chair and writing SMS.

So, I have wondered, how, why all this practice? What is behind of it? This was my starting-question for a research that lasted around five years. I am in the fifth. And I continue to find new things which sometimes amaze me.

I started from the passive observation. SMS interested me. But I was asking myself: oke, SMS, but to whom and where and when? So, first, I narrowed my public; and as I was seeing all around me young people texting messages, as I was a Romanian literature highschool teacher, I thought, oke, why not SMS at young people? So, if we talk about outside use of mobile phone, in public spaces, we all know civility rules: where to use it, where not to use it etc. There are different levels in the degree of acceptance; for instance, there is a total acceptance (totally open spaces, like bus stops etc), tolerance (in narrower spaces, like public transportation), and total rejection (more intimate spaces or those in which specific activities take place, likestudy rooms, hospitals). Now, the reason for cell phone use rejection was the fact that it made noise. Loud ringing tones and again loud conversations disturb one of the most powerful civil rules of public spaces, and that is intimacy (double sided- from the one who’s speaking and the one who’s listening).

Now, that is one of the reasons for the emergence of SMS, or most likely for its acceptance in public sphere. But why do young people use it and why so often? I think you already know some reasons. You think that it is less expensive than a call, or that it is the way to coordinate daily activities. And you would be true. But this is something that you have in common with youngsters. From now on, maybe not anymore.

For young people, it is extremely important that SMS is always sent, so they have the guarantee that the recipient will receive the message. Losing signal, the other cannot answer, text message gets the recipient no matter what situation he/she would have. Therefore, teens do feel the need of security and comfort, and sending a message gives them this certainty. Another reason why young people prefer SMS is that it is a written proof. If they forget something, it is enough to read it again and here it is, the hour and the place of the meeting are there! But they do not read messages only if they forgot an useful information. They read messages also for their emotional and affective function. When a teen wants to remember a nice moment spent with a peer, that message reminds him of something that has happened. It’s like reading a letter, only it is reduced and smaller. Now, SMS are little; the space is of 160 characters. An idea, a feeling are put in that space. Reading the SMS, just like looking at a photo, brings back beautiful memories. Or, reading a funny message makes the user to smile, to feel better, and for the teens, to feel valued inside the peer group.

Maybe you haven’t thought about this reason when talking about teens: intimacy. This is why they really prefer SMS. Teenage is a very fragile time; teens are between the need for protection and the need for autonomy. And, inside of the peer group, between standing out (to rebel) and showing the real Me. As rules inside of group are very constraining (how to dress, what music to listen, what magazines to read) defining what is cool and what is not, the real Me is very rare showed when public is involved. For example, a very cool guy, who’s perceived as a tough one, would not like to be heard becoming sentimental into a conversation. Also, teens are very possessive when it comes to the subjects they talk to their friends. It’s like it is a whole mystery, nobody else should know what’s in there, it’s their universe and that’s all. They share messages between themselves; and even here, it depends on to who do you show your messages because tomorrow he/she could not be anymore your friend and could tell the others the content of your messages. Therefore, girls do share pretty much with their best friend (also a girl). Female friendship is well known as being in two. A rule of this friendship is to share everything with the best friend. Boys concerning, they might share messages, but only funny ones with their peer group. Intimacy of messages content is contextualized.

But this reason may be one of the most spectacular: the message functions also as a way to repair something or in situations of cowardice. That means that, when two teens are fighting or fear of solving something face to face, they prefer SMS. For instance, when they are afraid that parents might not be oke for them to stay until 2 o’clock in a bar, they send a message, because a call would mean to confront directly their parents. Between themselves, when appearing problems, peers in teen culture do send messages. In this way, they feel comfortable for “doing their job”, but they let the other person in peace, they give her/him a time to answer. For two friends, after a fight, is better to send a message and and not talk on the phone, because the message lets the other one a space to think and a quiet time.

Maybe you did not know this, but teens start to “talk” by SMS only with those people with whom they have a history, meaning that they have to know those persons before starting to chat by SMS. This information may relief parents who are to stressed if they should buy a phone to their kids or not. Eventually, they will do it, because they want to control their child.