A really good explanation that I felt deserved to be highlighted.
I think there are a lot of assumptions but it is still a good read.
It’s a good read, but as with absolutely any discussion around high school on platforms like this, it heavily shaded with the cynicism of the adult that looks back on their high school days bitterly and thinks little of the teenagers who don’t hate it as much as they did/do.
The whole comment is based on the assumption there’s some kind of FOMO-esc pressure to make prom incredible, where kids feel like they “must” go big or they’ll miss out.
But it sidesteps the simpler explanation: maybe some teenagers just genuinely enjoy making prom a blowout. Going big has been part of the tradition for a long time, and maybe it’s not pressure those teens are feeling, but simply excitement.
The basic notion of prom is that it is the night to go big. It is the last high school dance. It seems incredibly reductive to assume teenagers would not look forward to making it a special occasion if it weren’t for outside pressure.
Another community event turned into a disgusting consumption pattern.
US pioneered this sort of idiotic consumption but this toxic behavior has spread it seems.
Asians seem to enjoy a lot of this. Aint that song Gangham style song literally mocks it? or is it venerating it?
I thought gangham style was about getting 45 year old women in hr to dance like an idiot, so that the next week she’d be more open to getting an ice bucket dumped over their head for charity.
Also, minor league hockey teams.
And all of this exclusively in a window of time about 10 years ago.
I sold drugs to go to my senior prom only to be ditched by my date so he could go with his girlfriend that I didn’t know he had. I thought I was his girlfriend. Prom is such a waste of money and so much effort for some bullshit. 🤦🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
prom isn’t important at all, just another meaningless tradition that gets trumped up. People frame it like it’s about the kids but it’s not.
“it’s their last chance to see each other!”
give me a break, especially in 20 fuckin 24
It definitely was the last chance I saw a lot of folks.
Yeah, I know, that means I wasn’t intentional enough yadda yadda yadda, but high school really was the last time a lot of folks are in an environment where social interactions are so passively encouraged. After high school, you’re no longer pressured to keep in touch with folks that you’ve known for 4, 6, or even 12 years, and a lot of people do naturally fall out of touch.
I didn’t have the luxury of Prom ever possibly being anything more than just another exercise in futility. I get to stand around and be ignored while my friends are trying to get laid AND I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT?!