The phenomenon of laptop stickers
https://www.stanforddaily.com/2017/11/30/the-phenomenon-of-laptop-stickers/
Look around any university campus and you'll see mass amounts of laptops covered in stickers (myself included); decorating a clean laptop with stickers is all part of self expression and personalising the things in our lives - they add a sense of exclusivity to a mass produced item like a macbook.
An article written by student Angie Lee at Stanford explores this similar situation in how she was initially gifted a brand new laptop for graduation; she promised her parents to look after it well and keep it in the same condition. Despite this, Lee writes how when she started at Stanford, she noticed that many students with the same gifted laptops had adorned them with all of these crazy colourful stickers. "why would they do that? It looks so chaotic and disorganised".
Lee later then developed to learn how adding laptop stickers brings more of a human quality to what would be a piece of metal "you truly get a glimpse into what kind of person they are".
How laptop stickers became the new campaign button
This kind of links to the politics of bumper stickers, but explores how laptop stickers are replacing the pre existing political bumper sticker; with more and more students decorating their laptops with stickers, it is obvious that many people would integrate politics into their laptops.
"Our parents declared their political views on clothes and backpacks, but we display ours on our precious devices"
A student at Queens uni, Kirby Harris, discusses how he too noticed that every student on campus had stickers on their laptop; he touches on the different methods in how 'some people keep it classy' while others 'show off crowded layers'.
Stickers have been made a 'perfect platform' for a generation relying on viral movements to make a statement; there is a sense of controversy with this however, in the sense that political views are being turned into merchandise, or 'trendy' stickers.
Harris writes how one can find a lot about a person by the stickers they put on their laptops; a key example of a sticker stereotype is the VSCO girl that puts her stickers on a hydroflask bottle, wrists covered in scrunchies with a sticker that probably says 'save the turtles'.
"In an age where new movements, slogans, and memes can go viral in a few days’ time, it’s important to our generation that our identities can reflect that fast-moving pace. To many young people, our devices are like an extension of ourselves. If we’re forever learning and changing, shouldn’t our laptops be able to reflect that?"
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