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Parents footing the bill for teenagers' high-tech desires |
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Monday, 30 May 2005 |
Parents
footing the bill for teenagers' high-tech desires
Taipei Times - Taipei,Taiwan
Until recently, most teenagers coveted sneakers and jeans. But to keep
their place in the modern social hierarchy, they are pestering their parents for
must-haves that are expensive, high-tech and constantly in need of upgrade.
Last Christmas, Kristi Stangeland, a mother of two who lives in
Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, made a grievous mistake: She bought her
14-year-old daughter, Erika Hinman, a shiny new MP3 player. But it was the wrong
MP3 player.
"I tried to get away with getting her an MP3 player that was US$100 cheaper,"
Stangeland explained sheepishly.
"I was in the biggest dog box," she said, recalling Erika's crestfallen
response. "She went to school, and everyone else had got an iPod for Christmas.
It was like, `How come everyone else got one, and you couldn't buy me an iPod?'
So we got one for her birthday two months later."
Although parents have long struggled with their teenagers' desire to own the
newest, coolest stuff, these days the battle has reached a new dimension. While
teenagers once coveted US$100 sneakers and jeans (arguably necessities because,
after all, they are clothes), the must-have items now -- iPods, cell phones with
cameras, and portable DVD players -- are high-tech, constantly in need of
upgrade and can cost up to US$500 each. These items, which teenagers say they
must have to maintain their place in the social pecking order, are increasingly
out of reach for most high school students, who are less likely these days to
hold part-time jobs.
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