These days, youth is embracing cell phones that have cracked screens. Most likely a result of an accident, but kept intentionally so that spider-like patterns creep across the glass. No doubt it is making it difficult to read text messages and take photos, as well as a bit painful.
However, this is actually the appeal of it, or what the younger generation considers being ‘in’. Cracked screens are becoming this generation’s ripped jeans, unwashed hair, unshaven faces or low-riding jeans. Some young people state that cracked screen gives a person some sort of street cred and some might even consider it as cool.
It is a well-known teenage story: the desire to define your identity. In this latest generation, the unusual tumble toward independence is personified in one slim device which also holds the teen’s entire social life. 23-year-old Brittany Lofton, who works at a bookstore in Bethesda, Maryland said, “It’s this total trend, because it’s not like we’re rushing out to get them fixed”.
Therefore, a cracked screen is being perceived as a really cool scar, plus it is also a great conversation starter. Lofton and her co-worker, Samantha Lasky, both psychology graduates, say that they see cracked screens as a form of self-expression.
