as a communications profakessional and an aspiring expert in bullshitting (is there an alternative career path an individual with a law degree? or a business degree for that matter), i have been thinking a lot about the assumptions placed on individuals based on looks and what they own. well no. actually, a mock-marketing class at one of my preview weekends made me think about it. but none of you was there. so i'll share (read: hijack the idea).

as time passes, that which was hot while we were growing up (leg warmers and pushdown socks for example), quickly transforms into a clear indicator of "lack-of-coolness" once trends go out of style (by the way, wtf is up with leg warmers being trendy again?). maybe it's just me and i have been too busy making up describing life changing experiences for my graduate school applications, but i can't keep up.

i just got a jennifer aniston haircut. that's still cool, right?

and while many of my peers strive to have the newest cell phone, the smallest digital camera, or the coolest mp3 player (or the all in one device that is part-cell-phone-part-digital-camera-and-part-mp3-player -- and part-remote-control and part-oven-on-which-to-cook-dinner), the rest of us just aim to have crap that functions at all.

so some of us overcompensate by blinging out our cell phones (hypothetically, of course).

oh my g-d: what if one day my kids don't think i'm cool? or i think the music they listen to and the television they watch is "garbage?!" (and really, could it get worse than "beauty and the geek" or "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me"**?)

in light of my pending mini-mid-life quarter-life crisis, i did what anyone who is considered young, hip, and cool would do: i showed my boobies at mardi gras i joined facebook.***

now, this move -- the facebook one that is -- has been met with resistance by some of my wiser (read: older) friends, but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do to maintain her image. (which was almost shattered senior year of college when three of my friends found out that i secretly exercised in spite of my working-out-is-bad-for-you advocacy. i assure you, i definitely don't work out anymore; it was a phase. working out is bad for you and don't let anyone tell you differently.)

but i digress.

i've been a longtime friendster user. but it has recently been brought to my attention that not having a facebook profile might as well be considered social suicide. but friendster was the thing to do when i was a freshmeat in college; facebook didn't emerge until a month before i graduated college, a development i quickly dismissed because i was a friendster-er not a facebook-er.

but what makes facebook -- with its scandalous photos and suggestive profiles -- different from friendster is that one needs an ".edu" email address to sign up. which automatically makes it exclusive. and that much more fun.

in marketing psychology, there is a concept that taps into the notion that consumers purchase goods or partake in services in order to feel good about themselves (people got paid to claim that?!). it's the reason why most of us have shed our aol email addresses (for gmail ... which conveys an air of eliteness and coolness), buy sevens jeans (does levis still exist anyway?), and eat sushi (well, that's probably because it's delicious).

it's the reason why we prescribe to toe-cleavage shoes, stupid pants, and jeep liberties.

everyday, we pay a premium to be and to feel cool. and i think that's okay. part of growing up is finding a balance between our fading childhood and our pending adulthood. and finding a way to fend off losing touch with the culture driven by today's youth. and maybe, just maybe, growing up in the twenty-first century is also about letting go of the things we're comfortable with and adapting to change.

in the few days since i've been a new facebook-er, i've spent hours aggressively adding friends and uploading photos. i have a newfound emotional attachment to facebook that makes me feel popular and wanted every time i sign on. and that, my friends, is what effective marketing is all about.

albeit: in twenty years, presidential candidates will have to answer to their facebook profile.

... but at least their kids will think they're cool.

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** full disclosure: i love that song.
*** fuller disclosure: this whole post is just a ploy to lobby all of you -- yes, even those of you who read my blog but don't tell me you do and those of you who read my blog that i have not yet met -- to add me as your facebook friend.