IMAGES OF INDONESIA: Teenage Lifestyle

What are teenagers like? I interviewed some of my friends, my seniors and my juniors about teenagers in the past and present, teenagers in public and private schools, are some things suitable for teenagers or not, and the kinds of music they listen to. Their answers are somewhat different because they are different people from different schools with different atmospheres. The purpose of this is to know better about teenagers in Indonesia.

Teenagers these days and teenagers in the past are completely different people. They like different clothes, hairstyles, music and a lot of other things but most of all, which is healthier? According to my interviews, most agree that teenagers are much healthier in the past because there were no junk food but some people say that teenagers in the present are healthier because the technology is far better than the past so nutritious food is easy to get. That was the comparison of teenagers in the past and present. What about the differences of public school teenagers and private school teenagers? Are they different? The answer is, yes there are some differences. Some say that teenagers in private schools are upper-class people and vice versa, and teenagers in public schools are more open to their surroundings while private school teenagers are only involved in their own circle. Their similarity is that almost every Indonesian teenagers go to malls, play video games, or go online on some social networking sites.

When we go out and we see teenagers in malls, we see them wearing cosmetics or makeup. Is it just some people, or do teenagers always wear makeup now? I asked that question to the people I interviewed and they said that it is not necessary for informal events but for formal events, it is necessary because that way, they will look appropriate. For example, in weddings we all wear makeup because it is suitable. One other thing that we see some teenagers do is going to clubs or bars. Is that normal? No. Based on our country’s culture and Islamic rules, teenagers aren’t supposed to go to clubs and bars.

When I asked about music to my interviewees, they started to mention a lot of different songs with different genres. Some say club or dance music like LMFAO. Others say hip-hop like Black Eyed Peas, indie like Ellie Goulding and Ryan Adams, and pop like Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars.

I agree with the answers my friends gave me. That’s it from me, thank you for reading my report :)

By:

Dhiya Divia Rachmat XD/13