Anyone interested in the world generally can't help being interested in young adult culture - in the music, the bands, the books, the fashions, and the way in which the young adult community develops its own language.
Kids didn't have huge backpacks when I was their age. We didn't have backpacks at all. Now it seemed all the kids had them. You saw little second-graders bent over like sherpas, dragging themselves through the school doors under the weight of their packs. Some of the kids had their packs on rollers, hauling them like luggage at the airport. I didn't understand any of this. The world was becoming digital; everything was smaller and lighter. But kids at school lugged more weight than ever.
My biggest crisis is that I don't understand what young people like.
Hip Hop is thee dominant youth culture in the world right now.
The laissez-faire attitude to science education has resulted in a disaster exemplified by the fact that more young people are opting for media studies than physics.
A lot of kids bought guitars and started playing rock'n'roll because of us.
Seeing young people caring about sound again and realizing that it's not cool to not have good sound, that means a lot.
You know, the diversity that America has is so special. It's starting to really become a cool thing for young people.
Due to the world I've been part of in creating art for so many years, I feel really connected to pop culture and what younger people are talking about.
I feel like we've had a front row seat for the last 20 years to watching culture and youth.
It's my job, too, to keep up with pop culture and what the kids are into 'cause you don't want to sound like an old man trying to write for kids. I spend a lot of my time spying on them.
Some of the anxiety has been laid to rest. We don't see a spike in adult use. We don't think we see a spike in youth consumption although there are some things that are disconcerting.
How can you call yourself a cosmopolitan modern person if you don't know what hip-hop is?
All the trends show that email usage among the younger cohorts of Internet users is declining. Whether it will take five or 30 years for email to go extinct, I'm not sure.
Whatever kids are into, that might be their thing.
Is it still cool to go to the mall?' she asked. 'I take quite a lot of pride in not knowing what's cool,' I answered.
If kids and teenagers can get into a band, it's probably not because they think it's brainy.
