There’s a new trend circulating among teenagers with cell phones, and it’s got nothing to do with texting, tweeting or swiping left or right. Instead it has to do with a broken part of the cell phone, and to some it’s becoming a mysterious status symbol and a form of modern social art.
Apparently it matters, however, which realm of society you play in with regard to your broken cell phone screen. If you’re poor, all you’ve got is a cracked cell phone. If you’re mid to upper-class and popular in school, that cracked cell phone becomes art.
Some high school teens are cracking their cell phone screens intentionally, and then taking Sharpie markers to create artwork from the cracks, enhancing the pattern as it spreads across the screen. It apparently symbolizes “street cred” in a demographic that likely has no clue whatsoever about the real meaning of the term.
Not all parents are climbing aboard the cracked cell phone screen train, however. In fact some fear the trend might eventually turn violent. They are therefore insisting their teenagers repair or replace their phones. Some parents are confiscating the phones over their sons or daughters (and statistics show it’s mostly daughters) resistance to getting them repaired.
Cell phone repair professionals are likely cringing at the notion of these cracked cell phone screens as art. They know firsthand that damaged screens can lead to the need for serious repair. They also pose a safety issue to those swiping the cracked screens and cutting their fingers.
Hopefully this will be a short-lived trend in the world of teenagers and cell phones. In the meantime, parents are probably right in insisting upon them being repaired. Like most things in the world of technology, the parts they’re made of are there for a viable reason. That definitely includes cell phone screens.