I often hear that the modern college student looks less like an actual college student, and more like the laptop they are huddled behind. It makes sense, then, that they would like for that laptop, specifically the back of it, to be representative of them and their personality. As it seems, the best way to go about doing this is through stickers—lots of them.
I was not aware of the importance of such stickers before arriving at Delaware, but as soon as I started classes, they became hard to ignore. I found myself face to face with decorated laptops in every classroom, lounge, or corner of the library. Each day I am bombarded by people’s interests, organizations, favorite memes, and hometowns, without having to speak a word to them. After talking to my roommate, whose laptop is covered in an aesthetically pleasing selection of environmentally progressive stickers, I found out that for about $3.00 a piece, I could do the same.
I found a sticker website later that day and started browsing. I made the mistake of going in blind, and I was immediately overwhelmed. Scrolling through pages and pages of digitally rendered stickers, I was faced with a very important question: how did I want the world to see me? I could choose to be fun, and cover my laptop case with Spongebob references and quotes from The Office. I could be artsy and mysterious, refusing to purchase stickers that didn’t match a certain aesthetic. I could take a political stance and publicly express my love for Joe Biden (there are so many Joe Biden stickers).
Feeling drained by this existential crisis, I shut my laptop and sought out external guidance on the importance of laptop stickers. I wanted to know what people’s stickers meant to them. My roommate, Julia, expressed a great deal of attachment to her stickers, and said that they were a way in which she wordlessly expressed her personality. She even told me she had plans to get a second laptop case that would represent her more political side. Obviously, she would save this case for special occasions. Seeking even more knowledge, I spoke to my friend and floormate, Rucha. Rucha was proud of her stickers as well, and explained that, for her, laptop stickers represented important life experiences— such as the summer she spent as an intern in Virginia. Each of her stickers brought back a fond memory, which she was happy to tell me about. Finally, I asked a random guy in a Redding lounge why he chose the stickers that he did. He looked at me silently for a moment before saying, “because, I like them.”
I let these conversations percolate in my mind before deciding my own sticker fate. All of these people seemed so sure about their sticker choices. They knew how they wanted the world to see them, and bore their stickers proudly. I wasn’t so sure if I could do the same, or pick the stickers that best represented me in the first place. Did the stickers even need to represent me? Perhaps, I considered, I just wasn’t ready to define myself through my laptop decorations. Currently, I have a cart full of about 40 stickers, and I have not purchased any of them. I am not sure when my laptop will cease to be bare, but when it does, it will be for the right reasons. Until then, I will continue to admire the endless sea of stickers around me.
