Follow Author What The Heck is The Big Deal about Being 21?
A Personally Conducted Study of What It Means To be 21 in America
Being 21 years old in America means many things but for most people what comes to mind is the legal drinking age. In Denmark that age is lower... In fact almost every country has a younger drinking age than America. As a psychology major I am constantly analyzing the lives of others, I think it is about time I let myself be the subject for a change. I will be conducting a very loose study on what it means to be 21 in America.
The questions I'm asking myself are: I do not drink alcohol so is turning 21 supposed to be such a big deal? What else is 21 supposed to offer me? Why is 21 fantasized by so many people my age?
The answers I expect at this point are: No, turning 21 is like any other year.
How I am conducting my study:
I am using Instagram. A well known social media platform that I am familiar with. I would use Flikr but I want to utilize the amount of people that will see my photos for this study. This study will include my own personal reflection of the time April 28th 2017- April 28th 2018 and how other 21 year old's around me act. Will other people influence me? Will I have days of which I think I'm doing 21 an injustice because I don't consume alcohol?
If you follow me on Ello or on Tumblr my announcement looks like:
"Hello Everyone! So I decided to start a personal project where I am going to document everyday that I am 21. The age itself, 21 means alot in America. It is not just the legal drinking age but the age of which families officially can say their young ones have grown up. I am a budding psychologist and I have been inspired by documentaries and movies like Boyhood and more. I want to use these snapchats for personal reflection when I'm older since the year 2017-2018 will also include my last two semesters of 4 year university. Follow my instagram project here: www.instagram.com/sanstomatoes I turn 21 on friday. In 5 days the project will start! Get excited! I will also be writing articles on My Trending Stories and keeping track of my travels on Wordpress.com. Thank you and have a great day!"
My sample size of subjects is 1 and I am the experimenter as well. There will be no placebos (although it could be argued that my online personality is a placebo in itself). The results of the study will be immediate.
I am excited to see what people have to say about this personal project. I think this will be a well documented journey that I am very happy to show to others. Who knows, maybe one day I will use this in a psychology-related study!
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Follow the journey here and take part in my study:
www.instagram.com/sanstomatoes
Starts in 5 days!
Published by Leela Hammond
6 years ago 
