Teens Are Showing off Their Dorm Rooms on TikTok & People Are Calling One Detail ‘Diabolical'

Yahoo

4 hours ago

As teens head to college for the first time, they're giving room tours on TikTok like they're starring in an episode of MTV's 'Cribs.' And while the lavish décor, perfectly organized spaces, and name brands are enough to make us drool with envy, one detail of dorm life is getting torn apart by people in other countries. Many are calling this part of dorm life 'diabolical,' and it's an interesting take.
For example, a girl named Mazie Green (@neergeizam) shared a video of her dorm room at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on TikTok. In the video, she shows off her closet, a sink she shares with her two roommates, an espresso maker, two sets of bunk beds, and three desks lined up side by side. As far as dorms go, this one isn't filled with crazy-expensive items or anything out of the ordinary. At least, if you go to college in America. Apparently, European college students have one thing very different: they don't have to share bedrooms!
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'I can't believe they put 3 students in there…' one person commented. 'America really is a fever dream,' someone else said. 'Imagine dropping thousands just to live in a shoebox w strangers.' They were even putting photos of their own European dorm rooms in the comments, which seemed to confirm the discrepancies.
'It's diabolical the way US colleges still make people stay 2-3 to a room. I'd crash out,' someone else wrote. 'Imagine coming into your room at night, exhausted, all you want to do is go to bed, but your roommates are having a party or study group in full swing. No thanks.'
Another wrote, 'Looks nice but no way I would have gone to uni in America if I had to share a room. Find it so strange that it's the norm for you.'
Carla Yanni, professor at Rutgers University and author of Living on Campus: An Architectural History of the American Dormitory, wrote for Smithsonian Magazine that shared dorm rooms and housing were designed to build community for students not in fraternities.
'In the early decades of the 20th century, many university leaders lobbied strenuously for a new sort of residence hall to serve as a democratic alternative to the elitist fraternity,' Yanni wrote, adding that American educators view the residence hall 'as a transformational space in which adolescents turned into adult, morally conscious citizens.'
Throughout my own college years, I lived in both a dorm with a shared bedroom and a dorm with my own room, so I can see the pros and cons. On the one hand, it's incredibly hard to get privacy when you don't have a single space to retreat to when you're alone. On the other hand, it can feel extremely isolating to live alone and not have that built-in socializing that comes from really getting to know your roommates.
Three girls in one room might seem wild, but at the same time, it's part of growing up and moving out for the first time and discovering adulthood. Plus, it's all we know as Americans, so it's not that weird to us.
Another eyebrow-raising trend is how much money parents are spending on their kids' dorm rooms. TikTokers are showing off the luxurious steps they have taken to elevate their dorms, including covering their cinder block walls with wallpaper, making beds with luxury sheets and ruffled bed skirts, hanging expensive curtains and personalized décor, and so much more.
Melanie Turner, whose niece is a student at Georgia State University, told Washington Post that she sees parents spending between $5,000 and $10,000 on their teen's dorm rooms. 'They plan a year in advance,' she told the outlet. 'They bought everything custom, from the linens to the pillowcases.'
Resident assistant at University of Georgia, Hazel Tugbiyele, told the outlet that the majority of dorm rooms could be described as a 'LoveShackFancy Southern mishmash' that takes hours to set up. And I can't help but wonder: how is this happening in this economy? During a time when it's practically impossible to afford school supplies, it feels like we're living in an alternate universe where people are dropping this much cash on their teens' dorms.
It's not just the well-off who are doing this either. A study by National Debt Relief found that 59 percent of parents go into debt to provide for their children and 81 percent prioritize meeting their children's needs before paying off debt. This report didn't look at parents of college-aged kids specifically, but it wouldn't surprise me if this same mindset applies. 'Sure, we have to take $5,000 on in debt to help them have a dorm of their dreams, but what's that when we're already paying thousands for their education in the first place?' a parent might think.
It's all about helping their kids feel cool and relevant. Which is also why parents are dropping tons of money on name-brand back-to-school clothes and gear to help their children fit in.
With the coolest clothes, luxurious coffee makers, perfectly decorated beds, and personalized décor, I can pretty much guarantee no kid is feeling bad about sharing a room. In fact, there's no better way to show off your stuff than with a roommate!Best of SheKnows
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