An article in The New York Times today highlights the increasing tendency of teenagers to greet each other by hugging, to the bewilderment of their parents, who are more accustomed to handshakes. Not just limited to family, good friends, and lovers, hugging has become a standard way to say hi in high school hallways. There are even distinct varieties of hug:
There is the basic friend hug, probably the most popular, and the bear hug, of course. But now there is also the bear claw, when a boy embraces a girl awkwardly with his elbows poking out. There is the hug that starts with a high-five, then moves into a fist bump, followed by a slap on the back and an embrace. There’s the shake and lean; the hug from behind; and, the newest addition, the triple — any combination of three girls and boys hugging at once.
Does this signal that teenagers are seeking stronger physical connections, even as they descend deeper into their Facebooking, texting, OMGing and LMAOing?
New York Times: For Teenagers, Hello Means ‘How About a Hug?’
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I think it’s just a sign for that generation being more social, more connected and more conscious about peers and they’re social surrounding. That’s all.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:48 am
I graduated high school in pre-Facebook 2001. Hugging was rampant. Everyone hugged everyone. Human beings get closed off as we get older. Maybe because by now we’ve been hurt enough?
“Nobody love, nobody gets hurt”
May 28th, 2009 at 7:45 am
In Brazil hugging is very common between friends and people you just meet.
Brazilian are warm and loving people, and it has been this way for a long time, it has nothing to do with being more social our connected, it is about knowing that you depend in other people, and they depend on you.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Social networking is a result, not a cause. We’ve taken to things like Facebook for exactly the same reason we hug: as João says, because we thrive on interaction with others.
June 1st, 2009 at 5:13 am