What the Tweens Are Actually Buying

A Claire's store is seen in New York, Saturday, March 17, 2018. The mall chain that has pierced the ears of millions of teens has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
( Seth Wenig / AP Photo )

Summary Transcript

[music]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Let's try something for the last few minutes of the show today. Parents of 10 to 13-year-olds listening in, grab your kids. The question for them or for you about them is, where do you like to go shopping with your friends? kids, if you are a tween, if I can use that word, 10 to 13-year-old, say, listening right now, what is it that you're buying or wanting to buy? What are your classmates wearing? What's in, what's out? 212-433-WNYC. We're taking advantage of the week-long holiday from school with this invitation for listeners 10 to 13 years old or parents thereof to call in about shopping habits in particular. 212-433-9692.

Why do I ask this of all things? Amid widespread internet fears of disappearing childhoods and tween destruction at local Sephoras, have you heard those stories? There's a new piece published in The Cut that offers a playful look at the social lives and consumption habits of tweens. The article follows New York City tweens from across the boroughs congregating in malls, thrift stores, and their bedrooms. In it, we learn all about what these kids think is cool, how they hang out together in person, keywords in person, and what's influencing them.

Stylized pictorials of young ones on mall escalators and trying on mom's lipstick, does this sound like you or your kid? As well as "that could only come from an 11-year-old" make the piece a delightful read? We thought we could add to their reporting with calls from any tweenage listeners of ours, or at least their parents if this sounds like you, as we bring on the writer Casey Lewis, author of After School, a substack newsletter about Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Casey, welcome to WNYC.

Casey Lewis: Thank you so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer: The piece in The Cut, so everybody knows, is called Tweencore: What the 13 and Underset is Shopping For. What is tween core for you? Tweens or parents of tweens listening right now, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or if that's not doing it for you, folks, let me ask you this. If you're that age or the parent of somebody that age, what are they doing in person?

All we hear about is what they're doing on screens and how terrible it is, how much time they're spending on screens. What is your tween or your dog doing in person these days What is your tween doing in person these days? 212-433 WNYC, and is it different from what you did when you were like 11 years old? 212-433-WNYC. What are your tweens doing in person? Is it different from what you did when you were that age? 212-433-WNYC, 433-9692. Casey, I guess to make a segue from that pitch, something that surprised us in the piece, you shared that most of your subjects do not use TikTok. What?

Casey Lewis: [chuckles] This surprised me too. I think that we have this idea that tweens spend all of their time with their faces in front of the screen. What so many of them told me is that not only are they not interested in TikTok, but they're also aware that screens aren't great. One of them told me that screens are a waste of time. I thought, "Wow, [chuckles] how profound. I could learn something from you."

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles]

Casey Lewis: Of course, the thing about TikTok is you're supposed to be 13 and up, so these kids really are right on the line of legality, although we know that that doesn't stop a lot of young people from using different platforms.

Brian Lehrer: Consumer habits. Were there any trends that jumped out at you for this article?

Casey Lewis: I was really interested in talking to them about skincare and Sephora just because we've all seen the headlines. I had this hunch that the headlines were a bit overblown, and that ended up being the case. They're all interested in skincare, but when I was young, when I was a tween, I'm a millennial, but I also liked skincare and makeup. It's just a very different time. They have a lot more access.

Sephora is basically a playground for makeup and skincare. I think that they're interested in beautifying themselves the same way that many young people always are, and they're not the overblown headlines of they're ruining their skin barriers with acids. None of the tweens that I spoke to were doing anything of that sort.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call. Anna in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hey, Anna. Thanks for calling up.

Anna: Thank you, Brian Lehrer.

Brian Lehrer: How old are you? You told our screener you like to shop at Target. How come?

Anna: First of all, I'm 11 and I like to shop at Target because I just find it has a wide range of selection of things that I like. Not only that I like, that I didn't feel comfortable with.

Brian Lehrer: What do you mean feel comfortable with?

Anna: Like hoodies and things I can freely wear to school that it won't be adjusting every two seconds because it feels uncomfortable. It's like hoodies. I like wearing hoodies.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Do you think that there are things that a lot of grownups say about 11-year-olds these days that make you cringe or make you roll your eyes like, "They don't know us."?

Anna: They don't. What's cringe is that some of them will try to fit in with these styles, like some of the, how do we say, abbreviations we use.

Brian Lehrer: Got one for example?

Anna: Excuse me, what did you say?

Brian Lehrer: Do you have an abbreviation for example?

Anna: An abbreviation is like sleigh or Pookie Bear, and they try and use that. No. Cringe.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks, Anna. Appreciate it a lot. Cassidy in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hey, Cassidy.

Cassidy: Hello.

Brian Lehrer: I see you're 12, right?

Cassidy: Yes, I'm 12.

Brian Lehrer: Go ahead.

Cassidy: No, sorry. I don't know.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, I was just going to ask, what do you do in person with your friends? What do you do that's not on a screen with your friends?

Cassidy: Normally I go out to the park with my friends and we hang out there. It's not just my friends, it's just everybody who's going to the park. Then we will go over to a deli or a pizza place, and one of my friends will buy something for everybody to eat. That's basically it. We just talk and play around and stuff.

Brian Lehrer: What do you think about screens? Do you have a love-hate relationship with your phone or whatever other screen you use?

Cassidy: I know I shouldn't be on it too much. I tend to be on it a lot, but that's only because I'm always texting my friends because I want to be with them more. We live in such a big city where it's like-- I have two of my friends living in Queens and I'm in Brooklyn, and it's an hour just to see them.

Brian Lehrer: Yes. You text a lot. Where do you like to shop? What kind of stuff do you like to buy?

Cassidy: Sometimes me and my friends go to Five Below and get stupid little trinkets. Last time I went, I got a whole bunch of these things called better. They're cat versus tickles. I don't really get anything unless it's a snack or something.

Brian Lehrer: Cat versus what?

Cassidy: Tickles.

Brian Lehrer: Tickles.

Cassidy: Yes.

Brian Lehrer: You're over my head with that one, but Cassidy, thank you. That was awesome. All right, Casey, sample of two, [chuckles] really interesting and fun, right?

Casey Lewis: [chuckles] I spoke to 18 of them in very quick succession on the phone and it's fascinating. They're so smart. We've always had this idea that kids these days are terrible or clueless or they've gone so downhill, but then you speak to them and you're like, "Wow, they're actually pretty profound and incredibly interesting."

Brian Lehrer: Julie in Long Island City talking about her 11-year-old. Julie, you are on WNYC. Hello.

Julie: Hello. It's cracking me up because this is describing my 11-year-old perfectly. She goes after school every day with her friends to 86th Street, which is basically a mall. They go to Sephora. They go to Ulta. They go to Lululemon. They don't buy anything. [chuckles] They just wander the aisles and then they'll go to the park. They do it all together. They hang out and do homework together. They want to spend time together and in person. It's lovely. It's hilarious to see how much my 11-year-old knows about makeup. I don't know anything about makeup. I don't wear makeup at all. My 17-year-old just yesterday, "Can you show me how to put this?" She didn't ask her mother how--

Brian Lehrer: She asked her 11-year-old sister?

Julie: She knows what she's talking about.

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Julie, thank you very much. Casey, let's end on a delightful note. Part of the joy of your piece is the incredible quotes from kids like this one from 12-year-old Stella that reads, "In sixth grade, everybody walks in with their Lululemon and their Stanley's, and then once you get into seventh grade, you're done with that."

[chuckling]

Brian Lehrer: Do you want to share a favorite quote or two from the tweens you interviewed for this piece in our last 30 seconds?

Casey Lewis: Yes, absolutely. Definitely my favorite quote goes to Joni who is an 11-year-old who educated me on the uncoolness of coats. I do know that kids have never loved coats, but I didn't realize how un-chic they were these days. Her quote is, and I can't really do Joni justice here but, "No one really wears coats at recess. Even if it's freezing outside, no coats, no scarves, no gloves, no hats. Just pants and a sweatshirt. I'm over coats and the drama of zipping them up." [chuckles] It's an amazing quote, right?

Brian Lehrer: Can't top that.

Casey Lewis: [chuckles]

Brian Lehrer: We leave it there with Casey Lewis, author of After School, a substack newsletter about Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Her piece in The Cut is titled Tweencore: What the 13 and Underset is Shopping For. Great, Casey. Thank you so much.

Casey Lewis: Thank you so much for having me.

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Have a great day as long as you stay tuned for Alison.

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