Lara Pavicevic, 19, was born and raised in Redmond, WA and now attends Washington State University where she intends to graduate in spring 2023 with a degree in Psychology. On any given day, Lara can be found with her phone, wearing her sunglasses and claw clip, Dior lip balm on, chewing a piece of Extra Polar Ice gum, smelling like Gucci Bloom, and toting around her Hydroflask and Lululemon Everywhere Belt Bag.
Lara grew up in a generation of technologically advanced humans, not to mention she grew up in arguably one of the tech capitals of the United States. Surround by adults that work at Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing, etc., technology has always been an integrated part of her life. Her parents moved to America from Serbia to be engineers at Microsoft. Lara is bilingual and her Serbian culture is a huge part of her life. Her parents have always pushed for her and her brother to follow in their footsteps and do something with technology or engineering. Their house is decked out with the latest safety and entertainment technologies.
Lara is a very creative individual who uses lots of technology, including her iPad, to express that creativity. She is a huge fan of Apple products as you can see from the iPhone in her photo essay. I asked her how she uses mobile technologies in everyday life and her answer was broad. As college women, our lives are entirely supplemented by technology. Whether it be online shopping, texing our friends, boyfriends, moms, etc., scrolling through Instagram, passing time on TikTok, or catching up with our peers on FaceTime, our lives are significantly digital.
Lara thinks she spends the most important time on her phone messaging and calling people. Her parents check up on her daily and she looks forward to chatting with her mom. Unlike the bulk of our generation, Lara prefers texting over Snapchatting as a method of communication. Her and her boyfriend, Logan, are constantly texting each other updates.
Like many of her peers, Lara enjoys passing time on TikTok. She uses TikTok to keep up with news, learn new hacks, gather clothing and life inspiration, and to get a good laugh. Lara also frequently uses technology to keep up with her television needs. She watches Euphoria every Sunday night with her boyfriend, Logan. This simple act of using the television to watch this show keeps her plugged into pop culture, starts conversations, and connects her to social media discussions.
Nearly all of the other items in her photo essay were inspired by her technology in some way, shape, or form. She discovered Dior Lip Glow, for example, on TikTok when the brand’s lip products were trending. Dior Lip Glow products gained such a large cult following over a short period of time. Their products are still sold out on all platforms. The Lululemon Everywhere Belt Bag was also something she found on TikTok. Many style and fitness influencers wear them nowadays. Lululemon, similar to Dior, also gained a cult following through TikTok. Claw clips came in style around a year or two ago and every fashion influencer at the time was posting pictures in them. Claw clips were extremely popular in the 2000s-early 2010s but fell off entirely. Now, in 2022, they are once again a staple in every young woman’s vanity.
As a close friend of Lara’s, I notice that she makes a conscious effort to live in the moment unplugged. She recognizes the importance of technology in day-to-day life. It is inescapable. However, Lara, more than most of our peers, thoroughly enjoys face-to-face interactions and making memories with her friends. Lara is someone who can sit down and talk to you for three hours straight with no awkward silence. This is probably partially due to her psychology major that I mentioned before. Her parents have helped her realize how useful of a tool technology and mobile technology can be in our modern lives. However, Lara romanticizes her life and relationships. Ten out of ten times, Lara will choose to go explore Downtown Spokane or Palouse Falls than sit at home and watch a movie.
She values the relationships in her life and though mobile media can help build those, she recognizes how superficial friendships can become when likes and comments on Instagram are prioritized over heartfelt conversations in real life. She has often spoken to me about the toxicity in our generation regarding social media and I believe she will stray away from it in the years to come. Lara lives in a happy medium in which she recognizes the importance and relevance of technology in our lives but hopes to minimize its footprint on her mental health, friendships, and experiences.
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