Tuesday, January 06, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

R-JENERATION: Journal Web site gives clues to what teens are thinking, talking about

Unless you have been living under a rock, or just don't concern yourself with unimportant things, you have probably heard of www.livejournal.com.

One of the leading Web-journal services on the Internet, it probably is the most popular online source for reading about the trivial details of the lives of total strangers. One supposes one could read the journals of close friends, but many will find it's entertaining to click the "Random Journal" link on the front page and read about the cough syrup-aided misadventures of some 14-year-old living in Nova Scotia.

Livejournal is filled with features, one of which is the option for users to list their interests in their profile. Databases are compiled, and users can find links to the journals of thousands of other users with shared interests. Up until recently, a list detailing the top 400 interests could be found on the site, but that specific feature appears to have been discontinued. Fortunately, a list salvaged from about a year ago offers an approximate picture of the Livejournal landscape.

The top 10 interests are predictable: music, movies, writing, reading, computers, friends, art, dancing, poetry and photography. Plumbing deeper into this list one can find interests that more accurately represent individual personalities.

Food was listed enough times to be the 30th most popular interest. Water came in at position 70. Blood was mentioned 6,616 times for 225th place. Air did not register at all. Sleep posted 51st place while the Internet was 52nd. Life showed up at No. 91, with death trailing at 143rd.

Music came in first place, but you cannot expect people to just leave it at that. Musical styles ran from punk (21) to '80s music (369). Specific bands ranged from Weezer (22) to Avril Lavigne (400). Some indecisive people simply listed "bands" (375). Beethoven did not make the cut, but N' Sync asserted its dominance at 337.

Colors were common interests, though one wonders how much news and information you can get about a color. Entries included blue (142), purple (174), silver (229), red (241), green (311) and pink (116), though the last one was significantly aided by the fact it is also the name of a popular musician. In the battle of the hues, black won at spot 79, with white not even making it into the top 400.

Some obvious rivalries developed among interests. Animals (48) polled higher than people (123), and comedy (209) topped drama (224). Cats (18) trounced dogs (56), and kitties (244) did likewise with puppies (377). Kisses (198) were toppled by hugs (96), and summer (159) beat both winter (264) and autumn (366). Crying (351) is hot on the heels of smiling (333), and video games (40) placed significantly higher than computer games (348).

Some rivalries were so lopsided that one interest did not even make it into the top 400. Darkness (302) found itself unrivaled by light. Ignorance was missing in action, as opposed to its rival intelligence (321), and fantasy (69) emerged victorious against the unattending reality. Fun (191) predictably beat boredom, as did money (106) versus poverty, but pain (318) pulls off an unlikely upset against the no-show pleasure.

Some less likely rivalries were revealed in the results. Alcohol (175) doesn't quite have the popularity of drinking (100), chatting (121) still has a ways to go before passing talking (46), and "my friends" (295) just can't compete with "friends" (6). In popular culture, goth (122) out-goths gothic (291), and faeries (189) out-faerie fairies (353).

God (155) makes a nice showing, but still falls prey to his old rival Invader Zim (154). Jesus clocks in at 347, narrowly edging out Paganism at 359, but finds himself losing to nail polish by one place at 346. Wicca (172) is the only other specific religion to be mentioned, leaving Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Jainism, Confucianism and Taoism in the dust. Religion as a whole came in at 204, beating RPGs (205) by the slimmest of margins.