The murmur of excited chattering fills the air around me as I lean my elbows onto the cold, hard desk in front of me. It has been a long summer, and everyone is eager to share the fun-filled adventures that were brought upon by their temporary freedom from the classroom. It is the first day of high school, and my body is vibrating with nerves as I look around at the strangers that surround me. A new school full of new faces and new fears - it is a day that I have been anxiously awaiting. I take a seat in the back of the classroom, hoping to spend the class observing the students around me, learning how to fit in and make friends. I know how important first impressions are, and my first days in high school will surely dictate the rest of my life. I look around the room at my classmates, all wearing matching polos of bright red or crisp white. Amongst the monotony of colors, I am surprised to see a rainbow of bold pops of color around the room, standing out upon the dull tan desktops. 

At roughly one foot tall and maybe four inches across, small monuments of painted steel sit upon each and every one of my classmate’s desks. I begin to panic, certain that I have forgotten a key aspect of my mandatory school uniform, but as my gaze flits anxiously around the room, I see a classmate pick up the strange object from their desk, remove the round black lid, and take a long and pronounced sip from the cylinder. “How strange?” I think to myself; “What are the chances that my classmates would all have matching water bottles?” The stainless steel clangs loudly against the desk as my classmate sets it back down with a satisfied sigh. The noise startles me out of my thoughts. The boy next to me, short with wide shoulders and curly golden hair, turns at the noise and sees the questioning look upon my face. He picks up the matte black cylinder of metal from his desk to show to me. 

“My mom bought me a new HydroFlask for the new school year,” he tells me. “She was worried that my old blue one would clash with the red polos,” he adds through a casual laugh, as though I could understand the sentiment, not knowing that this is the first time I’ve ever heard this strange moniker. From that moment on, my life is forever changed. A quick Google search of the word “HydroFlask” tells me that they are all the rage in classrooms throughout the world. Popular media regards them as the ultimate water bottles - a must-have item for all teenagers due to their unmatched ability to keep water cool and students even cooler. I know instantly that I have to have one to fit in with the students around me, and a lifestyle influencer on TikTok tells me the same. Thus began my life-defining journey to acquire the gold standard of teenage success and hydration: the HydroFlask.

My parents immediately balked at the idea of spending what they considered “a ludicrous amount of money for a metal water bottle,” but after days of persistent begging, my mother and I headed to Dick’s Sporting Goods to pick out my brand new HydroFlask. I returned home with a grass-green metal water bottle, eager to put it to good use. It took only one week for me to decide that I hated my new HydroFlask. I could not stand the gritty surface of the painted steel in my hand or the tangy smell of copper in my nose each time I took a sip. I hated the loud and resounding clang of the metal on my desk after each sip and the way it caused the heads of two dozen of my classmates to turn and stare at me so fast I feared they might get whiplash. No matter how many times I scrubbed that metal cylinder, the hot and soapy water leaving my hands red and raw, the water inside of it always tasted just a little bit like metal. The bottle was heavy in my hand even before I added 32 oz of water to it, and I quickly grew tired of carrying it all across campus. It did keep my water ice cold, which led me to the conclusion that I prefer my water room temperature. Despite what popular media had repeatedly told me, the HydroFlask simply wasn’t for me. 

I should not have been surprised. This was not the first time I had been fooled by popular media. In fact, being told I need to have a HydroFlask is like being told I need to conform to a certain lifestyle in order to succeed in life and to fit in with my peers. For years, popular media has convinced people that they need to fit a certain ideal image in order to be happy. In order to be cool and popular, teenage boys are expected to play football, ignore their parents, and avoid their homework. Teenage girls are told they need to dress a certain way and act catty to each other and flirty to the boys. These expectations may change as people grow older, but one needs only to open TikTok or Instagram to identify the societal expectations they are told they must follow. We are pressured by our peers and by the media to adhere to the ideal lifestyle that has been laid out for us just as I was pressured to purchase a HydroFlask. This water bottle mishap taught me an important lesson; I learned that what the media says is right for everyone is not always right for me. Just as there is no water bottle that is perfect for all consumers, I believe that there is no universal lifestyle that is right for everyone because we are all unique individuals and should not have to conform to a certain image or ideal. 

There may be people who do not agree with this belief. Some people may think that HydroFlasks really are the best water bottle and that there is an ideal lifestyle that people should imitate in order to be happy. For these people, these statements may be 100% true. For someone who works outside in the heat and values the cold temperature of their water above all else, the HydroFlask may be the best water bottle. However, just because this water bottle fits that person’s needs does not mean that it fits the needs of all consumers. As a high schooler who preferred my water room temperature and hated having to carry any extra weight on top of my extra large backpack and inflated ego, the HydroFlask did not meet all of my needs. In fact, this is the problem with the one-size-fits-all media approach today that pushes everyone to conform to a specific lifestyle: it does not account for the fact that each person is unique and different and may not fit these ideals. While playing football and avoiding homework may be the path to success for one teenage boy, it could lead to long-term insecurities and mental distress, physical injuries, and an unclear path for the future for someone else. Some teenage boys may find success in their academics or in the theater program instead. It does not make sense for every teenage boy to conform to this ideal football-player lifestyle that popular media pushes because every teenage boy has their own unique talents and qualities. In this way, people should not have to conform to a specific lifestyle just because popular media tells them that they should. There is no “HydroFlask” lifestyle that fits everyone’s needs.