Marker Pens – Teen Culture Utensils or Juvenile School Supplies?

Back in the days of elementary school, we students used markers in various activities – coloring in the lines of coloring books, freehand drawing, decorating mobiles made with paper straws and pipe cleaners, and whatever activity required them. Yes, they stained skin and clothing thanks to their inkiness, but crafts and paperwork with markers were great pastimes when I was younger.

But in high school, when I was a freshman, I was working on my “interactive notebook,” where I embellished pages with glittering gel pens and coloring pencils, but I eyed a majority of students decorating with magic markers. I thought their ideas of doing so are just juvenile – only elementary schoolers decorate with markers! The more I saw my peers, bullies, and just classmates doodle randomly on their “interactive notebooks” with the technicolor stationery, the more I became envious and curious at the same time.

The marker mania didn’t confine themselves to those books – they showed up on class election posters, royalty court campaign flyers, covers for binders, and notes to friends. Finally, after borrowing markers to embellish my notes, I caved in to culture at about junior year and bought myself a pack of the multicolored coloring instruments for my second “interactive notebook” and other things that require me to doodle with them.

An example of a “best friends” note written in markers of various colors, from my classmate in senior year.

So why are those technicolor “magic markers” popular with teen culture as well as with elementary pupils. First of all, they come in a variety of colors – and more color choices give teens (and kids) free rein on creativity expression. No longer do markers come in the primary colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, and brown. With the popularity of competing manufacturers like Rose Art and Crayola, the felt-tip school supplies come in a range of hues and shades of a full, realistic rainbow. There is an old saying, “the more the merrier,” and more colors cause a great range of youth expression.

Secondly, writing “best friends” notes with just graphite or blue or black ink is just plain boring to teenagers. If they want a good love note, why not doodle hearts with those color-inking things and show someone they care in color? Because their tips are relatively thick, they easily allow the writer to create different letterings. Then, she decorates her letters by outlining them with a contrasting color, underlining them, or just making small squiggles around the text. Just writing long, wordy letters to boyfriends in pen is not enough – writing short and sweet messages with all the colors and doodles entices them even more.

As high school experience has it, markers are not just for kids. Teens get a hit of juvenile nostalgia by buying packs upon packs of them and decorating their “interactive notebooks,” posters, notes, and other papercrafts to turn them from boring to exciting. I conclude that if kids still use markers for most situations in the elementary classroom, teens would still write “best friends” in blue and outline it in light green.