[sgspace]

Why is there a weird stigma about carrying around a reusable water bottle? I’ve experienced it myself when I was younger and in school. It’s something about preparing for the moment compared to just going with the flow of life. I remember being categorized, by a girl, as a pretentious nerd soley based off my water bottle choice.

[1123581321]

In school, secondary and college, I remember that you fared better socially if you figured out how to not look like you were struggling to transport all your things. People were unkind to students who had useful rolling packs, for example, as well as students who tended to have their hands full in the halls. I’d think a water bottle could play into that. However, I see my daughter and most of her friends bring them everywhere so I think that particular item is perceived differently now so long as it’s the “right” style.

[bobthechef]

> you fared better socially if you figured out how to not look like you were struggling to transport all your things

To be honest, it does look ridiculous hauling all your shit around like some hiker. It lacks grace and is out of proportion with the task at hand. This must be an American thing. I do not recall students elsewhere roaming school halls around like hobos with all their belongings.

[acranox]

My high school (and middle school too) was big enough that the time it took to walk from once class to my locker and the to my next class too longer than the time we had in between classes. So I had to carry a lot more shit than I wanted to. Some kids had classes and lockers in better locations. Anyhow, your attitude stinks. Let people make their own choices what they carry and don’t call them hobos without grace because you can’t understand why they might choose to carry some of their things around.

[ThePadawan]

> This must be an American thing. I do not recall students elsewhere roaming school halls around like hobos with all their belongings.

(Not an American here, trying to recall something that might be wrong)

IIRC American schools have classrooms assigned to subjects. I.e. there is an English classroom and a Physics classroom and a French classroom.

So you would typically have the entire student population move between classrooms after every lesson.

This is not how my (German) school worked. Apart from a few exceptions (like the Music and Chemistry classroom), classrooms were assigned to grades. We would have Maths and English and History all in the same classroom, and only switch classrooms once or twice daily.

[1123581321]

Yes, as other users said, it’s a consequence of short passing periods, inconveniently located lockers, and students having to move between specialized teachers every hour. I would also add that not many American schools teach in a lecture format, so students feel they need to bring textbooks and workbooks instead of just a notebook and/or computer.

[snypher]

Sometimes it's easier to make someone feel bad for making a better choice, than to consider the reasons why they are not making that choice themselves. Also once an mindset like being a bottled-water-family is ingrained into a person anything that runs contrary to that can seem to be almost threatening to one's own behavior.

Someone once told me you can learn everything about a person by what they do with their empty cart at the grocery store.

[alexashka]

If a popular sports jock starts carrying a metal water bottle, best believe it'll all of a sudden be cool to carry one.

It's not what you do, it's where you rank in the social dominance hierarchy.

[throwaway803453]

A tall bottle on a table is arguably obnoxious and unsightly. I just put mine on the floor if it is in line-of-sight of too many people especially indoors.

[xtracto]

Im as cheap as most people you will find. I bought a Sprite 2 litter bottle and after trying to drink the liquid (couldn't bc of the sweet/sugar) I rinsed it, marked it with hourly Mark's (using permanent marker) and use use it as my reusable water bottle every day . It really helps me drinking my 2 lt water every day and prevents me from using several water bottles.