In my opinion, the definition of cool is subjective meaning that every person has a different idea of what "cool" means to them. Different groups think different things are cool. I think there is superficial cool which is when people are considered cool because they have the latest clothes or gadgets-only things you see on the outside. Then there is inner cool which is when the person might have a good, chill personality or a personality that is really funny or some "good" personality like that. For superficial cool, that changes frequently because there are always going to be the latest must-have gadget or the newest fashion styles that the "cool" people will change to to keep up their "cool" statuses. I also noticed that one thing that is considered to be cool is to be unique and not care about being cool. Personally, I believe that the actual cool people are the ones that honestly don't care about being cool but that it is annoying when people claim to not really care about being cool when really, they actually do care.
People also think that fitting in with a majority of people makes you cool. For example, in my elementary school, I didn't really fit in because most of the popular girls were the rich ones with the PTA moms who didn't work and houses on Fire Island. I didn't have that so I didn't really fit in with everybody and I had few friends as a result of that. When I got to middle school and high school, I realized not many people cared about fitting in and being popular because that was considered not to be cool or nice to care about insignificant things like that. This goes along with a question that somebody brought up in class which was: is being cool more envy than liking? This means that do we envy something that someone has so we want to do or own that same thing to fit in even though you don't like it?
The biggest aspect on what is "cool" is really shown to us by the media. Magazines have pictures of celebrities carrying the latest bag or wearing the latest shoes or magazines like People feature the what's hot/what's not lists which show you what is the coolest new item and what look is outdated. Also, there is always that one song that the radio DJs or VJs think are cool and they play it 24/7 such as the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys song "Empire State of Mind." If you hear the song everywhere or see the fashion everywhere, the thing most likely will grow on you and you will like it. A perfect example is liquid leggings. When they first came out, I didn't like them at all but after I saw them everywhere, I started liking them more. The media "implants" what's cool for you.
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