Consuming Midnights: Indonesian Youths’ Stay-up-Late Lifestyle in Branded Places

Abstract

: This article inquires into the meanings associated with urban youths’ stay-up-late lifestyle in 24-hour branded cafés and convenience stores. These branded places are spreading now, in both big and small cities of Indonesia. Providing free Internet access and cozy sitting spots, they are a magnet for youths, who crowd up there with their “work gadgets,” such as laptops and smartphones or sometimes just chat with friends through the night, consuming snacks and beverages. Using a qualitative approach, we observed and interviewed some informants and found that the stay-up-late lifestyle for urban youth is a form of insomniac expression for worldly pleasure and the desire to succeed, intertwined with a workaholic identity construction. These personal discourses are inseparable from the media and social discourse that develops within the community.