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The effects of peer pressure on teenagers
The effects of peer pressure on teenagers
Peer pressure issues for teens
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Many people say it is hard to fit into today’s society. We grow up in a world where we do not want to stand out because that is considered wrong. We want people to accept us, but we cannot do that when we do not fit in. You may not like the people who fit in, but you have to get to the top somehow. Some people feel they must help people in need because they have more than them and it sometimes hurts to see them have less. Some people are nice to others, but you can’t be nice to everyone. Can you really reach the top by fitting in and not standing out? Adolescence is about growing up and not standing out. When you stand out, you give people more room to judge you because they see more of who you really are. When we grew up, we never really thought about being in the ‘in-crowd’ because we were all friends. When I moved up here from Mississippi, people were so fascinated with my accent and everyone loved to talk to me, but when I lost the accent, everyone stopped recognizing me. That is how today’s society is, people like you because you are probably smart or talented and that makes you stand out, but when they are done using you, they throw you away like you are some piece of garbage. If you are a little different from what today’s picture of a perfect person is, then people will never recognize and if they do, they only recognize you for a second. It’s hard for people to fit in when others can’t accept you. Everyone wants to be accepted and be a part of the ‘in-crowd’, but just because you’re a little different, people may stop liking you. People should embrace their differences, “Instead they’re creating this divided environment where they’re showing all these children that a child is different and we’re going to treat them po... ... middle of paper ... ...what we want to be when we grow up. We never thought of how hard it would be to be accepted by one another. Sometimes you may not like someone, but they may help you reach the top. When we see people with less, it is hard not to help them because you feel responsible. Some people may seem nice and innocent, but everyone has a part in peer cruelty. No one is innocent of bullying. Some people may say that adolescence is about fitting in, but if you try to be your own person, then some people may except you and others may not. Works Cited Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Perigee Books: New York, 1954. Print. Guenther, John. “Searching For My High School Bully: A Confrontation 25 Years Later.” TIME, 30 Sept 2011. Web. 12 Dec 2013 Greenfield, Beth. “Transgender Girl’s Parents Lobby for Her Right to Use the Bathroom.” Yahoo Shine, 27 Feb 2013. Web. 12 Dec 2013
In many high schools, there is an unspoken social order amongst peer groups; teenagers are either included in the popular group or the unpopular group. These social standings are determined by the popular group whether they will accept certain people based on shared interests and values but mainly on appearance. For example, some groups may isolate a student who does not have clothing considered to be attractive enough. Teenagers belonging to the popular clique label individuals as outcasts who do not fit the clique’s standards of a perfect appearance. This repression can cause a build up of anger if an outcast seeks to be accepted into that popular group. Literature displays this social phenomenon of categorizing people too; author Mary Shelley
Acceptance, a key part today's society, is being in the norm and fitting in. In today's society, the social class is based off of acceptance. In the novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, some of the characters from the poor side of the town “greasers” were not
I am a Japanese-American, growing up I never felt like I belonged in either one. I never felt that I was fully Japanese because I did not have all of the same beliefs and traditions as other Japanese people. Nor did I feel fully American because I fully do not believe in all of the American beliefs. I saw myself relating more to the Japanese culture because it taught me to be more respectful to my elders and other people in the community. Growing up I had to assimilate to the prevailing culture because people were bantering me because I had unusual views than they did. It was hard for me growing up; I was trying to identify myself as either a Japanese boy or an American boy while I was at school and at home. At school I had to be this normal American boy, while at home, I had to be a Japanese boy. I felt like two different people. This also tied into me having an awkward relationship with other kids my age especially the girls. I would ask my parents if it was okay for me to date, their response was “as long they are some sort of Asian, then it is okay.” Today my parents do not believe in that saying, they just want to see me in high spirits, but as I was growing up it was hard for me to find a girl that I liked that fit my family standards I always found myself fond of another race other than my own and my parents were not too thrilled with the choices I made when it came to girls when I was an adolescent.
In the Milgram experiment, Stanley Milgram remarks, “Obedience is as basic an element in the structure of social life as one can point to”. I believe Milgram is saying that to fit in, we must abide by their rules and boundaries, with no questions asked. Rita Mae Brown quotes, “The reward for Conformity is that everybody likes you but yourself.” I believe Brown is saying that no matter how much you work and strive to be something you’re not, it is inevitable that you won’t feel the warm, fuzzy, comfortable feeling of acceptance. However, I believe that being an outcast is not a
Adolescent years are a time period in a human beings life where we search for a place that we are most comfortable. It is a time where we try to find friends with similar interests and those who will easily accept us for who we are. Once we are accepted by those friends, we tend to do more things with hopes of getting approval from “the group.” Trying to fit in during adolescence is a significant factor for self-motivation because it determines the level of being accepted and popularity amongst our peers. Through our year of adolescence we experiment and try to discover oneself as a person, but we also find what our strongest traits are that are used in order to be accepted, or to feel more popular. Popularity is defined as a state of being liked or accepted by a group of people (cite). As the group of people gets larger, so does that person’s popularity. For some people, popularity may come easy due to their charisma or looks, but there are those children who feel lonely due to their lack of popularity.
It hasn’t occurred to anyone that being yourself isn't a bad thing, not a crime you would get in trouble for. People in this world encourage other people to be themselves and to not be ashamed of who they were born to be not the person some group is making you out to be. For example I, am the same quirky person I was when I was a kid and I haven’t and
When life becomes overwhelming during adolescence, a child’s first response is to withdraw from the confinement of what is considered socially correct. Individuality then replaces the desire to meet social expectations, and thus the spiral into social non-conformity begins. During the course of Susanna’s high school career, she is different from the other kids. Susanna:
In life you will be faced with the challenge of fitting in many times, but you should not let the people around you define who you are. At school there are lots of trends and I see it here at collegiate where people wear certain clothes or shoes because it’s a fad. In third and fourth grade the largest fad by far was “Silly Bandz” and everyone had them and everyone wanted to have them. It may seem to be an unsophisticated example, but it is very relevant to the topic. Everyone should be individual and not just what other people are pressuring them to be, but truly themselves. Be a leader not a
During adolescence, teens are engaged in forming their position in society and in developing social connections with their peers. The transition from childhood to adolescence can place them in a distressful and unstable status like social isolation and loneliness. Teens may begin to feel confused or insecure about themselves and how they fit in to society. Teens may experiment with different roles, activities and behaviors when they seek to establish a sense of self. According to Erikson, this is important process in forming a strong identity and developing a sense of direction in life.
Adolescence is, for the most part, about fitting in. Most everybody wants friends and wants to feel like they are a part of a social group. Young childhoods are spent meeting new people and making friends that share your common interests. However, in the teenage years, it gets a lot more complicated. Some people will start to leave their old friends for newer, “cooler” ones, and start to wear new clothing to make themselves popular. Everyone wants to fit in, and some people will make more of an effort to do so than others. In middle school specifically, cliques and social groups start forming. This is the time when teens and pre-teens figure out who they are and start to fit in with their friends.
In one journal entry I wrote, I brought to light that the popular group is something that every one of us, for some reason feels as though we need to be a part of. This is from my own experience and things I have observed throughout my four-year career in high school. I think it was perhaps worse in junior high, however. When you are in seventh and eighth grade you are not sure of who you are and are desperately searching around for something to belong to, to be a part of. Why is this, why are we a society that are most often drawn to the most popular, "cool" and "beautiful" that high school has to offer? Why is acceptance the most important thing to us, is belonging really as important as losing your own sense of self? Who you hang out with, who your closest friends are as an adolescent without a doubt help to shape who you are. And it's funny that you seem to end up being friends with the ones who are the same type of people as you. Same fashion sense, taste in music or cars and movies. When searching for an identity in high school, it is hard not to just attempt to pick up the one that seems the most socially acceptable. I know that my personal experiences include these conforming characteristics. Still as a freshman in college I am constantly looking at the fashion of my peers, wondering to myself "do they think I fit in"? This was especially true the first few weeks of college when I wasn't sure who my good friends were going to be; I made sure that I dressed as well as I could everyday, in all the new clothes I had bought specifically for college.
teens are pressured to fit in with others to be considered “popular”, but this ends up making their
“We, as human beings,must be willing to accept people who are different from ourselves.” Barbara Jordan. People shouldn’t be judged by the way they are or the way they act. In this essay I will analyze that just because people are different from you doesn’t you treat them different. Everyone has their own personality that’s what makes everyone unique because we’re all different. Like in the story “Texas v. Majority Opinion” people fought to keep the American flag but others wanted the flag burned. People have the right to speak their minds and fight for what they believe in to protect the things they cherish most. Like in the short story by Etgar Keret “What of This Goldfish Would You Wish?” some people like things that other people don’t and some people like to stay away from other people because they don’t want to be around all the drama or to get judged by other people.
However not everyone is as fortunate to be socially popular with tons of friends. And with this comes social discrimination, a higher issue for teens, but that doesn’t leave adults out of the picture. For example in schools, we all either hate or love the popular kids, and/or love or hate the socially awkward kids. But purpose of the situation is that they don’t get along with each other. Also since they don’t get along, it causes drama, and even fights in school leaving a school with no peace. Many of these social discrimination conflicts can lead to school kids being bullied, for who they are and what they like. Most of these conflicts usually end in pain by either the popular kid and/or socially awkward one. They could be going through a rough time with family, health, etc. As for adults, they are just known to be grown children, because just like kids, teens, adolescents, parents will go against each other worse than kids. Humans are always trying to be on top of the food chain, a.k.a. the social ladder. But when things aren’t going their way, it can lead to an uproar that doesn’t point in the direction of
My physical development was not so difficult for me. I experienced the growth spurt when I was10 to 15-years old. I didn’t think it was difficult time for me because my range of growth spurt was not so large. Additionally, I did not belong to sports club, so I did not feel uncomfortable when I move my body. I think I am a late bloomer because I have never had boyfriend. But I think it is advantage for me because I am not a “boy-crazy”. I know some friends who are early bloomer and being “boy-crazy”, I do not want to be like them. I have my own interest and I have something what I want to do besides dating with boys. My physical developments have some effects on my character of today. I think it is because I was taller than others since very young, my friends often said to me “you are like my elder sister.” This phrase makes me think that I need to be like elder sister when I was child. It is related to more about psychological development, but this way of thinking came from my height. One of other physical development related issue that makes me struggle is my period. Every time I am in period, I have pain in stomach and back; I feel sleepy, hungry, and irritating; and I have skin problems. I think there are more people who have more heavy symptoms of period, however, sometimes I cannot endure these. My physical developments have some effects on me, but it was not so difficult for me to pass through.