“Peer Pressure” is the sixth of fifteen teen articles received in spring 2024 from Piute High School students. Three of them were published in The Byway‘s most recent May paper. The rest will be featured online.
Imagine this: a teenager is hanging out with their friends. One of their friends pulls out a can of beer. The friend takes a sip before offering it to the teenager. “Just a little sip won’t hurt.” The friend reassures, “Come on it’ll be fun.” The teenager does not want to, but they’re scared their friends won’t like them if they don’t. The teenager reluctantly takes a sip from the can. While this may sound like a rare story, it is something that happens to many teens every day, all over the world. Peer pressure is a big issue that the world’s youth faces today. It’s easy to say that it is not that big of a deal and that teens should be strong enough to just say no; however, it is not that easy to avoid.
Many things can lead to giving into peer pressure. Some examples are these: a lack of confidence, a desire to fit in, and a lack of structure at home. These things may not be used to describe everyone but everyone can fall victim to peer pressure. Even the person with the strongest mental state can be pressured into doing something they know is wrong for the sake of being liked.
There are six main types of peer pressure. These include spoken, unspoken, direct, indirect, positive, and negative peer pressure. The most common type is negative peer pressure. There are many things that fall under the category of negative peer pressure. The most commonly seen is risk-taking. An example of this is drug use. Peer pressure can come from all different aspects of a teens life. Social media, friend groups, at school, and at home are all places where a teen can experience peer pressure. It’s not always negative, but it is there. Whether it is positive, such as a friend trying to persuade someone into getting good grades or negative like a widely-known celebrity posting something promoting drug and alcohol use, it is prolific. Even the movies people watch can have an influence on how a teen acts or thinks. The authors at Centerstone.com have reported that “approximately 90 percent of teens reported having experienced peer pressure.” This is not easily ignored, and it shows the type of stress teens face.
There are multiple solutions that could reduce the world’s issues with peer pressure. One that could be the most effective, but the hardest to implement, is promoting positive role models. Teens all have different role models, whether it be a parent or a celebrity. When a teen sees someone they look up to doing something like using alcohol or drugs, that can cause them to believe it is what is expected and “cool” to do. The best way to avoid this influence is to leave any form of promoting negative behavior off of social media. People are often watching or following, so in the long run it is easier to leave negative influences off of platforms that teens and young children can easily access.
Another thing that could solve the issues with peer pressure is encouraging individuality. That can be hard when there are such specific things society as a whole wants or expects. Men are sometimes expected to be tough and masculine while women are often expected to be soft and feminine. Individuality could be encouraged if, once again, role models and everyone in general weren’t ashamed of their flaws. Silvi Saxena said in an article about peer pressure and what it is that “teenagers on social media may feel pressured to live up to what they see online like a ‘perfect’ lifestyle and unrealistic body standards.”
Recently it has been easier for kids to gain access to social platforms which in turn gives them exposure to what society wants and expects at a young age. This can lead to them growing up thinking their life is not what is considered perfect by others. Flaws and strengths should be celebrated equally. They are what makes us different from one another. Different body types and skin tones should also be celebrated. No matter what a person looks like, how they act, sexual orientation or gender identity people should not be ashamed of who they are. If everyone were all the same, the world would be a boring place.
The world is full of people of all shapes, sizes, and colors. We’re not all the same. As a society we should stop encouraging little girls to think they need to be thin to be worth anything, telling men that if they show emotion they are less of a man, or that using drugs and drinking alcohol makes you cool. Peer pressure is a big issue that can affect anybody no matter how strong they are.
– by Angel Houtz (12th) Piute High School
Feature image courtesy of Abbie Call, The Byway.
Read more from Piute teens in Social Media, Cyberbullying, Sleep and Other Phone Problems by Andres Nevarez.