How does popularity affect teenagers

Social acceptance tends to crowd out negative behaviors, such as hostility, withdrawing or being avoided by peers. Not being social scientists themselves, teens may be confusing traditional popularity with the secure feeling of being accepted by peers.

Teens might think they crave popularity, but perceptions of personal popularity may matter more than reality, according to Psych Central News 1 2. Teens who feel good about themselves and their perceptions of their own popularity do better in school than students who perceive themselves as less popular, despite their actual popularity levels.

This can have positive long-term effects, since positive self-perceptions can be self-fulfilling and can extend into adulthood. If your teenager seems obsessed with popularity, consider discussing some of the negative attributes of popularity with her. More popular students often become involved with substances and sexual experimentation earlier than their less-popular peers 4.

Maintaining a popular social status can create pressure, stress or anxiety. Popular students may feel compelled to portray themselves in a certain, socially acceptable way rather than engaging in authentic exploration of their identity as a young adult. Not only are teens strongly influenced by pop culture but it affects them on many levels.

It affects them cognitively how they think , emotionally how they feel and behaviorally what they do. The last decade has seen exponential growth in the media — with the advent of the internet, mass media has almost been overtaken by social media. The teens have latched onto social media with intensity and this has had both negative and positive effects.

Mass media covers television, radio, magazines, newspapers, cinemas and all around advertising eg: billboards with celebrity endorsements. Movies like the Twilight saga have rapidly become cult hits amongst the teens. Social networking services like Facebook founded in and Twitter founded in have rapidly shifted the way teens communicate and interact.

Social media has revolutionized the way teens meet, interact, read, shop and play games. Pop culture has a huge influence on teens. They tend to imitate current trends and other people. The influence shapes the way they think psychologically , act behaviorally , and feel emotionally.

It helps to define themselves. They recognize themselves and see as if with the eyes of other people. The image that is taken from culture shapes their worldview and affects personal choices. Oftentimes, youngsters replicate famous people, such as rock stars or movie actors. They intently watch the way their idols live and try to imitate merely everything.

They begin to wear clothing their idols do, eat the same food, visit the same places, and choose the same hobbies. However, teens can reach a lot when they are obsessed with their favorites.

It is very dangerous too. Nonetheless, many celebrities are far from being a good example to follow. Many of them take drugs and drink a lot of alcohol. Thus, many youngsters imitated this terrifying lifestyle and ruined their own lives. Teens likewise lose interest in school and normal things that used to make them happy. Cultural pressure is actually huge.

When we review pop culture, we should not take into account only celebrities. Many youngsters get under strong pressure from their peers. This fact is especially true when such situations develop in the USA. Popularity and respect from peers are utterly important for American teenagers. There is constant competition among the most popular boys and girls at any school, college or university. Many teens make friends with popular peers whom they may even secretly hate.

This is totally wrong but only a small number of teens draw the right conclusions and quit this tricky path.