‘He knows how to code, man. Last month he struck an internship.’
‘And she is a designer.’
‘And he just got selected for his university’s football team.’
‘And he, she, blah, blah, blah…’
Social media, which was made for entertainment, has now become a competition zone, thanks to peer pressure. And this is not just among young minds, but also among corporate employees, businessmen… basically everyone. To be honest, initially, all this was limited to LinkedIn, where people write paragraphs about their recent successes or ventures. But now, this has spread to other sites like Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and more. Every time you see someone do something out of the blue, especially someone you know, you feel as if you have fallen behind in some race. And this feeling is pretty bad because you start comparing your talents and success with those of your friends. This is peer pressure at its best! So, let’s have a look at what peer pressure is and how it is impacting the way we talk and look at ourselves.
In layman’s terms, peer pressure is when people around you—your friends, classmates, office colleagues, and even strangers—make you feel like you aren’t doing enough in life and that you should act in a certain way or chase certain goals. It can motivate you to grow, but it can also make you rush into things you are not ready for. For example, you may straightaway start coding when you see someone develop an app, only to later realise that you are a gifted content writer, which is by no means an inferior skill. You just see your friends getting internships, winning competitions, learning new skills, or just sharing big wins, and suddenly you are sitting at night, wondering if you are wasting your life.
In this increasingly connected world, success often feels public. Your achievements are talked about on social media, in your family, and compared quietly by others. So even if you do something that you like, it now becomes a performance. And the worst feeling comes when you are forced to ask yourself, ‘Have I just fallen behind?’ This is a morale-shattering thought that overshadows what you have already achieved. You tend to forget all that you have already done and what you are capable of, just because of something others have done and you haven’t.
Just think about it. At the end of the day, we are all humans, and we all have our own talents. For example, you are a content writer who writes articles, blog posts, etc., all day long. But when you look at your coder friend, you feel that coding is more complex and writing is something anybody can do. Wrong! If you ask your friend to sit in one place and write 1,000 words straight from their heart, they would take an entire day or two. If you don’t believe this, you can go ask one of your friends today itself!
Social media algorithms are to be blamed as well. You might have just liked and congratulated one of your friends on a recent success, and immediately, your feed will be filled with similar success stories, which are fun to read at first, but take a toll on our brains later. The fact about social media posts is that no one shows the confusion, stress, nights of doubt, and consistency that were needed for the task. In many cases, if you do the same task, you might find it simpler, but the words used in the person’s post make you doubt yourself.
The pressure of not succeeding starts creeping into our daily lives. Those late-night 3 a.m. talks in your head aren’t a fancy phenomenon, but the truth. You keep thinking about ways you are behind in this mad rat race. Even joyful moments with friends and family carry a shadow of guilt, as you are left comparing yourself with others in the back of your mind. You begin to doubt your worth and slowly start losing self-confidence.
Let’s not just discuss the negative impacts of peer pressure because it is also true that this pressure is the reason why we also feel motivated to work. Those social media posts? They allow you to discover new interests and get to know more about the latest trends and opportunities. Peer pressure can fuel your ambitions, making you determined to achieve success, because if your friend can do it, why can’t you? Ever thought, ‘Hmm, maybe I can try out video editing someday. Who knows, maybe I’ll like it.’ This is an encouraging feeling because when handled with awareness, peer pressure can act as a growth developer, showing you areas where you won’t fail, but flourish!
It all falls upon our timeline. For instance, the average age of becoming a millionaire is 57 years old. But social media shows that you need to become one in your twenties only, or you are doomed! You may feel behind when learning about others’ success, but sometimes you should trust the divine timing of God. There is no universal deadline for success. Just continue following your interests, pause, reflect, leap, and build yourself. You do not need to impress the world with what you have been doing lately. Peer pressure shows you two directions: do you want to use comparison as a tool to grow, or do you want to stay stuck in the same place? So, whenever peer pressure starts bothering you, just ask yourself, ‘What is it that I want to build? Do I want to do what they do just to show off like them? Or do I want to continue pursuing my interests as I have done so far?’