English article

Hey guys, here's an article I wrote for my English class, I hope you like it.

The risks of resisting peer pressure

Teenagers will do any number of things to fit in. And they should. Adolescence is a tremendous time, full of changes and lessons and unforgettable moments. For each individual, adolescence is a different process but everyone has to deal with alcohol, drugs, changes in sexuality and social pressure sooner or later. Surely you have read thousands of articles that explain why you should not give in to social pressure, why you have to be responsible, to be careful, that you should not care what others say, that you should stay true to yourself and everything will turn out fine. Such bullshit.

These articles warn you against the use of drugs (alcohol and tobacco included) claiming that they will affect your social or academic skills, however, a survey done to eleventh graders at Tomas Moro school showed no relation whatsoever between their use of drugs and their academic performance. In the end, most people get drunk and many people smoke whatever’s cooking and they turn out just fine. Are these articles lying? Not necessarily but they may very well be exaggerating a bit to convince their readers, using “scientifically proven facts”. Most readers don’t give a shit and continue drinking anyway. The problem is, some readers actually do.

Let’s think about a teenager that resists peer-pressure, a teenager that follows all these articles’ advice, a teenager that listens to his/her parents, goes to school and doesn’t drink alcohol. According to the survey, most teenagers drink alcohol at parties so the small minority that doesn’t is viewed as “different”, especially in our Mexican society where “rajarse es de puñetas”. When someone refuses to drink a shot of vodkarindo when they arrive at a party or to play beer-pong because they don’t drink, they are immediately excluded from the main group of friends, and not just during the party.

Once a teenager establishes his “social immunity”, his or her peers will see them, not as socially immune but rather as socially awkward or immature, they will be judged and left out of future social events, such as parties, reunions and weekends at Valle. This ostracization ultimately leads to them becoming socially awkward due to their lack of socialization, more so when compared to their once called friends who develop their social skills much more.

Being the inepts they are, they have trouble finding a couple with whom to build a romantic relationship while their buddies gain confidence, maturity, and experience through their own romantic relationships. According to psychologist Susan Moore “people who are not linking up romantically can feel lonely and out of step with their peers” (2019)... that’s one way to put it. Most teenagers have been in at least one relationship by the time they are seventeen. Not having had one, makes them feel lonely, depressed and unwanted. In addition, since there are so few people who resist to peer pressure, it is hard for them to find new friends.

Humans are social beings, especially in their teenage years in which, in addition to the need for social relations, there is the need to "be accepted." Friends become the most important people in their lives and their opinions become rules to live by. If this need is not filled, they get stressed, they lower their self-esteem, they grow depressed, they start feeling worthless, (FAROS 2017) and they commit suicide (exaggeration by the author). Suddenly, giving into peer pressure seems like a small price to pay for salvation, doesn’t it?

So, when faced with peer pressure, you have two paths you can choose to follow: the lonely path, the one where you resist, where you lead a healthy and ethically correct life, or the fun road where your friends are, where you succumb, where you destroy your body (because there is no denying that drugs are bad for you) to save your soul. As a teenager that chose the first path, and found friends that did so as well, and often recommend it and chastises those who don’t, I can tell you that even though I enjoy the choice I made, it can get very lonely sometimes. There are days when I wish I had taken the other pill. There is no clear answer as to what is the right choice, it is one you have to make for yourself and that may define what kind of person you are, so yeah, choose wisely and whatnot but keep an open mind. Giving in to peer pressure doesn't mean your life will suck.

Sources:

• FAROS (01/09/2017) La soledad en niños y adolescentes: causas y consecuencias Retrieved from: https://faros.hsjdbcn.org/es/articulo/soledad-ninos-adolescentes-causas-consecuencias
• Bean S. (2019) The "cool kids": how to help your child or teen deal with peer pressure, exclusion and cliques retrieved from: https://www.empoweringparents.com/article/the-cool-kids-how-to-help-your-child-or-teen-deal-with-peer-pressure-exclusion-and-cliques/
• Moore S. (2019) Teenagers in love retrieved from: https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-29/july/teenagers-love