Why being an individual is more important and better than being popular in high school.

Why being an individual is more important and better than being popular in high school.

Jessania Gallagher

What’s the point in being popular when you can have friends that accept all parts of you? When you are in high school, it is definitely more important to be yourself rather than struggling with being and staying popular among your peers. If you can be yourself in school, and not worry about being popular, it brings genuine friends and less loneliness, less drama, and you won’t feel the need to give up interests just for acceptance and you won’t have to feel fake or trapped.

When you are popular, a lot of the time you will feel lonely and like you can’t rely on the people in your friend group. Deanna Young, from https://thoughtcatalog.com, says that there were times when she desperately needed a friend to be there or a person to call, but not one single person was there. She also says that the benefits of popularity were far outweighed by the feeling of loneliness. If you can be yourself, it means that the friends you do have, even if it’s only a couple, you will know that they love you for you. You will be able to rely on the fact that they will always be there when you need them. Being true to yourself is going to be more helpful for bringing in real friends, not fake ones.

If you have genuine and real friends, it’s going to bring less drama and more peace. When you are in the popular group, there always seems to be a drama going on or people mad at each other, fights within the group. Because you are part of the group, you might often be forced to choose a side, and you will become involved. It would be much more peaceful and easier if you had that couple of good friends because good friends are valuable and can change your high school experience. Even though you will still fight, you are more likely to work it out maturely without the drama. You know that they will listen to your opinion and feelings because they understand you.

A lot of people will do anything to be and stay popular. They can feel pressure to act a certain way to be liked. A lot of people will drop interests or change parts about themselves just to be accepted by their peers.Reading from Deanna Young on her article about popularity and the effects it had on her, she says that “Popularity came with a cost: In order to be well-liked, it meant giving up my true passions and interests in exchange for my peers’ approval”. This means that being an individual and being proud of who you are, you will be better at accepting yourself, and you don’t have to feel guilty about changing yourself to be liked by others. You don’t have to have a fear of judgment and you can be comfortable being yourself around other people. This is just another reason why it's better to be an individual, you won’t have to give up what you love just for acceptance by popular people.

As well as being able to accept yourself, you won’t have to feel fake. You will know that you can be and accept yourself.  A lot of people in the popular group can start to feel fake, especially if they give up interests or start to change themselves to stay popular. People that are popular are usually going through a lot of stuff themselves, and can often turn into bullies, or not very nice people. You are shaped by the people you surround yourself with, and if they are unkind, sometimes that can affect you too.  Popularity also puts you in the spotlight, and if you hang out with bullies, your peers will look at you, and commonly misjudge you, or assume you are similar to the mean people. A lot of teenagers begin to feel trapped and might be afraid to change it because they don’t want to end up alone. But, if you are being entirely yourself and being true to the person you are, you won’t feel fake or trapped, you can accept yourself and if you can, it will be easier for others to accept you as well. It’s about finding the right people to be around.

Being popular has its perks, like more confidence, acceptance by everyone, and you may develop more social skills. Popularity might give you temporary happiness, but Mitch Prinstein, from https://www.teenvogue.com, states that “The kids who had the highest status grew up more likely to suffer from relationship problems, addictions, anxiety, and depression”. This is just another example of why it's more important to be an individual than worrying about popularity. It brings better friends, less drama, less pressure and you will be able to accept yourself and be happy with who you are. It can be hard to be yourself and accept yourself. But that’s normal. High school is about discovering yourself, and popularity won’t matter once high school finishes anyway.