Has Peer Pressure Ever Made You conform?

April 19, 2012 in Anecdotes, Children, Friendship, Humour, Relationships

This is not the watch. This is an expensive watch.

As a young child I had a watch I wore every day. It had a red rubber band and was waterproof, so I never had to worry much about taking it off. It was digital, which is handy since to this day it takes me about 20 seconds to figure out the time on an analogue clock. It had white stripes on the band and an alarm. I loved that watch.

One day someone pointed out to me that I wore my watch on the “wrong” hand, the right hand, and being right handed I was meant to wear it on the left… right?

Well, that didn’t sit so well with me and after a few months of random people continuously pointing out my watch was on the wrong hand, I gave up wearing one.

I haven’t worn one since. I don’t even own one. That was over 15 years ago and to this day I look at watches, and I think “hey, it’d be nice to have a watch” but I don’t buy one. I barely even wear bracelets (and when I do it still pains me a little bit to put it on my left hand).

It’s funny, isn’t it? Sometimes the tiniest comment can stick to you, like a piece of rubbish that sticks on the bottom of your shoe, so you try to get it off by stepping on it with the other shoe, and it gets stuck to that shoe until you’re stepping back and forth like you’re doing some alternative version of the chicken dance and the piece of rubbish JUST WON’T COME OFF YOUR DAMN SHOE STUPID PIECE OF RUBBISH… Like that. And they just don’t wear off.

You grow up, you move on, and you’re aware that things don’t always have to be done the same way as everyone else. But sometimes, just sometimes, it’s a little bit scary to step out there on your own.

Have you ever been affected by someone’s comments? Has peer pressure ever made you conform?

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Author Info

Tamsin Howse has written 178 posts.
Tamsin is a wife, stepmother and blogger with a passion for people and relationships, fashion and beauty, and an inability to successfully complete household tasks. Co-founder and Editor-in-chief of KiKi & Tea.
Follow on twitter: @TamsinHowse
Website: http://kikiandtea.com

3 Comments »

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Bek M

I was a contrary child. I was always picked on, and desperately wanted to fit in and not be noticed, but at the same time I didn’t want to do what everyone else was doing.
In primary school, I clung to my belief in fairies and liked writing stories and didn’t want to swear and talk about boys like the other girls.
In high school, the pressure was on to drink and try drugs so I didn’t want to.
At uni the pressure was to drink, try drugs and sexually experiment so I didn’t want to.

I think the main reason though is that I didn’t want to be in a position where I couldn’t control my behaviour. And I didn’t find any of it particularly interesting.

And now that I’m a fat woman the pressure is to wear lots of black shapeless outfits, concentrate on losing weight and not be noticed, so I’m not going to do that either!
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  You sound a bit like me in many ways. I was always going off on my own tangent of what I decided was cool at any one time, not following along with others. All I wanted was to fit in, yet all my life I have stood out.
Maree Talidu

Peer pressure #1:

For me, I went to a 1 teacher primary school with 16 students in total. I also went to church with these same kids. So when I hit high school, I was completely unprepared for ‘brand name’ clothing- it was all about Stussy and a bunch of surf brands.
And decent sneakers. Wasn’t until year 7 that I was made aware that my sneakers weren’t ‘cool’ cos they didn’t have a ‘swoosh’ on the side. I cared about that stuff initially, but towards the end of yr8 branched out and wore what I LIKED regardless of whether it was brand name or op shop, whether or not it matched, I didn’t care. Later I cut off all my hair, and refused to be drawn into fashion trends.
And that hasn’t changed. My ‘style’ can’t be defined, unless there is a category called ‘tomboy-boho-skater-gypsy-hippy-urban-pyjamas’ chic.

Peer pressure #2:
I got an older boyfriend when I was in high school, he was 3 years older than me (he had finished school and had a job and a car etc) and he drank and smoked, did drugs etc, I didn’t want to appear totally lame and dabbled in areas that some of my friends at school were doing as well, the only one that stuck for several years was smoking. I hate alcohol and have no desire to use recreational drugs. But quitting smoking was hard and took a few years.

Those are the 2 periods in my life where I can see that I clearly caved to peer pressure. They in no way define me. It’s a learning curve.

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