How to overcome unnecessary peer pressure while in campus

In our today’s social world, the desire to fit in and be accepted by our peers mostly leads us to changing our behaviors and conforming to new ones which can be either of positive impact or negative impact on us. This pressure to fit in a group manifests in many forms from the clothes we wear to the activities we engage in. For instance, we can find ourselves conforming to certain media presence to gain acceptance, driving recklessly, shoplifting with friends, bullying behaviors and drug abuse, changing our dressing codes, adapting new health lifestyles and many others.

There are several factors that contribute to peer pressure. Desire for social acceptance is one of them where one has the urge of being liked by people and belonging to a certain group hence looking forward to gaining fame. For instance, it is so funny how we have a Kenyan prince in almost all our public universities. This has grown much in that people even buy followers on social media platforms for example on Tik Tok, Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms.

Developmental stages in life also comes with a lot of pressure. Adolescence being one of the developmental stages comes with a lot of pressure even that of social acceptance. In our today’s world, owning a smartphone at a very young age is one of form of pressure that is all over. High school students forming class WhatsApp groups is something that makes whoever is not in that group feel low or feel like they do not belong to that particular class. This is during puberty stage when one is transforming from childhood to adulthood which is accompanied by several body changes. At this point the pressure is always very high and can really disappoint a person who conforms to it when they later realize that it was not necessary. 

At some points, individuals may feel pressured to conform to norms of their peers, others are driven by social media influence which imply pressure through images and trends, for example, porn images, new dressing codes, language dynamics and many others. 

Peer pressure is also brought about when one is not self-driven. This results when one does not have some boundaries with peers around him or her. This can be maybe because of low self-esteem where one is not confident enough on their say or even actions. Once we have self-doubt in us, that is when we allow peer pressure to drive us.  

Peer pressure can have impacts on several things which include our self-esteem, mental health and overall, our wellbeing. These impacts can be negative in that we can adapt risky behaviors such as substance abuse, unsafe sexual behaviors in the target of fitting in a certain group. 

We can also conform to harmful norms even when they goes against our values and beliefs. This leads to a weird distancing from family and close friend who were used to us behaving in a certain manner and now we are changing. While trying to fit in a group, we can lower our self-esteem maybe because of feeling pressured by our peers, having self-doubts, insecurities, anxiety in doing some things and even depression can attack us easily. 

Cyberbullying is also another negative impact of peer pressure .This deals with online trolls. Media presence of people is of different intentions. Some of them will be there with a positive energy while many others will be attacking negatively.

Academic distraction is another one which leads to poor performance or even dropping out of school just because of unnecessary peer pressure.

On the other hand, peer pressure can impact positive aspects in us. This is especially when we are being influenced by positive friends. These positive aspects include; academic motivation where we can be motivated to work very hard and chase our academic success by hardworking peers. We can also adapt healthy lifestyle choices which is very positive for our wellbeing. 

We learn community involvement like volunteer work in our social environment. We also learn social skills which include effective communication and building healthy relationships. 

There is also a pressure of young people becoming CEOs, young people getting rich and buying high end cars such as Subaru.

Taking loans to buy land might be a good or a bad idea in that one might be conned in the process of land buying and selling.

There is also peer pressure of being single mothers. Many middle-aged women are becoming single mothers. This affects them in different ways. For example, one can suffer from depression because of lacking adequate support from partners and parents. Others are fully supported and do not experience that burden.

Gaming is also another form of peer pressure especially among young people which in some way makes them less productive or even unproductive in the society. 

However, it is important to recognize that much of this pressure is unnecessary and we can overcome it with a few simple strategies. The first strategy is developing a strong self esteem which make us confident of our values and beliefs. It also comes with a lot of self-awareness and keeps away pressure.

Secondly, we need to practice assertive communication by learning to say ‘no’ clearly and confidently, listening to our guts and being firm with our boundaries. 

The third strategy that can help us overcome unnecessary pressure is by identifying supportive friends and seeking adult support. With supportive friends and adults, we are able to consult on things we are not sure on how or when to handle and this makes it rare for us to succumb to unnecessary peer pressure. 

Lastly, we need to have a plan. We need to think on how to respond to peer pressure in different situations.

In conclusion, according to my point of view, I think we need to have self-awareness in us. We need to know that we are doing everything for our own wellbeing and that we don’t need to have any reason of making the wrong decisions which will make us suffer in a certain way just because of peer pressure.