Peer pressure is when someone does something they would never normally do but do because they are surrounded by their peers.This essentially means that teens will do something they don’t want to or wouldn’t do just because their peers are pressuring them to do it like everyone else is. 

So many people get peer pressured by the people they call friends and family and a lot of the time they don’t even realize that it’s happening. This could be for a range of reasons like they’re used to it or they just think that it’s normal. But it’s not normal and so many people don’t realize it’s because of the society that we grew up in. 

In our society, it is completely expected and normal to change yourself to be more like others or to do things that you wouldn’t do to get attention and popularity. This causes many problems and is one of the many reasons that peer pressure is so common. This isn’t just wrong because you’re trying to change to fit in but it can also be extremely dangerous for multiple reasons.

As talked about in NCBI, a website for scientists to display their research those reasons can be mentally, emotionally, and physically dangerous. It can be physically dangerous because you could do something that you wouldn’t normally do that could cause you pain or trouble if it goes wrong. For example, when you wear clothes that you are fond of just because it is the new style or if you start doing drugs or drinking alcohol just because everyone else is. 

It can hurt you mentally and emotionally because you spent so much time changing yourself to fit in with others that you don’t know who you are as a person. This can cause so many problems as you get older because you could be behind in doing what you want to do. Or because you have to figure out what you want to do with your life much later. And maybe if you got so sucked up in being like everyone else you have to go find out who you are. So it causes mental and emotional problems because you realize how much of yourself you changed and that you don’t really know who you are but it also causes problems because it can make you see people that you trusted in a different light after you realize how much you changed to make them happy.

These are reasons that it is extremely important for people to realize that they are being peer pressured and are able to identify what peer pressure is. Once people are able to do this it will make it easier for them to ignore peer pressure. According to Fay Ellis from The New York Times, people who can ignore peer pressure end up being a lot more successful and stay in tune with what they want in life. They end up happier with their lives and their choices as they continue to grow up.

These reasons are why people need to learn to identify what peer pressure is and what it looks like so that they can learn how to ignore it and continue to live good, happy lives that they chose.