Opinion: Resisting the pressures of popularity

By Justine Benstead
Ridgewood High School

     Pressure is a huge part of a teenager's everyday life, whether from the media, peers, parents, or teachers. However, one thing that may be fading into the background is the pressure to conform.
     Many students believe that it's better to be an individual than part of a group. Kim Yeager, a sophomore at Ridgewood High School, said, "I'm an individual. I like me and I hope that other people do, too. But if they don't, it doesn't really matter."
     Since the beginning of time, society has had stereotypes about teenagers. One of the most prominent of these was that teenagers always went with the flow so that they would fit in. Jennifer Howard, a sophomore at Ridgewood High School, disagrees. "I think that the popular crowd is just a bunch of people conforming to society's stereotypes," she said. "I'm true to myself and there are a lot of people who feel the same way. They don't care about winning others' approval."
     "In fact," Howard continued, "I don't really see why you'd want to."
     The entertainment industry seems to have a huge effect on teenagers. For their entire lives teens have been subjected to teenagers in movies, books, music, and music videos trying to "fit in" with the crowd of their choice. It's natural that some teens would want to do the same thing.
     Some music and music videos have lyrics and elements of how popularity (or the lack thereof) affects teens, such as "Fly for A White Guy" by Offspring, which is about a guy who thinks that he's cool (but really isn't) and acts it, and "I'm Popular" by Nada Surf, which is about how the captain of the football team is the school role model and sex symbol. However, some teens commented that the music they listen to doesn't really affect their views on popularity.
     Movies show teen girls trying to make themselves into perfect beings so that they will have a chance at popularity. The movie Clueless features Tai, the scared new girl who becomes her popular friend Cher's Barbie doll. Cher completely makes her over into the person she "should" be. In the end, of course, the characters accepted Tai for who she was. That fairy-tale like ending seems to make teen girls believe that they, too, can make a drastic change if they just get the chance.
     "These days," said Yeager, "the best thing to do is just be yourself. I don't really know why some people worry. Everyone has friends and it doesn't really matter who it is."
Characters in movies, books, and television shows have usually been portrayed as rebellious loners, outcasts, nerds, and the popular crowd of jocks and cheerleaders. There has never been a happy medium. However, some schools are balanced out, such as the school Sabrina Lloyd attends, Forest High School.
     Lloyd said, "There isn't really a certain group that's popular in my school. I'm popular for my big mouth and because I'm friendly to everyone. Some groups have really mean standards, but we don't respect them, anyway. Then there's the people that everyone knows, but basically because they always have. They're popular because they always were."
     In high schools throughout the country, there are people with mean, high standards. Howard said that there is a large group of these people in her school. "We've got a lot of people at our school who think that they are really popular. There are a lot of snobs. Everyone knows who those people are, but that definitely doesn't mean that everybody likes them. Everybody's popular, but in their own crowd."
     While the majority of the students interviewed thought that teens do not place as much emphasis on becoming popular as society seems to think, one student had a different opinion.
     Chuck Geranimo, a sophomore at Ridgewood, said, "I think that some people do things because they're insecure and they think that the popular crowds will like them if they do what they want. I don't, but some of my friends do."
     Geranimo thinks that many students still believe that being in the popular crowd is the only way to lead a happy life. He said, "I mean, I've seen people do it. I've done it. But I just don't any more."