The Power of Peer Pressure

When we think about the phrase "peer pressure," we often envision a group of teens encouraging their friend to do drugs, drink the alcohol, or steal from the store. While these are certainly scenarios that happen, peer pressure is something that we all face. In case you hadn't seen or heard, there was a TikTok trend called the "milk crate challenge" where people tried to walk on stacked milk crates. These challenges ended with people wiping out in glorious fashion. Unfortunately, many people had to go to the hospital, had concussions, or were seriously injured. Why did these people (mainly adults and young adults) risk their health to do something this dumb? The answer is that they wanted to prove that they could do what others could not do and succeed. The added pressure was to do this for the camera.

Though teens are more susceptible to peer pressure from friends because they want to validate their identity, this challenge showed that social media can place tremendous pressure on people to do things that they would never do without this pressure. This is why peer pressure can be such a negative thing. It can encourage us to do things that we know are wrong, dumb, or just not worthwhile. When we speak with teens on this topic, we remind them that their choices have consequences that they have to face for any and every decision. On the other hand, we also encourage them that not all peer pressure is bad. We need friends that encourage and "pressure" us to make healthy decisions. These are the friends that see us starting to step on milk crates and tell us to stop and think about this choice. Instead of viewing all pressure as a negative thing, we need to surround ourselves with people that will encourage us to do the right thing. Does your teen have these type of friends? I hope so!