Influences are all around us but one of the most powerful influences in a teen's life is his or her peers. Teens hang out with their peers all the time, but if you hang out with the wrong crowd their influence can change who you are. If you hang out with peers that encourage you to be yourself and do the right it will be easier to make the right decisions when the time comes.
In "By any other name" (Paragraph 4, Line 6) "I should ask my mother if I could wear a dress to school, instead of my Indian clothes." A young Indian girl named Santha had to go to an English school when she was five years old. Within the first day of school Santha was peer pressured into not being herself. When all the English girls looked at her with disgust, she tried to change herself by changing her style to please others, not herself. Santha's culture and heritage was challenged when she was peer pressured into changing her style.
In a personal experience, I did the same thing Santha did but to a higher extent, during my freshman year of high school. My first day of school I was able to be myself until some sophomores made fun of me; after a couple of weeks I started to try and change myself to please others. It took me a whole year and a half of being picked on and peer pressured to realize that not being true to myself was worse than being myself. To this day I get picked on for being myself and get peer pressured into doing something I don't want to do, like change my style, the way I talk, or in general change my whole being.
Peer pressure is present in every corner of the globe, the work place, and school, but peer pressure is harder for teens because a lot of teens haven't truly discovered who they are yet. Most teens are still trying to fit in to their environment. People don't see how many teens are still being pressured to change their culture and their whole identity. Most teens today need to learn to be themselves and keep their cultural identity true.
So your peers can influence you in every way possible if you let them but, your peers aren't the only thing that can influence you; social media, television, and your family can also impact you. So when you are being peer pressured the best thing to do is stand up for yourself; and stay true to your cultural identity.
"Just Be Yourself!" -E.M.P
