The Social Factor & The Importance of Personality

Most people get on social media to connect with their friends. That's what it's supposed to do right? Friends can connect through the normal online interaction (liking & commenting), doing the same trends together, or just sharing photos of each other. But where is the balance between connecting with friends and succumbing to the influence of friends?

It's not necessarily peer pressure, but there is a certain level of influence our friends have over us. In fact, "Your brain is constantly picking up on cues from the people around you to inform your behaviour,"according to Future BBC. These signals could be anything from the joy you get when you find out their is a shared feeling or the utter disappointment you feel when they diss something you love - but they do influence your behavior.

"In my friend, I find a second self" - Isabel Norton

If your best friend doesn't like your number one, favorite artist it can be hard to get along sometimes. Who would play music in the car then? Oftentimes, people will try to avoid the disconnects by letting it slide and listening to artists they hate for the sake of their friend. Overtime, however, they grow more accustomed to it - eventually liking it. While it can help the relationship, the person bending is losing a little bit of themselves.

We see this even more on social media. Everyone doing the trends because they are trending, after they didn't like the sound in the first place, has succumb to peer influence. There's a "cool" factor when someone takes part in a trend, but if it's not your own then you're not truly expressing yourself through that medium.

So, when you're thinking about following a trend be sure to do it in your own way.

What you post or do should align with you and your personality. There's only one you -

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Listen to this week's episode of #GoingViral for a similar message!