For most people, we become a product of the things and people that we surround ourselves with. In previous decades, this included your family, your circle of friends, and what some clever marketing executives could convince you to think when you saw their ads. But today, there’s so much more sponsorship and branding and celebrity anywhere we look that it’s almost impossible to not have this pop culture seep into every aspect of your life, especially for teens or young adults. To show you just how pervasive this can be, here are three ways in which pop culture influences the everyday lives of young people.
Their Own Self Image and Self Worth
While modern technology has made many things easier in life, it’s also created bigger problems where they didn’t exist in the past. For example, it’s natural to spend some time comparing yourself to those around. However, with pop culture influences, young people now find that they’re comparing themselves to people who aren’t even all that real. It takes teams of people hours and hours to create the looks that we see on the red carpet or on our phone screens. But despite this, Bethany of ParentingInProgress.net reminds us that so many young adult—and adults alike—find their own self image or self-worth wrapped up in how they compare to these people they see on tv. While this can be helpful if you look up to someone who’s real and honest, it can be harmful if the person is manipulating their own image that the public sees.
Make Choices In Order To Replicate Celebrities
So much of people’s fashion choices or personal style can be attributed to what they’ve seen done in recent pop culture. According to Audrey Tramel, a contributor to LiveStrong.com, many young adults will see a celebrity they admire wearing a certain brand of clothes, dress in a particular style, or change their appearance in some way and will then want to replicate what that celebrity is doing in their own life. Sometimes, this mimicking is so subtle that people don’t even realize they’re doing it. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it can stunt young adults from discovering who they really are without these influences.
Finding Others With Similar Interests
On a more positive note, pop culture can also really help to bring people together who have similar interests but might not have naturally been drawn to one another. Thanks to both the ubiquity of certain parts of pop culture and the prevalence of social media, it’s now easy to find people all over the world who appreciate the same cultural phenomenons as you. According to Sre Ratha, a contributor to Medium.com, things like Comic-Con are proof that pop culture can turn from being something enjoyed on your own to something you’re able to share with other people.
To help you have a better understanding of how pop culture might be affecting your life, consider how you can see the information presented above in the ways you think and act.
