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| "I Feel" (2016) by Dan Witz |
Whether this is true or not, and whether Smarsh's mother would agree with this characterization, it is rarely the case that someone who is "caught up in a cultural tide" sees herself as making a decision on this basis. In other words, when you are swept up in the cultural tide, you still believe that the choices you are making are wise and well-informed. It is only much later, if at all, that someone can see, with the advantage of hindsight, that their decisions may have been shaped by a groundswell of enthusiasm around them.
With this in mind, can you think of any time in your life that you have felt enthusiastic about something because you were swept up in a cultural tide of some kind and only later, when you had some distance from it and were better-informed, did you regret that enthusiasm?
If you can't think of any examples like this, do you think it is because you are generally resistant to the pull of the crowd or is it because you find it painful to admit that you are sometimes vulnerable to it?
Personally I believe I am generally resistant to only going with the flow without being informed first. I am not one that is persuaded by peer pressure easily so I think that is way I do not just follow the crowd. I can see how people do make decisions based on what is popular, they don’t have to think and maybe trust the people who made the decision so going with the flow works for them.
ReplyDeleteAs humans we all are guilty of jumping on the band wagon and then perhaps regretting the enthusiasm later. I feel like this happens with children a lot, or at least I can think of many examples in my childhood. I was in soccer and cheerleading as a young child and was excited for it, but when it was over I realized I had ridden the dreams of all the other 4th graders who wanted to be cheerleaders or soccer players as well.
ReplyDelete-Kaylee Thoma
I can definitely admit I have been swept up in a cultural tide a time or two. Years ago when I was on the basketball team, we were having a team bonding sleepover and one of the girls suggested that we should all dip dye the ends of our hair different colors. At the time, no one gave a second thought as to whether this would be a good idea in the long run. So, we all dyed the ends of our hair and went home the next day. I was excited to show my parents my new hair show them how its like the basketball girls version of friendship bracelets, but they were definitely not impressed. They were not only upset that I dyed it without permission, but that I dyed it a crazy color. While we were in the moment, I was so caught up and enthusiastic about it that it did not even cross my mind that maybe this is not such a good idea and can lead to negative repercussions. Now in hindsight, I wish I could've convinced myself not to go through with it because it only led to bigger problems in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI believe that everyone, at some point in time, will be caught up in a cultural tide. Childhood and adolescent years is where most people will be caught up in this tide because those years are the most socially developmental years. I remember when I was in sixth grade, I tried out for little league basketball. I remember being excited and making the team. Looking back at it now, I realized that I tried out because most of my friends were trying out and I wanted to do it with them. Now that I have grown up, I have very little interest in sports as a whole, and that many of my excitement for it when I was younger was purely based on the need to "fit in" with my family and peers.
ReplyDeleteI have gotten caught up in what other people thought was cool many times in my life. As someone who has always sort of stuck out, I tried really hard to make my classmates like me. For example, I played basketball and softball when I was younger because the people in my class did as well. I hated sports, and I was not good at them either. As I've gotten older and more comfortable with myself, I sometimes find myself looking back on those times and getting really embarrassed by how much I wanted the other children to approve of me. I do not like to think about times when I cared so much about other people's opinions. However, I think it is important to admit that I used to be very vulnerable to what is considered trendy.
ReplyDeleteI do believe that I have been caught up in a tide before. Elementary and middle school were the years when I was extremely focused on fitting in and acting like others. As I matured through my high school years, I realized that I need to stop being like everyone else and ride my own wave. I think it is human nature to try to blend in with the group and to be like everyone else. We long for a sense of belonging in our communities. But we shouldn't have that mindset, because everyone is unique.
ReplyDeleteWho hasn’t been swept up into cultural tides? I know I definitely have. They’re everywhere without us even realizing it. Personally, I think some cultural tides are fun! I love being like “Remember when we all had feathers in our hair?” or “Omg! Remember silly bands!”. Of course, there are other cultural tides that aren’t so fun. For instance, when it was cool to enslave people because they weren’t the same color. That’s not fun at all to look back on. I think one cultural tide I look back on and regret is excluding certain people that the whole class had deemed “weird”. I know I personally never caused someone to feel lonely and excluded, but I fell in line with the system that did. I wish I would’ve been the person to step out and say hi to the outcast. I wasn’t a popular kid, but I had plenty of friends and I wasn’t hated; I was scared that if I did break the system, I would’ve been considered a weirdo too. Now, I think it would’ve been cooler to be one of the weird ones.
ReplyDeleteI believe all of us, as young adults, can say that we have all found ourselves “caught up in the cultural tide”. For me, an example of this was high school prom. All of my classmates talked it up to make it seem like this was going to be the greatest event of your life, when in reality most of those people sat at tables all night glancing at the empty dance floor. Everyone assumed that if you didn’t go you would be deemed a “loser”, but I personally would have preferred saving the money from buying an expensive dress and using it for something I was sure to love. I think that we sometimes go along with this because everyone around us is saying that it is the right way to go, like when Smarsh’s mother made her voting decision. It is easier to just go along with it, because sometimes we don’t know any other way or do not want to stick out.
ReplyDeleteBeing “caught up in the tide” is a common occurrence throughout humanity as a whole. The whole idea of fads or things that become popular is because a large portion of the population decided that this specific thing is valuable in one way or another. There are plenty of examples of this ranging from what political party you are and in return, how you vote to what religion you are. All of these things, for the most part, are constructions you made in retaliation to what surrounds you. I used to be an avid conservative and I wasn't the most informed when it came to politics and policy. I thought that because my parents were more conservative meant that I had to be. Now that I look back and realize that I was just following the ideals of my parents and not my own, I am a little ashamed. Not because I was saying that I was a republican but because I was ill informed and spreading a false message of how I thought I felt.
ReplyDeleteLydia, I can really relate to your example of politics and policy. Like you, I also grew in following the same exact mindset of my parents. It was not until I grew older, and started getting exposed to different times of media, whether it be different news channels or books that I didn’t have access to before, that I learned to try and become informed on political and social topics. Especially before going out into the world to share an opinion.
DeleteI believe that everyone has jumped on board with something just because it was popular at the time, especially in their young teenage years. Maybe not something as important as a vote in a presidential election but most people have participated in a silly trend they may later end up regretting. I have a very difficult time telling people no and I often just agree to what people ask me to do, even if it is not something I'm super excited about. For example, I played several sports throughout my childhood because friends would tell me to join their sports teams. I ended up quitting all them because even though it sounded like a fun idea, I always regretting joining the team. In hindsight, I don't regret trying all the things my friends convinced me to try because they were not permanent decisions.
ReplyDeleteOne example of myself being swept up in a cultural tide is when I was a child and I begged my mom to let me get my ears pierced. My friends all had pierced ears, and it has been a cultural norm for girls to get them pierced at a young age for a long time. Looking back, I regret that enthusiasm a bit because I only wanted them so I would fit in, and now I’m not really concerned about that. It’s easy to get swept up and jump onto a bandwagon, especially when you’re young, but even older people who have more experience can be caught up in the beliefs of their community or peers.
ReplyDeleteI think more so today, the cultural tide has to do with more materialistic things. I think name brands are seen so valuable, because of the way society lifts them up. I have seen some shoes that cost $600 or more, and they are some of the ugliest shoes I've seen. I think when celebrities, and people of the higher class where things like that, more people want it just because someone famous has them. Then the prices go up to extremes because so many people want to be like their favorite celebrity. A cultural tide occurs, and a shoe many people see as not worth very much costs a fortune.
ReplyDeleteI believe everyone has gotten caught up in "cultural tides" at some point in their life, especially when we were younger. One time in probably 7th grade, my best friend and I cut our own hair to fit in with the style at the time. Looking back of course we were like "what were we thinking?", but the memories that come with the cultural tides are fun. I have definitely been a more reserved, people watcher, type of person. Now that I'm older I tend to do what is different, pave my own way if you may.
ReplyDeleteGetting caught up in "cultural tide" is pretty common among people, especially children and young adults. We all get caught up in it somehow at some point in our lives. One example of the time where I have been caught up in cultural tide is when I was in 9th grade. I was so caught up in being a freshmen and new to the school that I just tried to do everything even if I hated it. Because a lot of people that I knew played sports, I tried out for tennis which I liked to play from time to time. At first, I was very enthusiastic and excited to try something that most of my friends were doing. However, soon I was miserable playing it in a team. I realized I was simply doing it because a lot of people participated in sports, and I wanted to fit in with them. I have since learned to find what it is that I like and participate in what makes me happy.
ReplyDelete-Pooja Neupane
I usually do not get involved in a “cultural tide” dealing with politics. I make sure I have information about the candidates before I vote. I am registered as a Republican, but if the Democratic candidate has better plans and intentions, I will vote against my party if I can. I believe that the majority is not always correct. On a non-political level, when people are sharing viral videos or talking about awesome movies, I become influenced to go watch the video or movie. People also tell me the best products I should buy, and I take their word for it most of the time. I would count this as a “cultural tide” because I am being swayed by opinionated thoughts of the majority. The Internet can instantly bring someone into a “cultural tide” with the advertisements. Suddenly a certain brand is the only brand you need to have in your home today. It is unbelievable to think about how much society shapes people’s minds.
ReplyDeleteI've been caught up in a tide before. In middle school my friends wanted to play basketball and join cheer leading so I joined with them since they were going to then later realized it was a bad idea when I could do neither of these activities well. It was just easier to blend in when I was younger than do my own thing.
ReplyDelete-Aimee Wood
To give a silly example, I feel like as young girls, we felt a social pressure to be into whatever band was in at that time: The Jonas Brothers, One Direction, Justin Bieber, etc. Our friends and, it seemed like, everyone around us was so crazy about a particular music artist at specific times, and you felt almost left out if you did not, yourself, fan-girl over them. Looking back, I can definitely say One Direction's music lacked creativity, tune, and all-around quality. At that time, however, I felt as if they hung the moon (for no particular reason).
ReplyDeleteAs for The Jonas Brothers, their music will always be spectacular, no argument.
This is a fascinating and perfectly encapsulating example of normal, everyday people being "swept away" due to social pressure and what they think others want to see out of them. As we get older and our minds mature, we realize the hindrances that we put on ourselves when we give in to this. We sacrifice our true selves based on nothing else but the "rave." I think that this is why, when we get older, we tend to feel more comfortable exploring and enjoying our own musical choices, and I also think that this is why, when people who don't allow such hindrances comes into contact with those who do happen to enjoy the most popular songs on the radio, those actualized persons, or those who at least think they are actualized, tend to form a culture against those who they perceive as "not actualized" and/or "still musically immature" and end up forming an "alternate" culture. Too often, though, people start blindly following the most popular alternate "raves" and become the aforementioned "pretenders." Thus some try to distance themselves from that and the cycle continues.
DeleteThis bring forth another point that I would like to touch on. This is the process by which culture and society evolves and changes. Those who feel they are elite find ways to make themselves different from the rest. As more people realize and adopt these things that are perceived as "quirky" (i.e. music) and "exclusive" (i.e. more tangible things like airline tickets that only the super rich can afford) the elites find ways to distance themselves from those things and/or improve those things to yet another level of exclusivity. This cycle continues and rapidly speeds up when a society is cast into an overstimulating, rave-obsessed, social dominance hurricane that is America today. So, hoping not to stray too far off topic, I ask anyone who wishes to answer: Has technology really helped the common man, or has it once again given the rich an excuse to be richer and caused the poor to once again lose themselves trying to catch up?
Long way from a chat about the Jonas Brothers, eh?
I do believe you can get “swept up” in an idea or a system of beliefs. Especially as young adults who are trying to find their way in the world and want to fit in in as many ways as possible. I know I for one have had this happen to me. I rushed a fraternity last Fall without even thinking about the decision. I did it because it seemed like a good thing to do, and it sounded very nice to me. I never stopped to think about the cost, how it would affect my life, or anything a rational person would consider. They recruited me and I kind of just went for it. I did end up dropping, but it took me a while to actually take a step back and think about what was going on in my life. I think I also did this when I joined the Army. My roommate was in and he kind of put the idea in my head. Conveniently around that same time I realized I was going to have a lot of trouble paying for college, and I knew the National Guard pays students very well. So I think I went with the flow a little bit there as well. I don’t regret either decision, but I think they are good examples.
ReplyDeleteI know that i have been pressured into believing certain things because of my family or rarely, friends. I hardly fall into peer pressure because i am very careful and i like to think my agemates are not knowledgeable enough to advise me. However, i get caught up in cultural ties of my family especially because i have always thought that they are always right. For example, my aunts always talked about how a certain ethnic group in Nigeria were so inhospitable. I subconsciously avoided people from there.Later on when i saw for myself and finally got to interact with them, i found out it was a stereotype and enjoyed their company. i regret not getting to meet others and judging based on hearsay. Sometimes cultural tide may be true, sometimes not. Even when they are true, they do not apply to everyone. As difficult as it may sound, I just strive to see things for myself before judging.
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