Peer pressure: Gen Z's invisible roommate
Recently, during a workshop for students at a school in Noida, a Class 11 girl had a strange query: 'How do I get rid of my friends?' This question was shocking.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
She was asked why she wanted to get rid of her friends.
Chandra Shekhar Varma
'I feel stressed when I'm with them. They're constantly talking about their fancy gadgets, their visits to the new café, or trying weird stuff,' she answered. She was clearly under immense stress caused by her peers, who, without intending to, were creating emotional trauma for her.
If there's one roommate Gen Z didn't ask for but can't seem to get rid of, it's 'peer pressure'.
It doesn't bang on your door. It quietly slips into your DMs, your reels, your playlist, even your gym routine.
Back in the day, peer pressure was mostly about who's bringing the bigger lunch box or how someone scored higher in the board exams. Today, it sounds more like: 'Why aren't you building a startup at 17, going on solo trips, posting Reels, and being emotionally evolved'.
No generation in history has had this much access to each other's lives.
A single scroll can make you feel like you're behind in a race you never even signed up for. Your best friend is interning at Google. Someone from school is launching a podcast. And there you are, just proud of being able to cook your noodles.
The problem is that this constant comparison isn't inspiring. It's exhausting. You're not just expected to succeed; you must look like you're succeeding. In a story. In a frame. With the right filter.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Even failure should be aesthetic now.
And it's not just about careers. From body image to hobbies, politics to playlists, there's a silent social scoreboard running in the background. Even your tastes are under peer surveillance.
But here's the twist. Peer pressure survives because we keep giving it power. It feeds on our silence, our scrolling, our need to belong.
So, what do we do? First, let's normalise not doing everything at once.
Not every 23-yearold needs to be a founder or a philosopher. It's okay if your greatest achievement today was cleaning your room. That's growth too.
Second, curate your feed like you'd curate your plate. Not everything that's trending is good for your system. Third, talk about it. Peer pressure thrives in echo chambers. Break the echo. Say it out loud, 'I don't want to do that'.
And that's okay. Finally, remember that growth is not a group project. You can cheer for others without comparing timelines. You are the best version of yourself. You don't need a trend check.
(The writer is a behavioural scientist, leadership coach and a relationship counsellor)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NDTV
23 minutes ago
- NDTV
Viral Video Shows Rat Eating Ice Cream Cone At 7-Eleven Outlet In Mumbai
A video widely shared on social media has sparked concern among food lovers, especially in Mumbai. Posted on Reddit by user @Parking-Version9167, the clip reportedly shows two large rats inside the 7-Eleven outlet at Seawoods station in Navi Mumbai. "This is the 7/11 branch at Seawoods, Nexus Mall (sic)," the user wrote. The video, shot through the glass window of the store's kitchen, shows a rat climbing out of a mug and another chewing on an ice cream cone. "Just saw a bunch of rats eating at 7/11 store in Seawoods," the user captioned the video, adding, "I am absolutely disgusted. My friend and I were about to get ice cream when I saw this. International franchise hai ye seriously? I don't know what to do. So just posting this on Reddit for now. Isko viral kardo. Our health cannot be taken lightly. And stop eating any fast food from 7/11 outlets. Their quality control is going down the drain." The user added, "Imagine the number of people who had coffee and ice cream here, including me. Avoid buying anything from here!" Just saw a bunch of rats eating at 7/11 store in seawoods by u/Parking-Version9167 in navimumbai Disclaimer: NDTV does not vouch for the claims in the post by the Reddit user. The video has shocked viewers online. Some reactions from the comments section: One user wrote, "Report to FSSAI, bro, this is insane!" Another said, "I'm skipping this whole mall now." A third user commented, "Omg. Thank you for sharing this. I'll never visit that outlet again. You should also upload that video to Google Maps so more people can see it. Add a scathing bad review, and it'll make a big difference. I hear corporate is pretty quick to respond to reviews, so hopefully some action is taken." A concerned Redditor added, "You can't trust anything that is not cooked in your home." NDTV has reached out to 7-Eleven for a response. The company is yet to issue a statement.
Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Family planning
George J Summers is the author of several books on puzzles, including Mensa puzzles, but I could not find any biographical information on him from either a Google search or an AI query. The publication dates of his books cover a wide period from the 1960s to about a decade ago. Welcome to Problematics I have adapted the following puzzle from one of his books. I found it quite tough in its original form, and have added an embellishment in the hope that it will make the puzzle slightly simpler. You may need some hit and trial alongside logical deduction to solve it. #Puzzle 154.1 Mrs Anand, Mrs Bora and Mrs Chopra are schoolmates who meet for the first time in about 20 years. They catch up on one another's lives, careers and families. All of them are married with children, and each one has at least one daughter and more sons than daughters. In other words: (1) Mrs Anand has twice as many sons as daughters. (2) Mrs Bora has three more sons than daughters. (3) Mrs Chopra has three times as many sons as daughters. I ran into one of the three women the other day, and she gave me the above updates from their conversation. 'How many children do the three of you have in total?' I wondered. She gave me a number less than 25. 'Thank you,' I said. 'Now I know the exact number of sons and daughters you have. This means I also know the total number of children between your two friends, but I don't know their individual totals.' The woman helped me with more information: 'My friend Mrs Bora has the fewest children among the three of us.' 'Ah,' I said, 'now I know the number of children each of you has.' Which of the three did I meet, and who has how many children? #Puzzle 154.2 A woman and her two children are invited to lunch by the woman's sister who lives in the next town. They start out from home at the same time. The daughter cycles at a brisk 15 kph and reaches her aunt's home one hour before the appointed lunch hour. The son, who is new to cycling, travels at 10 km/h and arrives one hour late for lunch, much to his aunt's annoyance. The mother, a veteran at solving Problematics puzzles, cycles at just the right speed that allows her to reach her sister's home exactly at lunch hour. What is the mother's speed? MAILBOX: LAST WEEK'S SOLVERS #Puzzle 153.1 Hi Kabir, The four statements are re-written below with person names only (place names are removed). (1) If Chitra is married then either Apsara or Bonnie is married but not both (2) If neither Apsara nor Chitra is married then Bonnie must be married (3) If Apsara is married then Bonnie and Chitra are both unmarried (4) Bonnie is unmarried if both Apsara and Chitra are unmarried From statements (2) and (4), we can infer that Apsara and Chitra (either of them or possibly both) are married. However, statement (3) rules out the possibility of both Apsara and Chitra being married. Therefore, either Apsara or Chitra is married, but not both. Now based on who among these two is married, we have either of the following two possibilities - If Chitra is married and Apsara is unmarried, then Bonnie is married [according to (1)]. If Apsara is married and Chitra is unmarried, then Bonnie is unmarried [according to (3)]. In summary, EITHER Apsara is married and both Bonnie and Chitra are unmarried, OR Apsara is unmarried and both Bonnie and Chitra are married. (PS: After looking at the 27 July 2025 edition of Problematics, I realised that although I had written up the solutions for Puzzle #152. 1 and #152.2, I had forgotten to mail them.) — Professor Anshul Kumar, New Delhi # Puzzle 153.2 Hi Kabir, The number is 6210001000. It has six 0s, two 1s, one 2 and one 6. — Shishir Gupta, Indore Solved both puzzles: Professor Anshul Kumar (Delhi), Shishir Gupta (Indore), Dr Sunita Gupta (Delhi), Ajay Ashok (Delhi), Vinod Mahajan (Delhi), Shri Ram Aggarwal (Delhi) Solved Puzzle #153.1: Yadvendra Somra (Sonipat), Rituparna Gupta (Indore) Solved Puzzle #153.2: Dr Vivek Jain (Baroda) Problematics will be back next week. Please send in your replies by Friday noon to problematics@
Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Peer pressure: Gen Z's invisible roommate
By: Chandra Shekhar Varma Recently, during a workshop for students at a school in Noida, a Class 11 girl had a strange query: 'How do I get rid of my friends?' This question was shocking. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now She was asked why she wanted to get rid of her friends. Chandra Shekhar Varma 'I feel stressed when I'm with them. They're constantly talking about their fancy gadgets, their visits to the new café, or trying weird stuff,' she answered. She was clearly under immense stress caused by her peers, who, without intending to, were creating emotional trauma for her. If there's one roommate Gen Z didn't ask for but can't seem to get rid of, it's 'peer pressure'. It doesn't bang on your door. It quietly slips into your DMs, your reels, your playlist, even your gym routine. Back in the day, peer pressure was mostly about who's bringing the bigger lunch box or how someone scored higher in the board exams. Today, it sounds more like: 'Why aren't you building a startup at 17, going on solo trips, posting Reels, and being emotionally evolved'. No generation in history has had this much access to each other's lives. A single scroll can make you feel like you're behind in a race you never even signed up for. Your best friend is interning at Google. Someone from school is launching a podcast. And there you are, just proud of being able to cook your noodles. The problem is that this constant comparison isn't inspiring. It's exhausting. You're not just expected to succeed; you must look like you're succeeding. In a story. In a frame. With the right filter. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Even failure should be aesthetic now. And it's not just about careers. From body image to hobbies, politics to playlists, there's a silent social scoreboard running in the background. Even your tastes are under peer surveillance. But here's the twist. Peer pressure survives because we keep giving it power. It feeds on our silence, our scrolling, our need to belong. So, what do we do? First, let's normalise not doing everything at once. Not every 23-yearold needs to be a founder or a philosopher. It's okay if your greatest achievement today was cleaning your room. That's growth too. Second, curate your feed like you'd curate your plate. Not everything that's trending is good for your system. Third, talk about it. Peer pressure thrives in echo chambers. Break the echo. Say it out loud, 'I don't want to do that'. And that's okay. Finally, remember that growth is not a group project. You can cheer for others without comparing timelines. You are the best version of yourself. You don't need a trend check. (The writer is a behavioural scientist, leadership coach and a relationship counsellor)
