Popularity and the Aftermath

Popularity is a seemingly infinite want among young teens. They think that with popularity comes the girls or boys, the money, the glory, and power (dominance), but that is hardly the case in some instances. Being popular brings about effects that can be both good and beneficial or bad and destructive.

When someone is popular, most people thinks of them as an idol or someone to look up to. That is not always the right thing to do. People should not idolize other people in place or God or another deity of a different religion. Since I am Catholic, I am taught it is wrong to hold a thing or another person over God, but for people who do not have religion in their lives, looking up to someone popular may not be a good thing, depending on the person. If they are a rebel and into drugs and other bad things then looking up to them could cause you to take part in those bad things or ones similar. Now if looking up to a good person, then this could lead you down the right path and you may improve on a bad quality of your character.

Popularity is not just an effect on the bystanders, but the victim of popularity as well. Do not take me wrong, being popular in some matters can be good, but not always as I have already stated.

If someone is unwillingly popular they could be driven to great extent mentally and have a breakdown or some other catastrophic event take place in their life due to being popular. The popular person also has great standards to uphold by admirers which are not always the best standards. Another bad quality of popularity is being constantly pestered and harassed by admirers. When this happens to someone they get no privacy at all. Some people value their privacy, so this could become and lead to a problem. When a popular person is harassed and begged for certain things, they tend to do wrong and sometimes unthinkable things. This could lead to hurt of the person them self or the people around him or her.

Popularity can be good in some cases. I have picked up that when trying to win a contest that requires votes, being popular allows you to win almost sure thing. When watching a show like the Grammy's, the celebrities who are the most popular among the viewers tend to win more than others who are not quite as popular. If being popular allows you to influence others to do the right thing, then that is one great benefit of popularity. Popularity can also help you get your point across when dealing with certain subjects and others will be bound to follow and support you.

So as you can see, being popular is not always the best thing to be, but sometimes it is. With great reputation comes great responsibility and the person who has the rep. is the one who chooses to uphold the responsibility. Think before wanting to become popular, for as stated, it is not always the best to be.