From Teenagers To Adults

Darn, it's Friday morning and there's no class today. Cool, but boring.

Let's see, what I want to share about life this morning? CCS readings are confusing me earlier today.

Oh ya, it's bizarre to know that the Jewish community in Israel once had the Internet banned in year 2000. Reasons to this fact? The Internet is "1000 times more dangerous than TVs", "a deadly poison that burns the soul", and "incites and encourages sin and abomination of its worst kind".

- Brey, 2006, "Evaluating The Social and Cultural Implications of The Internet", SIGCAS Computers and Society, Vol. 36, No. 3, Sept. 2006, pp. 41-48. :P

(This is Harvard Referencing System, by the way).

Back to my topic, do you realized that there is something different in your life right now? You feel that you have to behave more to others' expectations in this kind of age. The unspoken rules within you and your friends are getting stricter than before, as everyone nurtures themselves.

Once you break the rules, the others will be gossiping around without your knowledge and slowly they just get away from you.

Well, this is our period of transition from adolescent to adult. Like it or not, we all have to face this very fact. We still have to grow old, but make sure you are more matured along the way.

Being yourself is no longer a top priority. It's makes you comfortable to socialize with others, but what if the unspoken rules (group norms) are not compatible with you? Let's say, you mixed up with a group of smokers and you really like them, and yet you don't smoke, while they expect you to smoke. It's somehow a moral crisis between both sides - you and your group of friends.

Disclaimer: I have smoker friends, kay? I tolerate them in my real life case.

So, when you get to know new people, be sure to identify the unspoken rules, at least the basics, such as to speak politely to others at the beginning of your relationships. Slowly, as you enter conflict and disclosure phases, you will get to know your group well.

Of course, birds with the same feathers flock together. People who have one shared meaning will have sense of belonging to each other. My old friends are all dispersed and scattered around KL, duh! And I really miss them, I can only see them once in a while.

This is just to dig up what I'd learned in Social Psychology during my FICM Final Sem. It's a very useful subject to be practiced in your daily lives. Life's a learning process, so let us learn from each other. :)