I see this example get brought up a lot. Is it really that common? I swore it was only me.
>You haven't been part of that so it's probably hard to understand how fundamental social media is to the lives of large groups of kids.
The problem as I see it is people's strange desire to be popular/center of others' attention instead of being themselves. I blame this mostly on physical bullying. Don't fit in? --> Bullied. Nobody wants to be bullied.
I've never noticed this problem in kids who aren't hooked up to their TV for five hours a day and spend most of their free time on personal hobbies instead of keeping up with the latest trends. This doesn't seem to be a problem among introverts that are fortunate enough to not be bullied in school.
Although in a largely extroverted world, I can see this being a problem for many people. They care too much about what others think about them.
People don't necessarily want to be popular/center of attention, but most (though not all) people want to be part of a social group. Humans are social animals, that's how we arose and that's how our closest cousins work.