Breaking the Chains

Last year my friends and I received an assignment from our Psychology teachers to break a social norm, and see how people would react. Some of our classmates did crazy things like paying for things in the mall with monopoly money, wearing a banana suit to walk around the city, or pouring jugs of milk all over themselves as they walked across the street.

This assignment was without a doubt the most fun assignment I received during my high school tenure, but it also showed me just how judgmental people are. Students were laughed at, glared at, and gawked at. Instead of leaving people to their own business, no matter how strange that business is, my classmates and I were judged and criticized for our crazy stunts.

Some things were as simple as standing in a line backwards. Wearing a heavy winter coat in summer weather. Sitting with strangers and asking them how their day was. Even these simple deviances received dirty glares and rude comments.

Since when did deviating from societal norms warrant scrutiny and criticism?

I am in no way free of this sin. I criticize and gossip just as much as the next girl, but this project exposed me to that personal flaw. If someone wants to walk around the mall in a banana suit, who am I to tell them it’s wrong? That they should feel ashamed to be doing so?

In my short time on this planet, I have come to realize that the people who are willing to break societal norms and not give a crap about how people treat them for it are the happiest. One of my happiest friends is willing to die her hair a million different shades of greens, blues, and reds, walks around wearing purple and turquoise leggings, and hates anything even remotely classically feminine.  She is in no way the stereotypical teenage girl, and receives daily criticisms about it. The secret to her managing to stay happy despite the rude comments she gets? She doesn’t care about what other people think.

Breaking societal norms will always come with some sort of scrutiny, because that’s human nature. If something is out of the ordinary, it draws attention. So, if someone consciously decides that they’re going to run around pouring cartons of milk on their head, they have to be prepared for some sort of backlash attention.

This leads me to believe that perhaps there isn’t just an issue with oppressive societal expectations here. Maybe there’s also an issue of hypersensitivity. People have become so sensitive about what other’s think about them, that it’s nearly impossible to make any comment about them without being offensive.

Its sounds to me that everyone just needs a big dose of “mind your own business.” People shouldn’t criticize others based on their decision to break free from social norms. On the other hand, breaking societal norms will always draw attention, so people need to be prepared for that. If everyone could just focus on their own business, and not let the actions or comments of others become their business, maybe we could all get along.