A peer is considered to as a group in the society that has similar interests, age, background or social status. The members of this group are most likely to influence the person’s beliefs and behavior and so the term peer pressure means the influence that peers have on each other. Before the discussion of the aforementioned topic it’s important to note that despite the bad reputation associated with the term when discussing about the youth of today peer pressure can either be good or bad. Ubuntu is a term that is generally describes a perfect society, a society with oneness, a society that has love, truth, peace happiness, eternal optimism. From the very beginning of time the spirit of Ubuntu has guided the African nations and societies and without Ubuntu the societies will be engulfed with greed, pride, immorality and selfishness
In recent times it has been noted that peer pressure has been the leading factor which has been affecting our youths in our societies, Zimbabwe has seen a surge in the cases of the immoral activities in the todays societies which has exacerbated by the COVID 19 situation that has affected by the world over. It seems as if the pandemic has successfully passed through the ranks of our coulters and eroded our values, after the first surge of the pandemic the returning students in high schools trended on social media not for the good reasons. As I watched these videos it struck me to ask the question what has happened to the spirit of Ubuntu that should be instilled in the future generations or has the generation of our parents failed us but as I thought of all of that I saw that there is culprit that is pouncing on the youths and that culprit is peer pressure.
The urge to follow trends or to follow what are other peers doing at that particular time has led to some of us throwing out our values through the windows. We have seen extreme cases of alcohol abuse, underage prostitution and even prostitution among the adult youths. Gone are the days when the youths used to uphold the spirit of “hunhu” among themselves, the days when these recent activities were deemed as shameful and unacceptable to the society. It is known that these recent changes have been a result of the evolving times and the recent technological advancements where some things we deemed as private or taboo is being paraded all over the social media where has the spirit of “hunhu” gone ladies and gents…???
On the other side we have seen the peer pressure working in the favor of the spirit of Ubuntu as the current economic climate in Zimbabwe requires as observed in the surge of young business minded people who are hungry for success and in the process these youths have been successful in pulling some of the youths from the depths of poverty. We have also seen a surge in the surge of female run businesses such as Claire cakes and Illios wear to mention a few which is a dynamic shift from the prominent male dominated industry to an all-inclusive business environment.
In a nutshell, here is the piece of advice that I wanna share to you my young fellas, To be elevated, you need to intentionally separate yourself from the things that hold you back the moment you try to go forward. The truth of the matter is everyone is not willing to grow with you or can’t take your growth. During this time , that’s when you need to be serious about what you want to be in the future because if you don’t you might end spending the rest of your life pursuing things that will never benefit you.
We all want to be successful. We all have strong desires to do better, to improve ourselves, to have a better life. But have we ever looked around ourselves?? Have we ever looked at some environments we live in? Have we ever looked deeper in our circles? Have we ever asked ourselves what’s dragging us down? Are we aware of our potential? We have every reason to surround ourselves with people that reflect who we want to be. Have you ever been in moments where you doubt yourself, feel less motivated, and even feeling low? Lose your identity?
Source: Tinashe Nyamushanya
