From the day we were born, we were taught. Taught either by others or by ourselves from our own observations. And as we became toddlers who would start to interact with others, most of us started learning the same thing–manners. How we should eat, talk to others, treat our adults, etc.. The older we become the more those manners and certain behaviors were instilled in us–but of course everyone is individual and don’t behave the same for many different reasons. I’m here to explore some of those reasons.

To start we have school. The one thing most of us have been in most our life starting around the age four or five (maybe younger if you were in pre-school). In our younger years of school we, of course, are taught more manners, the alphabet, basic math, and also morals–like “treat others the way you want to be treated”. We also start to interact with other kids with different backgrounds, which also influences you. As you get older and start building your personality the people you hang out with start affecting your individuality. Sometimes you naturally share similar behaviors with those you hangout with, and sometimes you choose to change yourself to fit in. School and frriends have influenced your behavior up till now.    

You also can’t expect me to write about this topic without including social media. Social media, the easiest platforms for expressing yourself, and a pretty effective tool for influence. With many different opinions out there, plus the algorithm, it’s easy for social media to give you content “fit” for you based on what information it has about you. This means you are bound to eventually get influenced by what you see, and even change your behavior. On social media there are also lots of content related to beauty standards, clothes, celebrities–and there are lots of filters available. Some people, being exposed to the bad side of this content, might also which change the way they behave and approach those beauty standards, and even change their physical appearance to match the beauty standards. For example, some who keeps seeing posts about plump lip challenges might start to feel self-conscious about their thin lips, and self-consciousness makes us act less confident and sometimes more akward. And then to feel better they might use make-up, temporary lip plumpers, or even get lip-fillers.  

“How is Our Decorum Conditioned?”