By Karen Phan, Staff Writer
With the Internet at our fingertips, information reaches us immediately. We don’t hesitate to catch onto the latest fad, whether it be fashion or technology. Of the many factors that contribute to popularizing trends, curiosity and conformity do the best of illustrating our natural desire to fit in by following trends.
Trends are part of popular culture, which is found in modern, diverse societies that share certain habits despite personal differences. Due to the dominance of popular culture worldwide, many societies tend to follow similar trends to keep up with the contemporary world. For example, although McDonald’s is a major American fast food chain, it has locations in over 50 countries.
Why we follow such elements of popular culture comes down to curiosity and conformity. Trends rapidly diffuse and gain popularity because they are new and interesting. They’re a major player of promoting change and give people the sense that they are fitting in.
“We’re drawn to the new and novel, to things that provide a feeling of change, and, perhaps, progress,” says London-based fashion historian Rebecca Arnold.
Trends are appealing and accepted by many, thus evoking curiosity from those who have yet to catch on. The fear of missing out (FOMO) is common now, especially among teenagers because of technology. The Internet allows information to get to us instantly, however not all are able to experience certain things, and this can be overwhelming. This phobia drives people to obsessively keep up with trends to have a presence in society.
“We also want to belong – to be part of something recognizable – and there is no more obvious way to demonstrate this than through your clothes,” says Arnold.
Arnold’s theory proposes that conformity is a result of following trends. The psychology behind the neural mechanisms of social conformity have yet to be explained, but it’s been proven that humans naturally like patterns and consistency.
“We often change our decisions and judgements to conform with normative group behaviour,” said Dr Vasily Klucharev, from the FC Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging in the Netherlands.
The December edition of Nature: Human Behavior reports that humans dislike breaks in social patterns, therefore causing hate, prejudice and discrimination. Those who are not part of the status quo may feel obligated to conform. In some sense, trends promote consistency and make people feel connected.
At school we see many students who have checkered Vans, mom jeans and the latest iPhone. The uniformity among our peers speaks volumes about the influence of trends, and suggests that in order to keep up with the ever changing world, we also have to change and accept new concepts.
