Why does everyone strive to be like everyone else?

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It seems like everyone compares themselves to other people and wants what they have. I see so many young people getting married and having kids these days. I have a lot of Facebook friends and everyday it seems like someone is getting engaged or having kids. These people are in their early 20s or even younger than 20. It seems like they are only doing these things because they see all their peers doing doing them, not because they actually want to or are ready for them. I will bet that 99% of these marriages will end in divorce somewhere down the road. When you are in your 20s you are still developing. Nobody truly knows what they want when they are young. You are still trying to establish yourself. I think it is damaging to try and compare yourself to others. You lose sight as to what you really want or who you truly are by comparing yourself to other people and striving to have what they have. There is nothing wrong with getting married or having kids, but you should do those things when you are ready, not because all of your peers are doing them. That goes with anything in life. You shouldn't compare yourself to others and strive to have what they have even if it is not what you truly want or are ready for.

For the man it is evil. For the woman xx winter is not yong. It has long ago been that machines new wises wrought. Look not carefully on it say I, but know that lying on the earth abides the true way,; and when the machines be thrown down and man and the mother all for their sin chaste, then shall man again nearer be the beast; and he shall take his share, nor more.

People imitate each other because the media promotes conformity.

We are trained to hate people who are different.

I have no desire to be like everyone else. Being different can be worn like a badge of honour.

Uniformity stifles creativity, for one thing. We shouldn't robotically do the "done thing".

Its destructive competition that's programmed into our social software and into our biological software. It's meant to be 'the' only relevant game in town where if you either lose at it or refuse to play it means you're something of an inferior mating choice. Enough people seem to be breaking out and creating their own side-pyramids and side-hierarchies but this is generally what people do, you have to ace either one game or another to be a credible/respectable adult by the standards of this game. As far as the media, commercial marketing, and most of the rules of capitalism go all of that's really just secondary effect.

I'm not at all suggesting that people shouldn't opt out of it who see it as BS or, in my own case for opting out, there's no place where I can find a valuation that matches what I am adequately. Either way - when you opt out of these games you do have the benefit of far more freedom than the people who do well with them (the conformity demanded, especially at the tops of these pyramids, is absolutely straight-jacketing - go to a local charity dinner if you want to see that in action), the price you pay of course is well... unless you achieve a lot financially or socially as a free agent you end up being an untouchable in our unwritten/uncodified caste system.

I'm not everyone.

Why would i wanna be like the people who have continuously excluded me from everything, no matter how hard i tried? I don't want to work against my principles and pretend to be someone i am not, only to be a part of something that has never really accepted me anyway! I am happy with who i have become.

It is easier for most people. They will understand others and others will understand them. That makes it easier to find work, sex, love and money.

The path of least resistance. I would rather stay true to myself than going the easy way.

Mr Robot, having read of your difficulties in another thread, it just reinforces the idea that group mentality is dangerous. In certain areas of the world, people think as a group and identify with a kind of mob mentality in which perceived "outsiders" are looked down on. In a multicultural society such as my own (South Africa) there are of course a few extremists but most people are very tolerant of the numerous different cultures, religions etc. and don't care what race, religion or sexual orientation the people around them are.

But that said, a large group of people with an axe to grind is truly dangerous. This can lead to lynchings, arson and all kinds of evils because those in the group have surrendered their individuality.

Certain parts of the US South, for example, became breeding grounds for the Klan because they worked on people's baser emotions, just as Hitler did in the 1930s.

People who think for themselves and don't follow mob patterns bring hope to the world around them.