The benefits of unpopularity

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Are there any?

The only thing I can think of that is good about being unpopular is that in high school no one ever offered me drugs. As a result I never became a drug addict.

Also as I had no friends at school I didn't date and so easily avoided teen pregnancy and all its associated issues.

Obviously these are worst case scenarios and probably don't make up for it.

It is a bit like a person with no legs seeing a benefit in the fact that they save wear and tear on shoes.

Well, my best friend is ridiculously, ridiculously, ridiculously popular (yeah, our friendship is pretty bizarre), and she has to go through hell every day battling with peer pressure, trying to balance everyone and make everyone happy. Which is impossible, so someone is inevitably always grumpy at her, and also means she gets no time for herself. I would not trade my life for hers for any sum of money.

Besides, when you're unpopular the friends that you do have are usually very real. You don't have to cope with the BS of fake friends and vague acquaintances.

For me, I'd say the lack of pressure is great. I don't have to worry about what others think about me, and that's awesome.

So the following quotes from The Breakfast Club did make sense:



and:





Amen to all of the above.

I didn't fit in at school, and now as an adult...I don't fit in with society. But yeah I'm not sure of any specific benefits of that.

I was unpopular in school, and while I was quite lonely at times, looking back, it actually gave me plenty of freedom to be myself. When you're unpopular, you're free from the influence of others - you can have whatever hobbies you want, dress however you want, and behave however you want, and no one will care because they barely notice you anyway.

I think I see what you mean. I really love to read and I spent my formative years reading and trying to avoid bullies. All that reading has given me a large vocabulary and a very good understanding of word roots.

I agree with IdahoRose I was not popular at all in school so I foucused on making good grades instead of following the it crowd pre say.

I got a lot of crap for doing all that...but still I suppose I still prefer that to if I would have tried to conform.

When you do everything by yourself, you don't have to compromise ever.
You can go out when you want.
Leave whenever you want.
Eat at whatever place you want.
See what movie you want.
Not have to justify spending all day in your pyjamas reading books.
The list could go forever...

Also I don't know that high-school popularity is really a sign one will use drugs in the future, I wasn't popular and that does not seem to have stopped me from using drugs, but to each their own.

In my case it did because no one ever offered me any. So I didn't have access. If anyone had offered me drugs I probably would have tried it if I thought it would get me social acceptance.

Nobody bugging you to do stuff you don't really want to do.

To be honest I have very very little interest in spending time with other people. It's not that I'm bitter or anything, I think people are really great, for the most part. I just don't need much companionship.

I can relate to that. Most of the time that's the way I look at the world, but because my situation doesn't lend itself to any social interaction whatsoever and thus I don't even really have the option, I do miss people sometimes.

When I was in primary school I spent all my lunch time in the school library to avoid bullies as well, I preferred being in the library as no one bothered me there and I could have a bit of peace.
It was a bit like a safe haven.

Seconded.

I didn't really thing that at all...I was mostly just curious, I read a lot so naturally I probably had some knowledge about drugs or at least altered mental states so I was curious then I found I liked the effect of some things, starting with alcohol. I never really thought of it as a way to get social acceptance considering society seems to look down on drug use...well other than alcohol, that one still seems pretty acceptable.