What a sad way of looking at life. We used to have "if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you too?", talk about people as sheep, and generally look down on people giving in to peer pressure.

Now it seems to be a badge of honor, or at least a popular opinion, amongst educated people, to lean in to being part of a herd.

Doing stuff because it makes sense is one thing, but praising the abstract act of being peer pressured is ridiculous.

There's all kinds of things we don't do because of social pressure and legal constraints (that are there, in general, because in aggregate they make sense).

I close my mouth when I chew because of social pressure.

Someone might choose not to pick their nose in public because of social pressure.

Someone else might put the toilet seat down because of social pressure.

The amount of time I spend changing lanes before a turn is because of social pressure.

And yet someone else may not take the last helping of a treat because of social pressure.