March 19th 2011

Dear helpline,

I have been searching for answers from everywhere and now I am here asking you. How do I get to be part of the IT crowd?

Magz

Dear Magz

Perhaps no period of life is more fraught with obsessive worries about popularity, social hierarchies and reputations than that treacherous, three-year period known as middle school. The social anxieties of adolescence have driven plotlines from "The Wonder Years" to "Hannah Montana" where teens and pre-teens spend entire hours and episodes agonizing over what their peers think. Figuring out whether you'll end up being a cool prom king or queen bee--or the one who eats alone at the caf--is an integral part of becoming a teenager.

First of all why do you wish to be part of the IT crowd? Just because it looks like all glamorous from the outside doesn't mean that it is. What I am about to say may not be what you were hoping to hear I don't think you need to be part of the IT I believe you need to be yourself. Not everything that glitters is gold; you need to be comfortable with yourself and shouldn't feel the need to be in a group for you to have a good life.

A new study reveals that for teens, it's not whether you're really popular. It's whether you you are.

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