Social groups and social anxiety

             All throughout our lives we get put into or put ourselves in groups. Groups that we put ourselves in generally, our primary groups, involve people that have similar interests or goals. The people in a particular group usually have similar personalities. This is how we make friends. Primary groups can be made at any point in our lives and are usually long term. They also tend to be smaller, more stable groups where people get to know one another on a much more personal level. Some people are able to form large groups of friends, other only have a few people in their inner circle.

Groups we get put into can be just as diverse as the groups we create for ourselves. These groups are secondary groups, they generally contain more people than primary groups and are not as stable. These secondary groups can be the result of our jobs, the school, community college, or university we attend, or a variety of other things. The best way to think about secondary groups is to think about group projects in school. Generally the teachers chose the groups and we worked with the people in our group for a short period of time.

These groups may seem very different and may not overlap. However, people from a secondary group may become part of a primary group or a member of a primary group could become part of a secondary group. This can be due to changes in personality as we grow older, sometimes we grow apart from people we have been friends with for years. Other times, we may mature and find that we have new interests that correspond with people from a secondary group.

For some people it is difficult to join or form a group. I am one of these people. I suffer from social anxiety. I have always had a difficult time talking to people that I do not know. This makes it difficult to make friends, answer a question in class, give a speech or even make a phone call. Even when people approach me and are open and friendly I find it difficult to communicate with them. This is why I have a small group of friends that I am close to. During school I would dread doing group projects. I felt as though I could not contribute due to my inability to communicate with my group members.

           The biggest problem with social anxiety is most people believe that you are antisocial or don’t understand why you are so quiet. They think you don’t like other people and that is why you are quiet. Most people try to be helpful by telling me to be more social. They don’t understand that it’s not that I don’t want to talk to other people but I don’t know how to start up a conversation without looking like a creep. Having social anxiety is not all bad. The friends I do have I have a better relationship with. I am very close with my friends and I feel like I can be who I am. I am also more observant than most people and pick up on things that other people would normally miss, such as a nervous tick or a speech pattern.


https://socialanxietyinstitute.org/what-is-social-anxiety


http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/sociology/social-groups-meaning-and-characteristics-of-social-groups-1215-words/6217/