system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Has "being popular" always been a thing?

Amongst teens as well as young adults, has being viewed as "popular" always been a desirable trait? With the advent of social media, popularity is more tangible than ever (# of followers, friends) and I am interested as to whether or not being popular is a thing of the modern era.
gpt
Groups always select leaders. Hobbes argues in Leviathan that our human nature is to be self interested, but since no one person can sustain power over their own autonomy or a group of people indefinitely (ultimately they will either form alliances, you will get older or someone stronger will come along), we will choose to give up some of that autonomy to have peace through social interaction. People select leaders they admire and think will represent their best interests. Teenagers constitute not only their own group, but a group that is learning how to take on the role of adulthood in small groups (mainly high school and peer groups), the early work of Albert Cohen and Thomas & Znaniecki, shows the mechanisms by which peer groups select leaders in their sub-population. Popularity, is a manifestation of an individuals ability to adeptly maneuver complex social interactions. Millers work on "focal concerns" illustrates how the most popular teens are the ones who recognize the issues that are most important to a group and then excel in those areas. It's a concept that's been around since the beginning of time, but recently the ability to quantitize popularity through social media has refocused the focal concerns of teens. The question becomes what is more important to the students at this specific school, football? or digital socialization?