16 November

Being ‘cool’ at school, or one of the in-crowd, is apparently a very good predictor of problems later in life. It’s the kids at school who are outsiders, who buck the trend and are their own people, who are more likely to have long-term happy and successful lives. It makes sense. Cool is just imitation of being ‘grown up’, meaning during the time you’re supposed to be learning how to be mature - the time you’re supposed to be actually growing up - you’re wasting your time pretending to have already arrived. I see this pattern well into adult lives too, cool is a category that goes across generations. It’s rubbish at any age, immaturity dressed up as something else.