"Our leading men are not of much account and never have been, but the average of the people is immense, beyond all history. Sometimes I think in all departments, literature and art included, that will be the way our superiority will exhibit itself. We will not have great individuals or great leaders, but a great average bulk, unprecedentedly great."Whenever someone says "its the thing to do", I usually cringe and think exactly the opposite. Its not that I don't want to do what everyone else does, or that I'm above it in any way, but I'm instantly mystified and skeptical at how so many people can agree on one thing. Back in the 80's it was the thing to wear bell bottoms, and we all know how badly that went.
--Walt Whitman
But now, its become a great mass marketing scheme. An iPhone, a big-screen tv, facebook, having a USB-drive hanging off your key chain are all considered chic and nouveau. Taco Bell (insert any generic fast food chain here) features a new special and its the thing to do to grab one. Even the coming election suffers from this phenomenon. Obama is the guy to want to vote for. Whether any of the above are sensible or not makes no difference. They're just the things to do.
Then again, making a well thought-out decision backed by unbiased research is very difficult these days. Who has the time for it? We outsource this kind of brain power to the Al Gores and Malcolm Gladwells of the world, hoping they took the time to do it right. I don't have the answer, and going against "the thing to do" just because it is isn't right either. All you can really do is be aware of peer pressure, groupthink, and the bandwagon effect. Once you acknowledge the mass mania, its much harder to get caught up in it. But its just a start. Then comes the hard part; personal justification.