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Do you sometimes get the feeling that you are different? Different from people around you in the office, at home, in your neighbourhood? No one gets your jokes (nor do you get theirs), they haven't heard of the writers and musicians you like best, and they think digital watches are cool.

And increasingly, you are feeling isolated, as though you were the only one swimming against the current.

And the people around you start to feel that way, too, and suddenly, before you know it, you are the weird one.

Well, if you want to enjoy your own favourite authors and show that there are people like you and you have a `life' (as those around you see it), and thereby make them think that you are not so weird after all, you should take a look at Alice Wang's Peer Pressure concepts (http://www.alice-wang.com/peerpressure.html).

The double-sided headphone lets you listen to your favourite music while another set of speakers, which others can hear, spews out the latest pop music.

The popular mobile phone pretends to receive text messages frequently, which creates the impression that you have so many friends and are discussing so many things with them.

The fast typing keyboard clatters along even when you are doing a search and find for those lesser used keys, and creates the impression that you are chatting with someone.

And, as the Web site puts it, you can't get picked on for typing too slow. And the positive printer automatically prints out the positive e-mails you receive and prints it out in the shared printer so you can get some positive gossip started about you.

All that is fine, but who is going to square you with your boss if she thinks you are listening to your favourite music and texting and chatting and printing your e-mail out all the time?

N. Nagaraj

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