Society anxiety: this SUcks

Cast your minds back to your days as a fresh-faced first year, when possibilities were endless and motivation aplenty. You arrived with the expectation that you’d be an active member of a plethora of societies and immediately obtain a social life laden with events to reflect your new found status as a social butterfly. Yet, the reality for many of us is much different. Instead of living out the productive lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of, your diary lays empty and dejected whilst you watch the rest of the “proactive ones” stride past you in the library, donning their newly embroidered society hoodies with pride (in some cases, too much pride – Hello, American Football). Needless to say, my battle with societies, like many university students, has been a never ending struggle since the day I enrolled at Warwick. It made me wonder about the rest of us; those of us seemingly left behind in the rush for society membership, clutching onto the feeble hope that we’ll ‘join one next year’ and the crumpled leaflets shoved in our hands at the last society fair. Most of us want to, but many of us don’t, which leads me to ask – what could possibly be so intimidating about societies?

It’s the classic struggle between intent and indolence. Ask any student who hasn’t joined a society why this is the case and nine times out of ten their answer will include the words ‘I could not be bothered’. Whilst appearing inviting and enjoyable, societies require commitment that immediately implies the need for an irritating amount of effort. Enticed by the promise of free food at the welcome meeting and the complimentary pens you get at the society fair, before you know it you’ve unknowingly entered into an agreement comparable only to that of a relationship with the clingiest partner you will probably ever encounter. An innocent email exchange ends in a bombardment of messages ‘updating’ you on goings-on in societies you don’t even remember signing up for and you’re reminded to ‘join the Facebook group’ and ‘follow the Twitter account’ so your society can ensure their ability to pester you via every social medial network, as if your attendance at every meeting, social or class is not enough. Before you know it, you find you’re essentially attached to a partner you don’t even have the heart or capacity to break up with (I still haven’t figured out how to remove myself from numerous society mailing lists) and every email that asks you to yet another get-together seemingly screams: ‘please don’t leave me’. If you are a commitment-phobe or do-anything-that-doesn’t-involve-sleeping-phobe, the prospect of joining a society is one that is simply too much work. Although the majority of us would like to, frankly, time invested in societies is time better spent on Facebook, eating or in bed.

Second year resolutions see the emergence of a “new you”. Armed with a year’s worth of university experience under your belt and knowledge of the mistakes you made in first year, you promise yourself that you will bite the bullet and finally get involved. After all, you only have to join one society. However, the dilemma then occurs as to which one. A classic CV enhancer or one purely for leisure? A sports team or an arts society? Still, any decision is skewed by one of the most intimidating events on campus – the societies’ fair. Masked in an aura of frivolity and excessive friendliness, the societies’ fair is any indecisive person’s nightmare. Equally if you’re easily led by the availability of free goods (I am) it is possible you may leave having sold your soul for a handful of Celebrations and a key ring. Not only are there a vast amount of societies to join, but even if you’re one of the lucky ones that at least know the type of society they wish to join, you then have to choose between the numerous societies that, in essence, all offer the same thing under a different name. There is no one drama society, for instance. WUDS, Music Theatre, Freshblood Theatre, Warwick Improvised Theatre and Drama Collective are now all plausible options to satisfy your acting needs and since they just so happen to place their tables next to each other, that’s five more flyers to add to the other ten you’ve already managed to pick up after just ten minutes of walking through the door. It’s like asking for a chocolate bar and being offered a whole supermarket in return, the choice is just too vast. You start off looking for one; you’re offered a ton and eventually end up with none, every single time.

Not only do the free gifts do their job of luring you to the table, they also do a pretty good job at obscuring the fact that you not only have to commit your time, but your pocket, to each of these societies. That expert kit, boost in social life and crazy cool jumper will most definitely not pay for itself. Before you even think about joining a society you’re slapped with a fee of £14 just to be a member of the Federation of Societies, essentially a society FOR societies. You then have to pay for the society, the events and those all-important items of clothing that make it clear you’re a true member. Admittedly, there are some societies that do not try to pilfer your money at every given opportunity, but of this offence there are no worse culprits than the sports clubs. From the outset, you can’t even consider joining a club until you’ve forked out £49 for WarwickSport and once you’ve paid for the membership fee, the kit fee, the outings fee and the class fee you’re left with a very beaten bank account. Warwick Rowing, for example, offers a range of different kits, including a training kit that costs a massive £238 for only six items (which does not even include the cool hoodie), not to mention the £45 a term they require on top of this. The hidden costs are enough to put anyone off and although some of these costs are guaranteed as being non-compulsory, for any fresher desperate for a home in some sort of social circle there remains a feeling of obligation to concede to the excessive amount of money you have to pay just to be part of something.

Ultimately, there is a clear sense of peer pressure that surrounds societies at Warwick. The sea of society hoodies sparks a herd mentality that immediately makes us want to be a part of one and excludes us for not being so. Societies are renowned for being a key part of university life and many a time I have tossed and turned agonising over the prospect of finishing university with little to show for it (except a 1:1, God willing), having joined nothing and been plagued by the phrase ‘I really should have’ for years, remembering the time I was a student as being one in which I was a jumper-less nobody. However, it is just this pressure that prevents us from choosing a society and just going for it. The stress of having to choose between all the societies, the reluctance to join a society after first term through fear of being too late and being the ‘newbie’, and the dread of having to actually employ any sense of time management and organisational skill to commit to both society and work, are all things that make many of us poles apart from the students with the jam-packed schedules. Perhaps I have commitment issues, in which case I should probably be writing a very different article, but being poor, indecisive and relatively lazy are three qualities that allow my long struggle with societies to persist. Who knows, perhaps I’ll finally get off my backside or maybe this will inspire you not be as lazy as I have been. Only time will tell, but one thing is for certain – if I do join one, make sure you look out for me in that new hoodie of mine.