Brandon™ said:
No not really to be honest, I have enough self control to separate myself from those who are negatively influenced by certain people and things. No need for me to hang around it aswell.
I'm not only talking about separating yourself from people that influence you badly. I'm talking about you sharing preferences that the people you stay with have. No matter how much you try to be yourself, the person you end up becoming will show through your friends, what you decide to watch on TV, who your family is, etc., depending on which group influences you the most. That's why people say 'you are who your friends are'. It's unavoidable. Otherwise, if you didn't have similar interests as your friends, for the most part, they wouldn't have an influence on you.