The glasses were not fashionable, and I went from being popular to being an introverted and isolated kid for the next 15 years. I eventually ditched glasses for contacts and suddenly became outgoing again.
While having glasses wasn't the only factor for my behavior, there was a noticeable difference to people's reaction to you based on how you look. I consider myself confident regardless of appearance, but I have to admit that the activation energy required for being sociable greatly increases when you don't have the right look.
Many people don't have high levels of confidence from within themselves and outward affirmation influences them a lot. Even if you have high levels of internal confidence, you'll still feel the dopamine of affirmation noticeably, and there's definitely a temptation to fall into milking that affirmation to very unhealthy levels.
Affirmation is not the same as social acceptance, but they are close proxies. Many people seek after social acceptance and mistake social affirmation for it, leading us down the wrong path.
But social acceptance cannot be pulled out of people; it must be pushed. You can compel someone to compliment you, but you can't compel someone to accept you. Instead, active communication of acceptance is a trait that needs to be fostered in our culture in order to have a healthier society.