When you keep a rotten fruit alongside the perfectly good ones, its mold can spread and spoil both. Similarly, when we surround ourselves with negative, rude, and toxic people, we adopt their behavior and may become like them.
The key word is “may”[become like them]. My grandfather, a Pentecostal preacher, gave me this sage advice when I was a lad; sit ye not in the house of sinners lest ye be judged as being among them”. Now, the warning wasn’t about what God sees but what others in society see. If I’m seen in the presence of druggies, I must be a druggie. If I’m seen in a bar, I must be an alcoholic, etc, etc. To society, it’s guilt by association. In my non-secular career, there were times in rescue missions when I lived with, ate with and worked with many men who were, without any doubt, seen to be the bottom tier of humanity. Some were good guys, some weren’t and all were in close contact with each other yet I rarely saw a man who desired to better themselves fall in lockstep with ne’er do wells even though they all communed on friendly terms. The truth of the matter is, whilst yes, I have seen people fall into the temptations provided by those on the wrong path but then again, I have seen those on that same path turn their lives around when exposed to someone doing good things and are of good character.