Why do we drink? What a seemingly simple question. The NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) presents a series of scary-sounding reasons and explanations to the parents of the world. They lay out different paragraphs (even nicely headed and categorized, gee-whiz!) targeted at the parents of the world and essentially saying, “this is why your child drinks, and here is how to stop them.”
Personally, I think it all boils down to one simple psychological explanation: We drink because we can’t. Teenagers are categorized as rebellious and defiant human beings, and that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Therefore, we drink because we can’t. You tell us we aren’t allowed to do something, by George we’re going to find a way to do it! If the law tells us we aren’t allowed to do something, then it’s an even bigger accomplishment to rebel against Uncle Sam.
There are not many other explanations as to why we would sit around on Friday and Saturday nights getting hammered. There is a reason binge drinking isn’t as popular of a trend in those in their upper-twenties. Drinking is a legal action for them, therefore it poses no challenge or threat and loses its excitement. How many 28-year-old keggers have you been to recently?
My hypothesis is that if we lower the drinking age to 18, which is technically an adult, then that thrill and exhilaration that subconsciously comes with underage drinking will eventually fade. We will be much less apt to binge because there won’t be that sense of no tomorrow or the possibility I won’t be able to get drinks for a while. This is why teens binge drink and binge drinking is where the danger comes from. Binge drinking is where NIAAA gets their “5,000 deaths per year” statistic. Binge drinking is the source of the problem and that is caused by our need to drink as much as we can while we have the chance. If the legal age for drinking is lowered then hopefully this kind of drinking, the real source of danger, has more of a likelihood of becoming an obsolete trend.
i really don't mean to sound harsh but i have trouble believing that erasing the drinking age of 21 and rewriting 18 in the books will have an improvement in our society. i see 5,000 deaths doubling with the change. nothing changes but the age. the mindset to binge drink remains the same. most people will be too drunk to even notice if a law changes. i must also admit that id much rather drink without the suspicion of getting busted by the cops at a party, maybe im not much of a rebel. not ruling out the possibility of this law taking place but i feel like it just sounds too easy making the switch from 21 to 18... a little too easy. sorry if this comes across rude but just showing another side. how do you think we could change society mindset? why do think America has the highest drinking age compared to other countries in the world?
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment mediabully7, because I really do like to hear opposing sides' opinions. As I said before, there might be a stage of many people getting drunk due to the ease and lack of law enforcement, but I think that that would eventually fade. I don't think the change would cause there to be a state of permanent drunkenness among 18-year-olds, because you don't see that in many people in their mid-twenties with the current law. Countries around the world have drinking ages of 18 or younger and that doesn't result in them necessarily becoming a group of dysfunctional and drunk teenagers. I hope that if this change happened in America the same sort of standard and mindset would occur in our teenagers as it does in teenagers in other countries.
ReplyDeleteI think you present a clear arguement for your side, but I don't want to sound mean, but I also don't really think that lowering the age from 21 to 18 will make a big difference. Perhaps over time. It is a nice thought, but I just don't think the liklihood is quite as high as you think it is. But it is nice to hear something optomistic for a change!!
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ReplyDeleteYes, optimism is in fact a strong suit of mine. Hopefully I can convince you that it would make a difference through this blog! This is all a simple assumption of what COULD happen, but we never know the real turnout. But we can hope for the best/the lessening of danger for teens though, right?
I think teenagers of other countries don't see drinking as taboo growing up. Wine at a dinner table in most European countries is the norm and parents or guardians might even let a young child have a sip of it. They enjoy the taste of the alcoholic substance. As for Americans... you gotta admit most beer taste like (i won't go there), but we drink it anyway because we like to get wasted for social play. If you've ever watched Parent Trap, the girl twin was stunned when her mother (that she just met) told her to try some of the wine. It was a culture shock for the American girl (who posed as the British daughter)
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