Social Norms of Drinking Alcohol
Why it's a problem that underage drinking is normal
The Problem:
Alcohol is not only a drug, but is the most commonly abused substance in the world, and college students all over the Country. At any college you go to, it's socially normal to drink and abuse alcohol if you're below the drinking age. This "Social Norm of Alcohol" creates many problems for the student. More than you realize...
Peer Pressure
New college students soon learn that the consumption of alcohol is is a part of everyday life. Drinking is a social norm because students who enter their new college environment are in a vulnerable, liminal state and are desperate to find a place to belong in their new environment.
Liminality
“I remember going out to parties the first week to meet people because I didn’t know anybody. I was so shocked to see how many people were drinking! I felt like the odd one out. These group of guys I was chilling with for a while offered me a beer. I thought, I can’t say no, and this is how things are done here from what it looks like."
-CSU Chico Student Peter Downey
Emptiness
Students end up drinking even though they don’t really want to, in hopes that they will make friends. But the friends that they do make, aren't the type of friends they were looking for. This basically means they are lying to themselves and will only create emptiness.
Solution?
Humans are beings filled with imperfection. We will never be able to completely solve a problem, no matter what that problem is. There is a step we can take to get a little closer though. Realization is the key here. You need to find friends who don’t pressure them into drinking. Once people realize this, we can solve the issue of drinking being a social norm.