<p>I know lots of kids like to drink or get drunk - statistics show that well enough. What I can’t figure out is what is so appealing about it. From my lone taste during 8th grade (finger dip from parent’s cup), I can tell that alcohol tastes terrible. Getting drunk seems pointless as well, since you remember nothing and have hangovers. Additionally, you do really stupid things you often regret later.</p>
<p>I ask you this because it makes me curious. I obviously have no personal experience with drinking, and all the people I actually talk to/are friends with don’t drink either. I figure someone on here either does this, or knows people that do, and thus can answer my question. What is the allure of drinking and getting drunk?</p>
<p>If you drink and get a good buzz going, everything is just… fun. I don’t get drunk often, but when I do it usually turns into a crazy time, sometimes good, sometimes bad.</p>
<p>Granted, some things do taste horrid (beer - yuck!), but mixed drinks are awesome. Screwdriver, anyone?</p>
<p>Some drinks are nastier than others. Also, with well-mixed drinks, sometimes you can hardly taste the alcohol. Teens like the lowering of inhibitions or common barriers to provocative behavior. When asked why they hooked up with so-and-so, it’s easier and more “socially acceptable” to say “oh, i was really drunk”. It’s kinda fun for certain people and you do stuff you wouldn’t normally do.</p>
<p>My bf can vouch for that - he drank an entire cup of punch spiked with vodka and was going back for seconds before someone pointed out he was getting punch from the wrong bowl, lol. (There was a punch bowl for the adults, and then one for the minors, and obv he didn’t realize there was a difference.) He didn’t drink enough to get drunk or even buzzed though, but we teased him about his drunkeness the rest of the day. He said he felt gypped because that was probably the only time he would ever drink and nothing happened.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’ve never personally seen the appeal in getting drunk either… not my thing. I’m 20 and 1/2 and the closer I get to 21 the less I want to drink, it seems. Also, just the smell of it is enough to give me a pounding headache so that’s definitely a deterrent. And I don’t really like the idea of not being able to totally control what I’m saying or doing. Plus, I’m not a partier. I do not like them, I do not want to go to them, it’s not my thing. And drunk people kind of freak me out, TBH. :/</p>
<p>I guess I understand why people do it, it just… doesn’t seem like fun to me. But to each their own, I suppose.</p>
Personally, I think it’s fun getting buzzed once in a while. You open up more and things become more hilarious and bearable. I don’t do it to feel grown up and I certainly don’t think it’s an excuse to hook up with girls, but with a few good friends it’s actually quite fun to go out and have a beer. Like when I lived in London and Berlin, going to a pub/bar was a way of life. In the States the mentality is different. I don’t drink as much here (I can’t, obviously) and while I think it’s ridiculous that the drinking age is so high, I also don’t understand the logic behind getting wasted every bloody night.</p>
<p>Beer can actually be good. The problem is that for some reason our age group insists on only buying cheap crap (Bud Lite = liquid garbage), which any self-respecting drinker can barely choke down.</p>
<p>I suffer from depression, so when I drink it’s solely for the purpose of getting drunk, because everything just hurts less then. Does this put me at high risk for alcoholism? Yes it does, but you do what you have to do to get by.</p>
<p>By the way, mixed drinks are for pansies. If you can’t take vodka straight, you don’t deserve it. :P</p>
<p>People can have a good time getting drunk if they’re tipsy, buzzed, or not falling over themselves drunk. That’s the appeal of it. You get a warm, happy feeling where everything is nice and funnier than normal and it makes things (sometimes) more fun than they would be if you were sober.</p>
<p>However, I no longer find drinking all that appealing due to a bad experience with it that I don’t plan to ever relive again. I have no issue drinking a glass of wine with my family or something along those lines, but anymore, and I’m just not into it. Perhaps I got over the whole, “HOORAY FOR UNDERAGED DRINKING!” earlier than most kids in my school because I started earlier than most kids in my school.</p>
<p>I can see how some people might have fun and “crazy” times at parties while drunk or buzzed… but personally I would feel stupid and self-conscious and miserable the whole time, lol. </p>
<p>Also, mixed drinks are good, and I know that from drinking virgin ones. So I’ll stick to virgin, thx. :]</p>
<p>well, there’s a little difference between chopin(my favorite vodka aside from jean-marc xo <but don’t like paying $65 a bottle at liquor stores, and never on any vip specials at clubs) and skol. i think i’d rather drink paint thinner than shots of skol… ;)</p>
<p>"f you drink and get a good buzz going, everything is just… fun. I don’t get drunk often, but when I do it usually turns into a crazy time, sometimes good, sometimes bad.</p>
<p>Granted, some things do taste horrid (beer - yuck!), but mixed drinks are awesome. Screwdriver, anyone?"</p>
<p>Exactly. And yeah, beer IS disgusting. I’ve only had it twice. Straight Vodka
(maybe with pop) or Captain Morgan for me.</p>
<p>oh and to clear up a common misconception- most people remember things fine after they’ve been drinking. and some people barely even get hangovers. of course if you empty the bar, you won’t remember too much and you’ll barely be able to move the next day.</p>
<p>I don’t drink. I tried drinking a couple times in college, and I just found that the stuff tasted too disgusting for me to down, and I’ve tried A LOT of different alcohols, from champagnes and wines, to beers and hard liquors, to fruity drinks. I tried only a couple in college, but most things I try, my parents let me take a sip of to taste.</p>
<p>I’m also into nutrition, and theres so many calories involved, a lot of times thats how people gain the “freshman 15” and I think binge drinking, which is what college students do, is extraordinarily unhealthy.</p>
<p>I will say that my most of my friends that didn’t drink in college did end up drinking because thats what most do on the weekends and that wanted to feel apart of stuff and what not. It makes it easier to “hook up” and just be more open and do things you wouldn’t normally. </p>
<p>I instead went out and found people that also didn’t drink like me, or drink pretty minimally. I’ll go to a party or two every once in a while but once people start getting really trashed its not fun and just stupid and I leave.</p>
<p>And to anyone that might say people won’t pressure you, people will. I’m still pressured all the time to drink, even though I make it clear I don’t want to. You have be pretty strong willed if you really don’t want to. :P</p>
<p>I personally don’t care if people drink and stuff, what bothers me is when the girls giggle and talk about what huge idiots/skanks they are for the next week in a bragging type way.</p>
<p>People only drink because they see other people doing it. If a circle of friends (who are all drinkers) stopped drinking, except for one person, that one person would eventually stop as well. And vice versa.</p>
I have never forgotten anything, never had a hangover (seriously people- this isn’t difficult. It’s called drinking water as well to stay hydrated), and I’ve never regretted anything later.</p>
<p>Then again, I’m 18 and headed off to college. IMO, people my age should know their limits so as not to die/make total fools of themselves when they go to a college party.</p>
<p>And alcohol doesn’t taste that bad, so long as you’re not drinking something like Taaka…</p>
<p>I don’t really understand why teenagers have the need to get drunk. Like, I’ve drank alcohol before, mostly in a supervised or legal situation, but it doesn’t seem that appealing to go get buzzed as a 10th grader. I’m not judging anyone. To each their own. I just don’t quite understand the need to drink alcohol at that age. Why not just wait until you’re legal age? I mean. . . alcohol isn’t as cool as people make it out to be, and can be really dangerous.</p>
<p>I don’t understand either why teenagers feel the need to drink. I had a pretty long conversation with one of my friends on the subject. I’ve never drank, but two of my friends have. The one I was talking with only did it once, not having seen any appeal in it. The other does it often. Our conversation revolved around the other because she had been drinking and had said “This tastes terrible.” (It was vodka.) We asked, “Why are you drinking it, then?” She replied, “I don’t know.”</p>
<p>My other friend and I were wondering why a person would drink if the drinks and after affects weren’t even good. We came to the rather tentative conclusion that perhaps certain people want an excuse to act silly as they aren’t comfortable just doing it, and the alcohol looses them up and gives them the perfect excuse. Then we wondered why our friend felt the need to use alcohol when the two of us are silly without it, and very comfortable with each other. I don’t understand why people just can’t have fun without it.</p>
<p>All in all, it’s one of the many things about people I’ve never understood. I think it’s more trouble than it’s worth when you can have fun without it.</p>
He said he felt gypped because that was probably the only time he would ever drink and nothing happened.</p>