When I was a teenager, the cool thing to do was hang out with friends, party, and drink alcohol, so I thought. My friends and I would tend to follow the crowd and it seemed to always lead to trouble. I was only 14 years old the night it all began. At the time, I could not drive so my friends came and picked me up, we all went to a house party and alcohol was there. Because we were senseless and easily influenced, we decided to try some to fit in. Considering I had never drank an alcoholic beverage before, I was not completely sure what I was getting myself into or what might could happen to me. I knew in the back of my mind I was disobeying and not doing what my parents expect of me. They had always taught me underage drinking was wrong and against the law, but I never fully understood the consequences. My parents were never the drinking type, so I had never been around it. Instead, they were always against it and certainly did not approve of me being around it, much less doing it. I could not exactly comprehend what was so bad about it, especially if I was at somebody’s house and was not drinking and driving. My friends and I did not realize how serious the circumstances were at the time. At that young of an …show more content…
My parents always told me I was one that had to learn the hard way, because I didn’t want to listen. Now, I wish I would have been more obedient, it certainly would have saved me from getting into trouble. It can be very dangerous following the crowd just to be “cool.” I grasp all the negative effects underage drinking can cause now that I am a mature adult. Underage drinking can lead to alcohol abuse, drug addiction, and even death. I wish I would have known then what I know now. I plan to better educate my kids and minors I endure in my life time so they do not make the same mistakes I
At the age of 21, people tend to have a higher sense of how to handle alcohol. The biggest difference is the sense of responsibility. When they are 18, they only just start to hit maturity. They are not mature enough to have their responsibility for their actions after getting drunk. Due to the lack of maturity, those who started drinking alcohol at 18 are more likely to be involved in binge drinking or other irresponsible actions.
I was a little scared going to this party, but I was curious. So, I went. I remember, as I walked in I noticed the dining room table had a buffet of alcoholic beverages. I knew this was wrong, but I didn’t plan on drinking. I was not
There has been many discussions all over the United States is whether they should change the drinking age from twenty-one to eighteen. Most teens will argue that they should change the age because they can go to a store or a gas station and they can buy a pack of cigarettes, a black n mild, play the lottery at the age of eighteen so they will ask so why can they not buy a beer or alcohol at the age of eighteen. Underage drinking has been out of control in the United States because teenager use fake identification cards and they will also try to go to the club with their identification card. As a teenager when I was in high school I have proof that these things happen not only in college but high school it happens more often than college students. What is
Today in the United States about 4,358 people under the age of 21 years old die each year from alcohol-related car crashes, homicides, suicides, alcohol poisoning, and other injuries such as falls, burns, and even drowning. More than 190,000 people under the age of 21 visited an emergency room for alcohol related reasons in 2008 alone. Alcohol related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and non-fatally injure someone every two minutes. That’s a lot of people gone because they wanted to go out and party and not think about the consequences ahead. In this essay I’m gonna give you information to why Underage Drinking is very very bad for you.
Determined minors have a relatively easy time getting their hands on liquor, even if it 's not kept in their own homes. They find adults that will buy it for them, or use fake IDs, which in this day in age are widely available on the internet (Kluger). This causes binge drinking, and drinking in unsafe environments such as an empty house or in the woods, where something bad is more likely to happen. According to Mary Kate Cary, when she was underaged, the drinking age was 18. Frats had kegs out in the open on university property, and student gatherings more often than not, included beer.
It’s true there are always teens who defy the law and drink. If we lower the age it will only encourage underage drinkers. If they start young it’s easier to become addicted and harder to fight. It’s believed that other countries teach teenagers how to use alcohol more responsibly and that the family setting it’s used in helps regulate their intake. This is false, other countries deal with more issues with teenagers drinking than America.
“Malcolm and Antell (2001) argue that alcohol abuse and its related problems are not entirely objective phenomena; they also involve interpretation and stigmatization of deviant behavior” (Leon-Guerrero 2014). This could be because we view our older siblings, parents, and friends drinking and changes our perspective. For example, drinking is seen in media like music videos, television commercials and reality shows. This attracts the adolescents thinking drinking is a cool thing to do. For instance, during high school if you drink, you would be socially accepted but if you don’t then you can be considered an outcast.
But while it has succeeded in that, it is also believed that tougher rules, such as DUI rules and seatbelt safety rules have also played a part in this decrease. However, this higher drinking age hasn’t reduced drinking, its only “driven it underground,” Gabrielle Glaser states in her NY Times article. It has been driven underground to the riskiest settings, high school parties and frat parties that are unsupervised. This age raise segregates the drinking away from adults that can model moderation in drinking. If an 18-year-old high school senior is shown by his/her parent(s) how to drink responsibly and in moderation, I believe that it would greatly help in reducing the chance of making bad decisions by overdoing it, such as driving while drinking.
In some countries, like in Europe the drinking age is set at 18. Even though people in the US think this is insane, this set age has more positive effects than people think it would. It is known that binge drinking is a problem in the US since it has the highest rate in the world for binge drinking. In Europe, teenagers get their license at age 18, and some drinking ages are lower than that, they figure out how to control their drinking before the drive. Unlike in the US, kids drink and then drive because they either have to be home by curfew or they are too scared to call their parents for a ride, and admit they had been under the
Even though I am under the legal age, on September 27th I chose to consume alcohol. I attended a fraternity function and before the dance we went to a house where people were consuming alcohol. The reason why I chose to consume one drink was because everyone was doing it. Not that I was peer pressured into doing it, but just because I did not want to be the only one not drinking. I am not sure why I thought if I did not have a drink it would not be as fun or I would not fit in with the crowd.
They feel that it is “cool” to drink and drive. The one thing that teens don’t realize is how much one drink can do. One drink can change a life or often many lives in a
Eventually the drinking became less thrilling and I stopped drinking as much and only on occasion socially. Think of it almost 11 years old and 13 years old , they are young to taste alcohol is that the youth now? The legal age is 18 years old to 21 years old to taste an alcohol. Thats the youth know , they do whatever they
Drinking exposure has begun as early as 12 years old, with girls drinking at around the age of 13 and boys at around the age of 11. The inclination to explore the usage of alcohol is caused by many factors such as trying to forget all of one 's problems, to gain confidence and the influence of other
Now a days alcohol is one of number one drugs picked by teenagers. Even though most teens drink alcohol to feel socially ease, calm nerves or stress, or simply just to drink; their putting their life at risk. In others words, teens should not be permitted to binge drink in any kind of situation. Underage drinking causes your body to have a long term negative effects. According to the article “Teen Drinking Ups Risk for Liver Disease Later,” there are 493,000 deaths worldwide yearly due to alcohol-related liver cirrhosis.
But sometimes they couldn’t control themselves and went for it too much. Tasnim Ahmed, wrote “However, if one must constantly justify oneself for partying and feels compelled keep partying because of social norms, then it’s more harmful than beneficial.” (2013). Most of people went to party for having fun and a way to build their friendship or relationship, but some of them are going in the wrong way. Parties are most obvious arenas for socializing, but they aren’t the best place to cultivate for building a friendship. They should responsible about what they are doing and at least they 18 years old so they could control their emotion.