This is not how teenagers should think, yet a growing number of them are. Discuss. EDIT: "I can still have fun even though I'm sober"
I don't understand. It sounds like you think teenagers shouldn't be sober, but I suspect that's not what you really mean...
I always had fun as a sober teenager. In fact, it was not until recently that I started relying on alcohol to have a good time. That is one of the reasons that I am forcing myself not to drink for the next few months.
It just seems that teenagers should be doing this. Like, going to parties and getting drunk. It seems like a perfectly natural thing to do. Kids are less rebellious these days, and it's concerning. It feels like something is missing. The whole... growing up process is disrupted. I'm not sayings teens should be constantly drunk, I'm just saying the measure of experimentation is going way down. Teens arent' supposed to be mature. It's something they learn through years of, you know, doing stupid shit and learning from it. But nowadays they're maturing years ahead of themselves.
I can have fun when I'm sober. I can also have fun when I'm drunk. EDIT: I should add, Teenagers still go to parties and get drunk. Although I think it's easier to get caught these days.
I'm pretty sure plenty of teenagers are still getting drunk and partying. They're just being smarter about it so we don't know it's happening.
So they're not doing the illicits because they don't want to, they just don't want a police record. Makes sense.
Actually I find drunk/high people to being boring and not that much fun. The fun ones are the sober and crazy SOBs who do it just cause they think it might be fun not because their too drunk/stoned to know any better.
You can say that again. Back when I was a teen the drinking age was 18. When I was a high school senior and we had an open campus a bunch of us used to go out for beer and pizza for lunch a lot and go back to school "slightly under the weather". And nobody cared. If you were a mature looking/acting 16 or 17 year old, you could buy alcohol with no problem. No one ever got carded. And drunken teenage parties? The police could not have cared less. Thirty years later, when my kids hit that age, it was a completely different world. Everyone gets carded, the drinking age is 21, and if someone calls the police about a party they're all over it.
Drunken teenage parties are quite legal here, only buying the alcohol is illegal. As far as I know here in the UK drunken teenage parties are alive and well. Thriving like never before even. As for having fun when sober, lots of things I think are fun are reliant upon being sober. But the nighttime social life around here revolves around the pub. I probably could have fun sober, but I have have no intention of trying frankly.
Those people scare me to be honest. At least you can take the bottle away from a crazy drunk and expect a reasonably sane person. I think the last part holds the most true. It's not the obtaining of alcohol that's the biggest difficulty (although it pushes most drinking to college, which makes more sense anyway since you're away from parental supervision), but the police are quick to break things up based on any complaint. And the penalties tend to be quite severe (although that could be a local phenomenon, the city where my college is at has a massive budget problem, so fining students helps provide a nice source of revenue).
I have just as much fun sober when drunk. But the morning after being drunk I'm less fun, more grumpy, confused or on the run from the after effects of a combination of charm and beer goggles.
It's when more and more teenagers got cars as well... Mallory did you drive a lot when you were 16-18?
Considering the teenage alcohol problem we're having in my town, and one, sadly, my sister was involved with, I have to disagree.
I can have fun when I'm sober. I just choose not to. I'm sure there are still plenty of teenagers who throw parties at which many people get drunk. And yes, it's a perfectly normal part of the adolescent period. Provided they don't go overboard, get drunk on a regular basis, cause a major disturbance, or do anything completely stupid and dangerous, I have no problem with it. As for me, I'm naturally somewhat shy and withdrawn, especially when I'm around a bunch of people I don't know very well, and I find that a slight buzz can help me loosen up considerably and enjoy myself. Yes, there have been times when I've had a bit too much and done some things I regretted later (like some of the stuff I wrote about in the recent "worst things you've done while drunk" thread), but... well, I suppose that's just the folly of youth. Said follies have been less frequent for me in recent years anyway, so I think I've found a good balance between drink and fun. Hopefully, any young folk who choose to imbibe will be able to do the same.
Generally speaking, yeah I did. I had a 30 hour per week union job at the local grocery store so I had to work four nights per week plus eight hours on Saturday and every other Sunday. When I did have time off we (GF and/or others) tended to do a lot of day trips. But when it came to parties you were pretty much expected to spend the night. You showed up, got hammered, got laid and then hoped you could find a bed or a couch somewhere to crash on until morning. We were pretty self-policing when it came to not letting anyone drive off three sheets to the wind. It also helped that I lived in a small town, so even if I drove to a party I could generally walk home if I really needed or wanted to.