"I can have fun when I'm sober"

[FPAlpha]

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...

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.

Excuse me? They should be doing this???

What planet are you from? Have you ever read reports that young people, i.e. teenagers are already heavy drinkers and that the percentage of teenage alcoholism is rising?

If a teenager made the decision for him/herself not to drink they won't miss out on anything.. they won't miss loss of control, social embarrassment, nausea, vomiting, splitting headaches etc.

Give me one advantage of alcohol other than "It's cool and everybody should drink to be cool"

 

[nevermore]

Give me one advantage of alcohol other than "It's cool and everybody should drink to be cool"

Catching a buzz is fun. One need not drink to the point of vomiting and "loss of control", you know.

 

[Commander Rabbit]

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...

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'm speechless.

 

[Shazam!]

Kids are less rebellious these days

You're shitting me, right?

 

[Holdfast]

I don't understand. It sounds like you think teenagers shouldn't be sober, but I suspect that's not what you really mean...

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'm speechless.

Drunk, huh?

 

[Shazam!]

Excuse me? They should be doing this???

What planet are you from? Have you ever read reports that young people, i.e. teenagers are already heavy drinkers and that the percentage of teenage alcoholism is rising?

If a teenager made the decision for him/herself not to drink they won't miss out on anything.. they won't miss loss of control, social embarrassment, nausea, vomiting, splitting headaches etc.

Give me one advantage of alcohol other than "It's cool and everybody should drink to be cool"

Rad.

 

[Commander Rabbit]

Give me one advantage of alcohol other than "It's cool and everybody should drink to be cool"

Catching a buzz is fun. One need not drink to the point of vomiting and "loss of control", you know.

The buzz may be fun, but it takes maturity to recognize when it is affecting one's reflexes and judgement.

 

[Commander Rabbit]

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'm speechless.

Drunk, huh?

LOL

 

[DonIago]

Should more teens smoke also? I believe these days that's also considered a sign of youthful rebellion...

Just asking...

 

[Holdfast]

I'm speechless.

Drunk, huh?

LOL

Glad you liked it. Buy me a drink by way of thanks, 'k?

 

[Thestral]

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'm not sure how you can possibly think this is a bad thing. Are you saying that you want teens (and I'm assuming you mean young adults as well) to think they can only have fun when they're not sober? In other words, that they can only have fun when tipsy/drunk/otherwise imbalanced?

Now, if you're not saying you want kids to be drunk all the time (as you do later) and you don't want them to think drinking/partying is the only way to have a good time, then you want them thinking "I can still have fun even though I'm sober." So you might want to revise that statement.

Because I think that relying on alcohol for fun is a horrible attitude and that, contrary to what you're suggesting, is destructive.

I had a circle of friends in college that fell apart over this. Every time we got together, it turned into a drunken, crying, fighting, mess of a time. And when some people tried to suggest we get together once or twice without involving alcohol, it was met with derision and anger. So I had to choose between hanging out with the folks who were wasted (or in the process of getting there) every other night, or those who didn't think alcohol had to be involved to have a good time.

Really, can you not have fun when you're sober? Is it just not possible to have a good time without being slightly tipsy?

 

[iguana_tonante]

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.

It's funny, here in Italy they are making a fuss about raising drinking age to 16. It's cool to be us.

I had wine with my family since, well, forever. Beer with my friends since first years of high school. And Italy has the one of the lowest incidence of alcholism, I think (can't be arsed to find a link, sorry). I think that the very hight drinking age in some countries really add to the "mystique" of booze, making young people more affected by it in a "forbidden fruit" way.

The biggest problem we have here (beside DUI) is the recent introduction of binge drinking, which was actually unheard of some some years ago, and that is the basis for the proposed ban of under 16.

 

[cultcross]

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...

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't say I agree with your opinion on teenagers at all, in
a) that they must/should be rebellious
b) that rebellion naturally involves going to parties and getting blathered, or
c) that they do this less than before.

The modern concept of a 'teenager' complete with the psych profile we've created in our collective conciousness for 'adolescence' is a modern invention, dating no earlier than the 40s in the US and the 50s here. It is a product of the extension of childhood, the increase in time spent in education, the reduction in child employment, and an increase in disposable income. It's not some right of passage that's existed for all time.


And the idea that alcohol is necessary to have a good time is a worrying and fairly childish one, imho.

 

[Emher]

Judging from the stream of kids going past my apartment to and forth the local club, no kids should not be drinking more! I had tons of fun while sober in my teens. The problem with teens was with entirely different social events that would not have gone any better had I been drinking.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I do not believe that teenagers should be drinking. There are other, safer ways to be rebellious. And not everyone needs to "rebel" anyway. There are plenty of other embarassing and tumultuous rights of passage for teenagers, so I wouldn't worry about that.

 

[Plecostomus]

Alot of the "kids" out this way think the ONLY way to have fun is to be drunk or stoned.

I hear it every friday, the under 30 workers are all about "going out" to this party or that party... Then Monday they drag back to work all hung over and strung out.

Every damn week.

When I was that age I went to RPG night, went to movies, played video games with my friends (We had 8 bits and we were THANKFUL for them damn it!) built models, all sort of things.

Point is we weren't drunk EVERY weekend, drunk to the MAXIMUM extent possible...

See back then I was down with with it. In fact you could say almost jiggy with it. Then they changed what it was and now I just don't get it. It appears to be getting stoned and drunk to the maximum extent possible every oppertunity.

 

[Goji]

None of my friends have ever been heavy drinkers. Most of them don't even like alcohol, so we never managed to drink enough to become intoxicated. We just couldn't stand the stuff long enough. But we had plenty of fun sober, so it all worked out.

 

[RoJoHen]

Give me one advantage of alcohol other than "It's cool and everybody should drink to be cool"

Catching a buzz is fun. One need not drink to the point of vomiting and "loss of control", you know.

The buzz may be fun, but it takes maturity to recognize when it is affecting one's reflexes and judgement.

However, it also takes drinking experience to learn how to keep a buzz going without crossing the line into drunken idiot.

 

[Kestra]

Kids aren't any less rebellious "these days", everyone matures in different ways, and being a teenager is confusing and full of enough risks without adding alcohol to the equation.

Someone realizing that they can have enjoyment or fulfillment without the use of additional substances can be a great thing.

I think I just completely disagree with the OP.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Give me one advantage of alcohol other than "It's cool and everybody should drink to be cool"

Catching a buzz is fun. One need not drink to the point of vomiting and "loss of control", you know.

The buzz may be fun, but it takes maturity to recognize when it is affecting one's reflexes and judgement.

Actually, I'd argue it takes experience, not maturity.

Honestly, I go with the theory that teens will be teens (it's actually a subset of my theory that people will be people). Society changes, but behavior doesn't. And the idea of getting drunk and acting like an idiot holds true no matter what. Generally speaking, in the US, this happens during college. Then most people learn from this experience and then learn how to drink responsibly. Telling people doesn't actually affect what they do (so the "I can have fun when I'm sober" crowd might help prevent some peer pressure by people who weren't really inclined to drink anyway, but most just ignore it).

I do think high schoolers are less independent than previous generations and I tend to think of that as sad. But I have a romantic notion attached to rebellion and being a rebel. Drinking and doing drugs doesn't have to be part of this, but listening to your parents when they tell you not to drink just isn't cool. If you're going to be sober, don't be sober because you're pressured into it.