Im sure everyone here likes there few sociable drinks. Heck where im from you would be admitted into a mental hospital if you ordered anything but an alcoholic beverage. So everyone feel free to share you're usual weekend madness here and we try to dissect the topic of drinking socially and what it means, because im sure it differs from culture to culture
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Drinking.The highs and low of inebriation
- Thread starter acebass32
- Start date
If I do heroin 3 times a week, am I addicted to heroin?
Cool, now why, if I drink twice a week, am I not an alcoholic?
Why can't people go to parties or social encounters without drinking?
In my culture, the college age party/kick-back every weekend culture, everyone has a drink in their hand, we can't socialize without alcohol. In that socializing is predicated on alcohol, alcohol has become a social addiction. We NEED alcohol to socialize. the consequences of this are pretty fucked when you consider that alcohol, unlike marijuana or tobacco, makes people more aggressive/reduces their inhibitions (yeah marijuana might make you hungrier, but alcohol affects inhibitions across the board, into the sexual and the violent). Alcohol is actually one of the scariest drugs that I've done, only difference is that it has been normalized.
Cool, now why, if I drink twice a week, am I not an alcoholic?
Why can't people go to parties or social encounters without drinking?
In my culture, the college age party/kick-back every weekend culture, everyone has a drink in their hand, we can't socialize without alcohol. In that socializing is predicated on alcohol, alcohol has become a social addiction. We NEED alcohol to socialize. the consequences of this are pretty fucked when you consider that alcohol, unlike marijuana or tobacco, makes people more aggressive/reduces their inhibitions (yeah marijuana might make you hungrier, but alcohol affects inhibitions across the board, into the sexual and the violent). Alcohol is actually one of the scariest drugs that I've done, only difference is that it has been normalized.
More or less the same as mine. Alcohol in my country is like tradition, and a bad one at that. We have a serious binge drinking problem especially with teens. Although I like few cold one's myself, there are plenty of times where I went to party's staying sober for the night and it's a hell of an eye opener just thinking to myself "is that what I act like when im drunk? Do I really get that twisted! " and the HANGOVER!!
I remember someone else telling me this when I was growing up, and it has stuck with me:
"Drinking is a great accompaniment to other entertainment. However, drinking should never be the entertainment."
I think this is more or less a good guideline. If you are hanging out with a bunch of friends, or you are having a meal out, or whatever, then a few drinks is fine and probably even healthy, although I agree with the posts above that it should never be required (if you can't enjoy your friends' company otherwise, what kind of friends are they?)
However, I despise clubbing. When I ask people who are regular clubbers the reasons for the habits they always reply "Oh, you just didn't like [insert name of club], because you weren't drunk enough". Which begs the question: if you have to be drunk to enjoy a situation, why are you even there? You could be having a lot more fun somewhere else without slowly pickling your liver.
Then there are those people who claim they can enjoying clubbing while sober. I suspect that they are lying.
"Drinking is a great accompaniment to other entertainment. However, drinking should never be the entertainment."
I think this is more or less a good guideline. If you are hanging out with a bunch of friends, or you are having a meal out, or whatever, then a few drinks is fine and probably even healthy, although I agree with the posts above that it should never be required (if you can't enjoy your friends' company otherwise, what kind of friends are they?)
However, I despise clubbing. When I ask people who are regular clubbers the reasons for the habits they always reply "Oh, you just didn't like [insert name of club], because you weren't drunk enough". Which begs the question: if you have to be drunk to enjoy a situation, why are you even there? You could be having a lot more fun somewhere else without slowly pickling your liver.
Then there are those people who claim they can enjoying clubbing while sober. I suspect that they are lying.
Well said my friend. And why should you go out of you're way just too accommodate those people. I won't lie im a bit of a "Raver" myself but the last thing I'd want is to peer-pressure someone let alone my friends into ejoying something they don't like, because chances are if they don't like it when their drunk, they definitely won't like it if their sober
you could also be having a lot more fun somewhere else pickling your liver
getting obliterated is a blast
Every society has their crutch, many over the millenniums have used alcohol. Party rock yo. And what's wrong with getting trashed on weekends as long you've still got your shit together
Remind me how drinking twice a week affects my life, at all. Isn't a glass of wine at dinner good for you or some shit? That's seven day's a week dude, are they alcoholics? That being said, again, I don't think theirs much wrong with drinking a lot as long as you don't let it interfere with your life. Most of my friend's parents could be considered alcoholics just by volume of consumption, "if one glass is good two is better" kinda folk.
It's just how we're raised. If we lived in kabul, we would have grown up with our parents smoking hookas instead of drinking wine, but hey, here we are.
If y'all hate alcohol don't live in the west lol.
I haven't been drunk since May 2011, when some girls from the Scottish office drank me under the table during a company team building weekend. I was found sleeping in the hotel bathtub; no big deal.
I seldom drink nowadays. When I do, it's either wine with food, or the occasional cocktail.
I seldom drink nowadays. When I do, it's either wine with food, or the occasional cocktail.
I never actually said that I had anything against getting drunk. It is drinking to tolerate otherwise unpleasant situations that I can't stand - because, why are you in that situation anyway? (And that is my experience of clubbing, it won't be everyone's. Fortunately I live in Britain, where pubs are everywhere. Pubs are great because they are nice places to be regardless of drunkenness/sobriety.)
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Couldn't have put it any better. One thing I've noticed, as an American who worked in Europe for a time, is that the social aspect of drinking (aka "pub culture") seems to be more common in Europe than in the states. Not to say that Americans don't enjoy their drinks, but it tends to start later (no wine with dinners at a young age) and place more of an emphasis on getting totally hammered. I am ashamed to say that when I saw a drunken idiot in Europe, 75% of the time it was an American tourist. Maybe the pub culture is bigger on the east coast (I'm from California), I couldn't say...
Yeah the Europeans are very good at displaying moderation in their drinking, whereas America (unsurprisingly) is very gratuitous with it: The U.S. is in the top 5 in the world for alcohol consumption per capita whereas most of Europe isn't remotely in that area.
I don't think theres any place in the world where being completely off your face is socially acceptable, and I wouldn't think that americans drink to get completely smashed either. The majority of drinking over here happens in pubs usually around when the tradies get off work as the culture here is all about late afternoon beers / drinks with late night boozing only really happening on the clubbing scene because lets face it ; you would have to be incredibly drunk to dance and put up with some shitty will sparks remix
Personally I just drink when I'm at parties / gatherings to relax and enjoy the experience more
Personally I just drink when I'm at parties / gatherings to relax and enjoy the experience more
what the hell are these people talking about "dont let the drinking BE the entertainment"
I never drink during the week when I have school and work to worry about, but on the weekend? You better believe I'm going to be drinking a bottle of liquor no matter what I'm doing, and I personally believe there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
I never drink during the week when I have school and work to worry about, but on the weekend? You better believe I'm going to be drinking a bottle of liquor no matter what I'm doing, and I personally believe there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Indeed, some cultures were based on abusing opium, others peyote, others marijuana, others, aihuasca (no idea how you spell that one, but you know what I'm saying), the inhabitants of those cultures are dead or dying or being replaced by new generations of alcohol abusers, via globalization and less recently colonization. Do you want me to say 'oh look alcohol driven socialization is ok in our shitty society because look there are a bunch of societies that are shitty in a similar way?'
Ha, don't ask me bro, I don't live your life. It certainly isn't my place to ask this question for you. But if you're curious, go 2 weeks without drinking at a social gathering (2 weeks seems doable), then talk to me again if you don't notice anything interesting about the experience. You're still permitted to get stoned before the party, or w.e, just no alcohol, see what it's like.
A glass of wine at dinner surely is not the subject of this discussion, alcohol is not 'just a beverage' in the america I live in (maybe in parts of europe, but that isn't my scene). When I say alcohol is a social addiction, or a social problem, I'm not really saying that drinking twice a week is gonna have a huge consequence on a single individual. For one thing, the mere act of drinking is accepted, as opposed to other drugs where letting others know that you're engaging in them is already a faux pas.. Secondly, since my/our socialization is based on alcohol, many individuals are aware of how to mitigate the damage that alcohol does to a body when it is taken in large quantities. I'm more worried about the types of environments that alcohol has contributed to, the social situations it sets up, the type of shitty things that I see my friends doing or having done to them. alcohol has large affects on the interactions and dynamics of a group, what activities is that group engaged in on alcohol? what small interactions are taking place, and what are the differences in the individual-group 'system or relationship' when the individual or the group is drinking? Fact is, that without alcohol people feel like they aren't really having fun at these parties/gatherings, so they drink some booze and then all of sudden people feel like they can behave so much differently than before. My problem isn't with what this new behavior consists of, my problem, and their problem, is that they can't act or engage in this behavior WITHOUT ALCOHOL.
I don't hate alcohol. shit, I got drunk like 6 hours after I made my first post, but I am against contributing to the normalization of alcohol as a non-scary drug. And I'll definitely call anyone out who is drinking every night on the weekend, or drinking at every social gathering they go to as 'constituents' of a culture of socialization that is predicated on alcohol, that uses alcohol as an excuse to behave in a certain way. regardless of whether that behavior is healthy or not, that fact that alcohol is a necessary for this behavior indicates a social addiction. (which is a lot different than the psychological/physical addictions experienced by a single individual, a social addiction does not affect just single individuals and cannot be treated by treating single individuals.)
hope this makes sense, just woke up.
So I live in America ('MERICA!), and within that, the state with the highest rate of alcholism, North Dakota. Needless to say, I've got a seasoned liver. I'm, by no means, an addict, but my weekends and holidays are usually spent socalizing with friends and playing board/video games all with the accompanyment of consumption.
It IS a thing in Ameria, people drinking to get drunk. Most parties, or groups that go out, have that ONE person that way over does it and becomes a complete mess. Often times people will go out for the expressed purpose of getting shitfaced/drank/Ker-blast-a-fucked/messed up/Three Sheets to the wind/etc. (really drunk). I know whole social stratas based entirely on drinking. I'd say it's a problem, but honestly, its just a thing. The booze isn't exactly a problem, but sometimes can be a catalyst to bad social behavior and unhealthy relationships, but those types of things still exist on many levels without the booze (sometimes it would be worse without the booze, this being from personal experience). The majority of people still function on a regular basis no better or worse than everybody else.
What I think the honest problem is that we are a land of extremes (FREEDOM!). The moderate middle ground is often overshadowed by the incredibly loud extremes. We have a lot of people drink way too much, and we have a lot of people who are strongly against the consumption of alcohol anywhere, and like most things here, it boils down into a yelling match with neither side willing to compromise, further fueling the other side into more extreme behaviors.
Pro: Booze is really cheap here.
It IS a thing in Ameria, people drinking to get drunk. Most parties, or groups that go out, have that ONE person that way over does it and becomes a complete mess. Often times people will go out for the expressed purpose of getting shitfaced/drank/Ker-blast-a-fucked/messed up/Three Sheets to the wind/etc. (really drunk). I know whole social stratas based entirely on drinking. I'd say it's a problem, but honestly, its just a thing. The booze isn't exactly a problem, but sometimes can be a catalyst to bad social behavior and unhealthy relationships, but those types of things still exist on many levels without the booze (sometimes it would be worse without the booze, this being from personal experience). The majority of people still function on a regular basis no better or worse than everybody else.
What I think the honest problem is that we are a land of extremes (FREEDOM!). The moderate middle ground is often overshadowed by the incredibly loud extremes. We have a lot of people drink way too much, and we have a lot of people who are strongly against the consumption of alcohol anywhere, and like most things here, it boils down into a yelling match with neither side willing to compromise, further fueling the other side into more extreme behaviors.
Pro: Booze is really cheap here.
I'm 27 and never had a drop of alcohol in my entire life. I'm not joking - I don't even know how wine or beer taste like.
I don't have anything against alcohol, I'm just not interested in that myself, just like I wasn't when I was below the legal drinking age. I find hard to understand how people suddenly make a 180 and turn from non-drinkers to drinkers overnight the day hit the legal drinking age. What's the appeal?
I don't have anything against alcohol, I'm just not interested in that myself, just like I wasn't when I was below the legal drinking age. I find hard to understand how people suddenly make a 180 and turn from non-drinkers to drinkers overnight the day hit the legal drinking age. What's the appeal?
Lots of social situations involve drinking, and not drinking creates an awkward focal point. SO lets make a list of PRO and CON of drinking!
Pros
- Helps people relax, thus breaking down walls of social anxiety and lies, meaning people are more likely to talk and be honest.
- Booze, like food, has many different varieties, flavors, and come with many different experiences, that (in my life) have ranged from buying a bottle of "What is this" in China from a seedy looking corner mark run by a man who can best be described by the term "Sketchy" to spending time at the bar with my mother and brother singing and dancing and having fun followed by more of the same at home and even further to Bloody Marys the next morning while opening Christmas Gifts.
- Drinking puts you in an altered state of mind, slower than normal, that sometimes grants a simplistic clairity and insights you would normally miss/neglect.
- Drinking Cribbage (It's like Cribbage, but with Drinking!)
- Drinking Mario Kart (Rule #1: Don't drink and drive. Rule #2: You have to finish your drink before you finish the race)
- Telling stories about dumb things you did while drunk, because after the fact, it's usually kind of funny in a humbling sort of way.
Cons
- Hangovers
- Getting too drunk
- Learning where that "Sweet Spot" is so you know when to quit drinking after you've had enough, and also figuring out how to maintain that level through a night.
- Doing really dumb things when you're drunk
I prefer to keep social drinking and binge drinking separate. If you're out at a party or having a night on the town, getting blasted can just land you in a heap of trouble or leave you making an ass out of yourself. Staying in with a handful of close friends and getting utterly fucked up can be very fun, though. I do that all the time, haha.
If it's interfering with your life and how you function, cool off a bit. Getting hammered in addition to whatever you do for fun can be a great hobby if you've got it under control, though. Last night, my roomie and I got wasted while solving cryptograms and watching murder mysteries. We'd have had a good time hanging out with each other either way, but getting trashed certainly helped turn an uneventful night into quite a fun one~
If it's interfering with your life and how you function, cool off a bit. Getting hammered in addition to whatever you do for fun can be a great hobby if you've got it under control, though. Last night, my roomie and I got wasted while solving cryptograms and watching murder mysteries. We'd have had a good time hanging out with each other either way, but getting trashed certainly helped turn an uneventful night into quite a fun one~
I think ModelT got it right with the pro/con list. I used to be a goody two shoes kid in hs who thought drinking was for derelicts. Then i got to college and became one of the derelicts. I rarely let myself get drunk enough to make a fool out of myself, moreso just drink to loosen up a bit. I work my ass off all week I think drinking on the weekends is alright.
in other news, on new years eve i walked a friend home from a party but i turned the wrong way and walked for over an hour in the freezing cold when the party was originally ~200 feet from my house. whoops.
in other news, on new years eve i walked a friend home from a party but i turned the wrong way and walked for over an hour in the freezing cold when the party was originally ~200 feet from my house. whoops.
This happened to one of my best friends about six months ago actually, though he was a bit late to the scene, he was 22 (in Britain where the drinking age is 18) and had just finished his finals. I don't really know why he had not been a drinker before: he claims he "didn't like the taste", but I suspect that the real reason was because he was always a bit paranoid about failing at his academic studies, and he would do everything in his power to maximise his successes in that area - that would fit with the timing of his change of heart.
Anyway, from what I have seen, it has done him the world of good. Not the drinking itself, but as part of a change to his whole personality. I don't see him as often as I used to, even though we are still both at uni (he is doing a PhD, I dropped a year and am now doing my Masters), and when I do see him it's as part of a larger group rather than just the two of us, because he is more outgoing, more relaxed, and ultimately, more confident, even the 99% of the time when there are no intoxicants in his bloodstream. Whereas beforehand he had always been a little negative, cynical and introverted, and while I thought his depressive schtick was hilarious, clearly it wasn't for everyone.
Spot on, that is exactly what I was getting at when I said "drinking shouldn't be the entertainment". Sure, you got smashed, but that wasn't why you were having a good time: you were having a good time because you were getting smashed with your roommate, and doing silly things with him/her.
The difference with heroing and alcohol is that they make you addicted differently. If you do heroin a couple of times you will get physically addicted. Alcohol basically does the same thing but way slower. If you get drunk every day for a week straigth and you get off you won't feel an urgent need to get drunk again the next week. Of course alcohol can become a habbit and an addiction, but it's just not compareable to heroin at all. A physical alcohol addiction takes years to develop.
What really is a problem with alcohol is the mental "addiction". Usually when you are drunk fun stuff happens, everyone has a good time and there is practically no downside (feeling sick on a sunday morning is something many people don't care about). It's like watching tv or playing video games, why wouldn't you do it, it's pleasant and usually doesn't hurt. Of course things like that can develop into serious addictions when you can't controll them. I personally get drunk pretty often, but then there are phases that are pretty long where i don't drink anything and well, i never really felt an urgent need to get drunk. If you think you have a drinking problem just don't drink for a couple of weeks and see if you even notice any difference. If you do that should be a warning sign.
Also, i think everyone should know where his/her limits are, if you pass out every weekend and throw up in your sleep and stuff like that that isn't healthy either. Alcohol is a "soft" drug, you take it but you can still control it at certain amounts, which usually isn't the case with hard drugs.
I definitely agree that the social acceptation of mass drinking is troublesome. Especially the idea that you 'need' a drink in order to get a party started sounds silly for me. In my country the minimum drinking age has just been raised to 18 years old recently, but I would actually prefer it to be even higher, because the brain only completely finishes developing at the age of 25. Scientific evidence suggests that brain damage is a lot more likely to occur when a person drinks on a regular basis. However, it can actually be healthy on a cardiovascular level if you only drink one glass a day, but this does not eliminate the higher chance of brain impairments. While I do not want to force people to stop certain behaviour, I don't think it's beneficial in any way that alcoholic beverages play such a large role.
To anyone that feels insecure during parties or festivities, and feels the need for a drink: Try getting the feeling of relaxation and freedom from something else. My friends are crazy, but are okay with anything I do or want to do, as long as I don't do any harm with it. To be honest, that is a lot more enlightening than drinking will ever be, spending time with friends who allow you to be yourself. Because of that, I've never started drinking on a regular basis, only tasted it at parties (with a smug face, blech, champagne).
Here's why;
Chart doesn't even take into account the fact that Alcohol and Caffeine are diluted. Still might have made a better point if you hadn't picked the most dangerous and addictive narcotic.
If you waited 6 years to drink, you're probably not going to turn into a raging alcoholic the moment you get a drop in you. That or you're a very weak person. There is such a thing as drinking responsibly, and the appeal can be the same as any non-alcoholic drink you like. There's nothing high and mighty about leaving new things untried.
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alcohol is pretty close to heroin on that oh-so illuminating chart (seriously the chart is useless without some words telling me how it was constructed) so I think my point is pretty safe even if your chart does turn out to mean something. Please explain what dependency potential is supposed to be according to that chart. Alcohol dependency is culturally reinforced, like caffeine, and none of the other drugs on the chart are normatively culturally reinforced, but since i have no idea what dependency potential is (and I am pretty wary that dependency can even be quantified, but I'll wait for that discussion) I don't know whether that was taken into account when making the chart. If it wasn't...
PS: I like how you think I chose heroin not knowing that it is generally held to be the most dangerous and addictive narcotic.
PS: I like how you think I chose heroin not knowing that it is generally held to be the most dangerous and addictive narcotic.
I imagine the quantification of dependency has something to do with how addiction is a medical affliction with actual verifiable symptoms.