Drinking Liquor: Teenager’s Sense Of Belongingness

Teenagers are known to be spontaneous and vulnerable in a sense that they are making decisions recklessly without further thinking what would be the possible consequences. At that moment when curiosity kicks in, a teenager will do everything to quench their thirst. However, it is not the curiosity that makes them drive into drinking liquor but the warmth of belongingness they find in their friends. Nature and peer pressure plays a vital role on why teenagers embrace the idea of belongingness through drinking liquor that gives a big impact in one’s health.

Failing grades, demerits, and suspensions is not a new scenario for those students who skip classes just to hang out with their circle. They prioritize their vices such as smoking traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes, gambling, and drinking liquor rather than their academic performances and their productivity. These are students or teenagers who are likely to be pushed to drink an alcohol because they want to fit in to the group so they will not be left behind or be called by names. Peer pressure is one of the reasons why a teenager seeks to explore the world of drinking. There are also two types of peer pressure; it can be indirectly or directly. Direct pressure is when someone will forcefully ask you to do something, while indirect pressure, on the other hand, is when you witness a person doing some action or an activity and you are intrigue or curious to the same thing (Gonzales, 2018). The sense of belongingness through drinking liquor is a bad habit mostly for teenagers who are not in legal age of drinking alcohol because it can affect also not just their health but also their academic performances. This pressure of drinking may cause lack of activeness academically that may lead to failing grades. Drinking affects a life of a teenager or a student if his or her grade starts to reach the rock bottom because drinking alcohol at the young age may affect your memory and it may cause a poor quality of sleep (Smith, 2017).

Young adults who were drinking liquor are influenced by his or her nature. The reason why they also drink is because of the environment they are exposed to and the people who surround them. Sometimes, the parent or the parents are the ones who serve as influencers to the teens, by the way they act and the way they drink, it is more likely for their child to be exposed to this bad habit earlier than what is being advised. The more the young adults are getting influenced to the same thing because of how their parents act around them. According to Dr. Richard Honaker, a family doctor, said that if a teen or a child has a family member who is alcoholic, the parents must be the first to warn or guide the child because as per Dr. Richard it is the first step in reassuring that their child will be less likely to try alcohol beverages. However, social media also serves as a platform why the youth today are patronizing alcohol products. Billions of people are using social media every day especially the youth. Social media allows teenagers or youth to see such influential photos or posts. But this era of socialization has also a bad habit of influencing young adults. Studies have shown that alcohol-related posts in social media triggers the youth’s craving for alcohol. According to Jason Dorr, a director of Michigan State University researchers, seventy five percent of teens aged 12 to 17 claims that seeing photos in any social media platforms motivates their friends and schoolmates to try alcoholic beverages. (Keller, 2018).

The teenager’s vulnerability to alcohol drinking leads them to numerous diseases. According to the University of the Philippines, 60 percent of Filipino teenagers today drink alcoholic beverages (Tacio, 2018). If adults are already experiencing liver cancer, diabetes, memory lapses and many more on their age, minors are likely to develop these diseases in their adolescent or worst they can feel the effect at early age. Drinking alcoholic beverages has two possible outcomes or effects. It could be a short term effect or a long term effect in one’s health. Vomiting, passing out, trouble concentrating, mood swings are just part of the short term effects. On the other hand, long term effects are more severe than the short term effects that a teenager could possibly experience. Long term effects consist of irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, and stroke that could possibly lead to death (Monico, 2019).

Nevertheless, exploring things out of your comfort zones is not bad at all. Thus, you should always remember that you should not let your curiosity drive you to do bad things not just for yourself but also for others. The people around you can give guidance and advice but the main decision and willingness to quit or avoid drinking alcohol will be coming from you. In the end, it is you, yourself, who will decide whether you would want to add up and be the reason of the increase to the 60 percent of teenagers who is patronizing, using and getting addicted to alcohol beverages or be one of those people who chose to stay healthy and live their life alcohol-free.