Social Media Alcoholism

Alcoholism is one of the most intractable and pervasive psychological disorders known. Though the negative health consequences of alcohol are widely understood, and, if anything, the social consequences of alcoholism are even more widely acknowledged, it seems that no matter what steps are taken by public health officials or private organizations, no strategy can ever be fully developed for eradicating alcoholism. There are a number of reasons why this is true. This paper will explore some of the social and medical problems created by alcohol, but in it I will also consider the role of alcohol in my personal life and the way I have seen the disease play out in the lives of people around me. The paper will also examine the social and political responses to the problem of alcoholism and attempt to determine where productive approaches have been taken and areas where mistakes have been made. Before discussing such wide-ranging questions, it is important to understand what alcoholism is and how it is manifested.

Is the media’s portrayal of adolescent drinking accurate? Yes, it is. To many individuals, Alcohol is only a drink, but it is a lot more than that, it's an addictive drug. 60% of young adults have tried alcohol earlier than the age of 14, and the numbers of under aged drinkers is rising. Adolescents begin drinking for a lot of reasons - given that they are bored, due to peer pressure, and quite simply because there is nothing else to do. The national Drug research Institute observed females aged 14 to 17 have been worse abusers of alcohol than 18 to 24-year old guys. In other records, it suggests that eighty percent of under 18-year-olds drink, 50 percentage binge drink. Also around 10 percent of 12 year olds drink.

Alcoholism is a problem experienced in many societies and covers issues associated with intake of alcohol (Schneider, 1978). In most cases, it is used to refer to addictive and uncontrolled use or abuse of alcohol such that the health, relationships and social status of a person is eroded. Due to its negative effects on users, it is considered as a bad practice in the society. Alcoholism is contributed by many social issues concerning users as well as society and is largely accepted as a social deviance behavior. However, according to Schneider (1992), deviant drinking has been

“Alcohol is a manipulative bitch. If she was a person, I think she’d be a telemarketer or a used-car sales women who could persuade you to do just about anything(188)” ,Koren Zailckas once said in her New York Times best selling novel, Smashed: Story of a drunken girlhood, based society vs. humans. Society has captivated us with a stereotype image of who we should be; Therefore a high average of teens, seek alcoholism or drug abuse to fill the void of imperfection, such as in the case of Zailckas.

There are many studies connecting media exposure to drug use in adolescents. Media can be defined as television shows, movies, books, music, and even billboards on the side of the road. Nunez-Smith et al. conducted research reviewing 42 studies which looked into drug use in adolescents. It was found that media often causes children to be at a high risk to try smoking, drinking, and illicit drugs. Some of the studies explained that some shows can portray an imagine of drinking or doing drugs to be associated with the "in" crowd. The individuals who are considered to be cool and popular in a school setting also are the ones being invited to all the parties and getting involved with different drugs. This imagine sends the message that it is

Regarding this time period as well, teenagers of the 21st century rely on social media and advertisements in their decision making (Hopkins n.pag.). When a troubled teen has personal problems, they seek shelter on drugs and alcohol to get themselves distracted until they ponder about situations that they have seen on advertisements to help them forget or efface their problems (Hopkins n.pag.). As statistics show, those who are around the ages of twelve to twenty are more exposed to alcohol advertising than adults over the age of 35 (Hopkins n.pag.). Seventy percent of what industries advertise is more likely to be seen by teenagers instead of adults who are actually in the legal age to drink (Hopkins n.pag.). Multiple advertisements forget to emphasize the dangers of drinking in their articles or magazines.

In today’s American society, the consumption of alcohol is commonly practiced. It is quite uncommon for one to attend a social event where the presence of alcohol is obsolete. However, society has deemed it fit to tell our youth that they are not allowed to participate in the traditional social pastime of drinking until they reach the age of 21. Hence, when they encounter methods around this predicament-and most of them do-young adults often participate in the reckless consumption of alcohol in large quantities.

Teens rank the media as the leading source of information about sex, second only to sex education programs in school. The media now shows sex between unmarried partners 24 times more often than sex between partners (Lowe). This is also true for alcohol and smoking the largest breweries spend $200 million each year on advertising. Teenagers see between 1000 and 2000 beer commercials with the message that ‘real’ men drink beer which has been shown to have increased underage drinking (Lowe). Mass media has had a huge influence on our society due to the fact that we rely on mass media for all our information be it news, information, education or entertainment (Matthews).

These drinking habits need to stop, STOP so they will be safe, STOP so that they are not developing lifelong health issues and making a past on their social media accounts, because these days it’s too hard to hide the past on the social media. Drinking at young ages affects multiple aspects of the youth. need to educate the youth about the negative impacts because it only takes one night to wreck a life time.

In the modern and technological society which we live in today social media plays an integral part in everyday life. Social media is an online tool which allows people to communicate, share data and form groups with others sharing common interests. On social media platforms users can forms virtual communities or networks exchanging information. (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Social media has become such a big part of life that the term ‘Facebook addict’ has been introduced into the urban dictionary.

Report provides evident that social media have an influence on underage drinking. Social media have more effect on boys than it does on girls. Report shows (a) that (20%) boys and 10% girls under the age of 21 experimented with alcohol drinking after viewing alcohol contents on social media, (b) that (40%) boys and (25%) girls under the age of 21 are willing to experiment with drinking alcohol, and (c) that (80%) boys and (90%) girls did not drink any alcohol after the experiment.

Addictions may seem like simple pleasures at first. Unfortunately, that's the trap with any addiction. It starts out at a pleasurable interest. Gradually, it can turn into something that's life-altering and all-consuming. Not only can it alter your own life, it can ruin your family life. When it comes to addiction, most people think about the most popular ones like drug and alcohol addictions. However, there are many addictions that fly under the radar.

Media has a lot to do with adolescent substance abuse. Many times in advertisement, adolescents see people drinking alcohol and having a great time. Media spends over $25 billion dollars on advertisement yearly. Many celebrities are seen smoking or drinking alcohol in movies, TV, and on commercials. This makes adolescents think that drinking, smoking, and taking drugs are cool and will make them popular. Over 5000 deaths yearly are caused by alcohol consumption. (Strasburger, 2010)

Social media gives the impression that alcohol usage is normative among young individuals. Adolescents may develop a perceived social norm of alcohol use among peers of varying ages because ages of individuals on social networking sites vary greatly. In an experiment conducted by Dana M. Litt and Michelle L. Stock, they examined the roles and impact of social networking sites perceived social norms of alcohol usage of adolescents. Their results show

Social media has become one of the most popular sources of communication for the upcoming generation. For young people growing up in today’s society, social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have provided pictures and news that have become the first thing that their eyes see in the morning and the last thing that they see before bed. These pictures have provided unrealistic standards as to what is considered beautiful in today’s society. As young people refer to these images as a form of comparison, it has created harmful circumstances. These influences on the lives of young people have forced them to take extreme measures and in some cases, has been the cause of death. Social media in today’s society has proven to