Binge drinking is being fueled by Social Media – Aftercare and continuing care in Alberta and British Columbia – Options Okanagan Alcohol Treatment Centers in Kelowna, British Columbia treating drug, opiate and alcohol addiction and recovery.
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Social Media and Binge Drinking
Although social media has skyrocketed in popularity to allow distant and old friends and family members to share and reconnect, these websites also have drawbacks to them, such as online affairs and cyberbullying. Binge drinking games are another way that social media is misused, and can be a deadly one as well.
Neknominate – Binge Drinking Game
A few years ago there was one youthful social media fad that was making headlines. It was a drinking game believed to have started with Australian college students. This game is called neknominate. It involves participants of the game to film themselves downing some kind of drink, usually a huge alcoholic drink. Then the person posts their movie on social media and challenges one of their friends to outdo them and post a video in 24 hours or less.
The game continues with one individual challenging another one to perform an outrageous drinking stunt. News outlets in previous years reported on young men dying playing these stupid and dangerous binge drinking games. Thousands of young people all over the world have played the game and made videos of their stunts have gone viral, which encourages vulnerable young adults, even those who are not challenged specifically, to encourage them to do dangerous actions that are similar to those that came before them.
Drinking and Social Perception
The neknominate game is a very extreme example of how young people can be influenced to drink by social media, especially binge drinking. Also, there are much more subtle ways that social media contributes to the increase in binge drinking. This has to do with how social norms are perceived. All people, but in particular teens, are hard-wired for fitting and following the norms of their peer group. In ways that are more innocent, it helps teenagers get along well with others and make friends, like following the music and fashion trends.
This phenomenon also works in ways that are more insidious. One of the major drivers of underage drinking is the perceived social norms regarding drinking or the belief that everybody is doing it. Social media websites help to increase the perception of numerous things, including excessive drinking by young people. Whenever teenagers are inundated with status updates, videos, tweets, and images about drinking, they start believing that everybody is drinking and that this is acceptable behavior if what is being represented is an exaggeration. The perception makes it more likely that the teens will engage in binge drinking.
Studying Binge Drinking and Social Media
Given the fact that social media is a fairly new phenomenon, there is only minimal research that has has been conducted on its effects. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) have started researching how binge drinking is affected by social media to get a clear idea of how large the problem actually is and how it can be prevented. The act that the NIH and CIHR are prepared to invest in funding on research means experts believe social media is playing an important role in the increase of binge drinking. The research will dig up the details and confirm this and could help to change the current pattern of binge and underage drinking.
Social media has a lot to account for when it comes to young people’s drinking behaviors. It might be people posting about their stunts and drinking, but the social media platform is what sends the message all over the world. The continuous appearance of videos, images, and messages about drinking on the various social media channels adds to the concept that drinking, and particularly drinking hard, is a cool thing. That must change before more people become injured, sick, or even killed due to excess drinking.
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