There are a number of reasons and none of them very rational. I enjoy being more than tipsy. I really like the buzz and I’ve always liked it since I started drinking 26 years ago at 15.
As to why? Why do some people like beef and hate mutton? Why do some people enjoy skiing and others golf? Either you enjoy a certain activity or you don’t. Hardwiring in the brain, sociological studies or what have you… I can’t explain to someone who doesn’t like drinking what the point is.
One thing though, that I make a rule of: Only drink for the fun of it - never to ease any kind of pain.
** ResIpsaLoquitor **
So taking away the pain reduces the harm? And this is also better than, say, staying sober and not dive down the stairs. I know what you wanted to say, but it still reads a bit weird.
I don’t enjoy getting really, really drunk. I’ve done it once, and I was miserable for several hours afterwards. I have never drunk to the point where I couldn’t stand, or where I forgot what happened the previous night…I hope I never get that drunk, and I’m pretty responsible, so I don’t think I will.
When I drink, it’s usually just a beer with dinner or something, but on Friday or Saturday, I sometimes like to go out to the bar with my friends, play pool, and drink. When I’m drinking enough to feel it, I like to get a good, hard, buzz, but where I feel kinda funky, but I can still move my body around without crashing into people, and I can still think clearly. I may have lowered inhibitions, but I still know exactly what I’m doing, and if I can still think clearly, then I won’t make really stupid decisions. So, you’ll find that once I start to get a bit wobbly, I stop drinking…that’s my limit. It works well…I’ve only had one hangover in my life, and it was very, very mild.
Wow, if you look at the second sentence in the second paragraph, you’d think I wrote it drunk. Sorry about the mulitple grammatical errors…I was typing fast.
Yes, kitarak. I simply took offense to sailor’s dismissal of the entire class of young drinkers as slaves to peer pressure.
My point still stands: young people drink because it is fun. I personally have never a person who HATES getting drunk, drinking just because their friends do so. Peer pressure may be an extra incentive, but it’s only that. We get drunk, because we like it.
And I am scared of people who feel that way, because those are the people who want to get me drunk. Some people with this attitude are willing to use force or trickery to get me to drink.
But I am careful, because it is very important to me that I not get drunk. That is because I am sick. And when I say “I am sick” I don’t mean “I have a cold”, I mean “I am chronically ill due to a serious medical condition”. Drunkenness is dangerous even for healthy people, but much more so for me.
Interestingly, I have realized that my illness has enabled me to experience many of the effects of drunkenness without putting any money or effort into it. Vomiting? I go through phases where I throw up after every meal, every day, for months on end. Waking up in the morning feeling like hell? I’ve got it covered. Confusion, dizziness, and eventual unconsciousness? You should see me when I’ve missed my medication!
What blows my mind is that these symptoms, things I would give almost anything to be rid of, are things that other people intentionally seek out. I’d be blissfully happy if I could avoid them simply by abstaining from alcohol, but rather than appreciating their good luck and fine health countless people would rather make themselves ill by drinking too much.
Is it worse to wonder or to know for sure that the person is “hiding” their tendencies towards violence, verbal abuse, petty theft, and sexual assault, all behaviors I have seen drunk people freely engage in?
This is a thread I’ve been thinking about starting myself. Having witnessed drunks at a frat party setting off stink bombs, another drunk puking in my trash can, a drunken relative serenading the bride at her reception while the drunk’s wife laughed it off and walked to the other end of the hall (He puked all over his new car on the trip home that day), another drunk relative totalling a car and nearly crippling herself - and I could go on - I just don’t get it. I’ve had too many pleasurable occasions made less pleasurable or completely ruined by drunken fools. I’ve had to be around people who reek of alcohol - lovely way to pass the time. I’ve seen “happy” drunks and sleepy drunks and beligerant drunks. No smart drunks, tho.
I drink a little, once in a while - and honestly, I can’t remember the last drink I had. If I do have a drink, it’s for the flavor, not for the buzz. I’ve read all the explanations offered here, and I still don’t get it. Don’t get it at all…
I like to drink. We go through our day-to-day lives constricted by all kinds of social conventions. Be polite, keep your feelings to yourself, don’t say that, sit still, keep your clothes on. I can’t imagine being happy living that way all the time. I need to free myself of all those prohibitions - even if it means acting a little obnoxious and stupid. I suppose some people have a hidden side that they’re better off keeping hidden, but me, I just get nicer and friendlier.
It’s awfully close-minded to dismiss other people as stupid because they like to do things you don’t. Especially if you’ve never tried it. (I’m not referring to anyone in particular here.) Drugs do have different affects on different people. Smoking pot is generally an unpleasant experience for me, but I have friends who clearly do enjoy it.
No smart drunks? I’d like to invite you to a party. Next time a particular friend of mine throws a kegger, show up and listen to him and me debate politics / philosophy / merits of various alcoholic beverages. Last time, we had an hour long talk about the origins of civilization, and how the onset of agriculture affected humanity. So come and take a look. You don’t have to drink, but I can’t guarantee you won’t get hit on by college studs.
I think it’s important to say that there are many different levels of being drunk. Drinking to the point of vomiting is not the only type of drunk there is. A very small percentage (even of college students) get to that point. Most drink, get a buzz, and maintain that buzz for a while. Then they have someone sober drive them home and they sleep it off. If they’re lucky, like me, they almost never get hangovers. (I call what I get “hangunders”, because I wake up feeling refreshed and happy.)
Umm, ok. I can at least see where you’re coming from with drinking. But smoking and lying are letting yourself go? WTF?
As to getting drunk, the point is that alchohol isn’t a decent substitute for natural low inhibitions, but people often see it as one. If you can’t socialise well without alchohol, you’re essentially using it to deal with a problem without addressing the real issues.
For the record, I don’t drink or smoke and don’t lie unless I absolutely have to. It’s 'cause I’m hiding my secret life as a psychotic killer. :rolleyes:
Or it might be my strange attachment to my brain and liver. Who knows?
Drinking is fun. It is also dangerous. I have never drank from peer pressure, and I have always respected people to make their own choices (=I have not made others drink). My parents have always had alcohol in the house and I started mixing my first drinks at 13. I have outdrank many people (and ended up competing with guys who didn’t care for this). A young girl that wants to drink (me years ago) who is underage can Always find a nice guy who will buy them all of the alcohol they want. I never did anything sexual with these guys and always had a fantastic time.
A few times I have gotten sick but I have more of a problem with blacking out (for the entire night, not momentarily) than throwing up. So I have definitely stopped getting drunk because an entire night out that needs to be explained to me is not okay.
The reasons I drink are boredom, loosen up (stress sucks), or to seperate myself from reality. The seperation from reality were the times I end up blacking out. Those are few and far between and they are plans that were made under diress and with a confirmed babysitter.
I no longer do that.
Not everyone has top notch self control and if someone wants a drink or two and their self control is even more so diminished and they end up getting too drunk, they are likely to drink again even if they didn’t care for the ‘too drunk’. They enjoy the happy buzz.
I don’t see the appeal of getting totally wasted myself. When my buddies and I go out drinking I’m the most sober one of the group… and overall the group is pretty sober. Only once have I drunk enough to make me ill and that was a few weeks ago… it was a side effect of the heat and not having had much to eat that day. I didn’t drink more than what I usually drink that day (in fact I drank less) so I know it wasn’t my tolerance. I didn’t even get a hangover from that one… only once have I had a hangover and that wasn’t a bad one.
Usually when my buddies and I go out we go to karaoke or a pool hall and spend the time discussing whatever comes up along with sharing a few drinks and singing/playing pool. At most I have about 7 drinks over a long period of time… we usually go to karaoke an hour before it starts up, drink and talk, then drink, talk and sing till the bar closes. Then we all catch a cab home.
Drinking for us is a social thing, but we don’t do it all the time either. A lot of the time we just sit up half the night laughing our asses off at comments we make and none of us have had any kind of drink or anything. It’s the people who get totally piss-ass drunk that piss me off. Why do you drink till your sick? That’s not much fun at all. You make yourself look like fools… that’s also the people I usually get hit on by. Someone reeking of booze and trying to get into my pants. The good thing is though, most of my buddies are guys who watch out for me, they laugh at it when it happens but if things get too far and I can’t get rid of the guy they will jump in to help me (no not beat him up just let him know he’s not wanted around)
It’s all in how well you handle your liquor and know your limits. Then respect those limits. I know I do…
Alcohol makes facing social situations involving a lot of people much easier for me. Sober me doesn’t say anything, but the drunk me is the most popular guy there.
A buzzed lack of inhibitions has helped me to communicate more fluently in a foreign language on several occasions.
A lot of the things people do at the later stages of drunkenness ARE extremely stupid, but you have to realize that to them, at the time, it’s hysterical.
I didn’t used to understand the appeal either since my first few experiences were bad, but now I see alcohol has its place. Anyway, as an anti-social 22 year old college student, it’s basically impossible for me to have much of a social life without it.
On the other hand, I’ve never blacked out, and I’ve figured out about how much I can drink without paying for it in the morning. Overdoing it isn’t good.
I think that most people don’t like getting quite that wasted - they get there because the ability to make good judgements is in inverse proportion to the amount of alcohol one has imbibed.
Did that make sense?
What I mean is, once you’ve had three, having another two doesn’t seem like such a dumb idea. Only after you end up praying to the porcelain goddess do you realize that maybe having a 6th drink wasn’t such a hot idea.
So why do some people continue in that pattern? Immaturity &/or unhappiness play a big part, I think.
Case in point: I have a friend who’s 21 & very adult in many ways, but continues to drink too much for her OWN taste on a bi-weekly basis. She drinks, gets a hangover, regrets, repeats. I know people who did the same thing at 21 who grew out of it by 23. Also, she’s at a very stressful point in her life & doesn’t have a therapist yet, so she’s doing a little self-medicating while she searches for one.
I know very much what you mean - For the former, I’m the same. For the latter, that’s where I’m worried about going. No offence intended - if you’re happy with that, that’s fine. I simply don’t want to do things that way. I figure if I need to drink to be social, and I want to be social, that shows a problem to be fixed with the sober me, not a need to get drunk.
I don’t look forward to getting crushed into little pieces by a bus, yet I still ride my bike for fun. I must be an idiot.
I don’t enjoy having a barbell come down on my foot, smashing it to bits, yet I still like lifting weights. I must have a death wish.
I don’t want to be a lifeless loser who spends his entire life sitting in front of a computer, afraid to interact with real people, yet I still have fun posting on the SDMB and surfing the net. I must be deranged.
I’m sure I wouldn’t like getting a divorce, losing half my salary and possessions and going through a nasty custody battle, and yet I’m happy I got married. I must be a masochist.
I don’t like throwing up and being hung over, and yet I still like to go out with friends to bars or restaurants and consume alcohol in intoxicating qualities. I must be stupid.
There’s more to it than just the negatives, folks.
You and käse are right. People should do what they want and really live their lives. If they want to be a party animal, they should go off and do it. If they want to relax at home with a good book, they should do it. If they want to get drunk, then by all means, do it. If they want to be sober, or quit smoking, or try not to lie, then they should do exactly that.
People “live” in different ways than other people. They “let go” differently, too. I’m not afraid of people that choose to drink; why should they be afraid of me because I choose not to?
So come and take a look. You don’t have to drink, but I can’t guarantee you won’t get hit on by college studs.