TMI thread. Discussion of sensitive ADULT issues/triggers. Enter with awareness!

[bucklind17]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Okay, call me a prude. Go ahead. But I find it a bit distressing to read about underage drinking, especially if it veers into the territory of binge drinking. And that's especially the case with young, talented, smart, beautiful girls who (potentially) have the world in the palm of their hands. I guess I've seen too many real-life examples of alcohol destroying people's lives or, their looks, or otherwise blunting ones potential in life. Chronic alcohol abuse never has a happy ending, even if one gets sober. Sure, it could be just a phase or just a temporary means of killing boredom. But what if it's more than that? Are the potential long-term health and/or emotional consequences worth the short-term gratification? Again, I'll totally admit that I'm sounding like a prude, but as someone who has passed the stage of life where drinking is a novelty, I can assure you that it's really not worth it.

I don't think you're a prude at all. I never quite understood the rush teenagers seem to have to do all of these things. It seems like the more situations they can put themselves in that might end badly, the better. I enjoy socially drinking now but it's really not something I started to do until I was of age and nothing I've ever done in a particular amount of excess. Do teenagers just think they're more grown up or cool because they're too young to drink but are doing it anyway?

Then again, I think that applies to a LOT of choices that young people make before they are of an age to fully understand them or their consequences. Watch a marathon of MTV's 16 and Pregnant and you'll know what I mean. There are WAY too many teenagers who are putting themselves in adult situations before they can handle it simply because it's available to them and they don't think far enough ahead to not do it.

And don't even get me started on smoking. If you're a teenager in this day and age and you start smoking, you're an idiot.