It seems to be a rather stigmatic thing here. Mainly because they all go to parties, and I just sit here with my comp, bothering humans kind enough to listen to me (i.e. codepoet or faboo)
In my experience, that goes away after the first year of school. The need (for some people) to get drunk fades, and there's more of a chance to have meaningful interactions with the people around you. The worst part of being around alcoholics is that they feel the need to have other people drink, a sort of destructive validation.
I was sitting in a coffee house last night chatting with a rather friendly girl about how shallow the college-people-experience is, and I offered the following: College is a time when you pay, both financially and emotionally, for the time to be completely introverted. College is not vocational school, even if you manage to pick up a pragmatic skill while you're there; college is a place to focus on self-identity. At no other time will you have the chance to read and think to the exclusion of nearly everything else. It's appealing in abstract, but the lifestyle bears a heavy cost - it's often depressing to really look at yourself. Perhaps due to that depression, a lot of people turn to alcohol or drugs or sex to compensate for the lack of communication and human connection in their lives.
Well, that's my theory, at least. I'm not a party-goer much these days, myself. I still enjoy a shot of vodka every so often, but I haven't been intoxicated in over a year. Drunken behavior just looks sad most of the time. Once a year with my close friends? Sure. Nothing beyond that is really sensible, IMO
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
Stigma
Date: 2002-05-05 02:43 pm (UTC)Re: Stigma
Date: 2002-05-06 10:30 am (UTC)I was sitting in a coffee house last night chatting with a rather friendly girl about how shallow the college-people-experience is, and I offered the following: College is a time when you pay, both financially and emotionally, for the time to be completely introverted. College is not vocational school, even if you manage to pick up a pragmatic skill while you're there; college is a place to focus on self-identity. At no other time will you have the chance to read and think to the exclusion of nearly everything else. It's appealing in abstract, but the lifestyle bears a heavy cost - it's often depressing to really look at yourself. Perhaps due to that depression, a lot of people turn to alcohol or drugs or sex to compensate for the lack of communication and human connection in their lives.
Well, that's my theory, at least. I'm not a party-goer much these days, myself. I still enjoy a shot of vodka every so often, but I haven't been intoxicated in over a year. Drunken behavior just looks sad most of the time. Once a year with my close friends? Sure. Nothing beyond that is really sensible, IMO