Just because there’s alcohol around you, that doesn’t mean you have to drink it – it’s pretty easy to say no and drink some soft drink or something. But don’t do it just because I said so. Do it because getting drunk could make your night (and possibly a lot of nights after it) a whole lot worse. Here are 9 reasons why.
1. You Might Forget Your Night
Blackouts (or “retrograde amnesia”) are more common in teen drinkers than in adults. Teens who drink way too much at once often wake up the next morning without any memory of huge chunks of the night before.
If you’re drunk, you might not realize (or care) that people are taking pictures of you, but those photos could come back to haunt you in a big way. Drunken pics have cost teens their jobs, university admission, and major embarrassment. And since cameras are everywhere, drinking at a party pretty much guarantees there will be evidence of it on Facebook the next day.
3. Drunk Dialling
Getting drunk often means waking up the next morning with a couple of calls or texts in your phone log that you totally regret sending. They can range from revealing your feelings to your crush, to saying stuff that makes you look stupid when you listen to it sober. Since leaving your cell phone at home probably isn’t an option, your best bet to avoid drunk dialing is to not get drunk in the first place.
Alcohol plays a dirty trick on you: it can make you feel more confident and cool, when to outside observers you are slowly turning into a slurring, stumbling mess. Do you want to look like yourself, or do you want to look like one of those sorry drunks who stumble about, and often make dirty gutters their bed for the night?
5. It’s Illegal
Of course you may not be legally allowed to drink – the drinking age 18 in Nigeria. And just because lots of teens break the law, that doesn’t mean it’s alright. Let’s assume you get busted, it would give the police a leg to stand on since you are obviously in the wrong.
6. You’ll Almost Definitely Do Something You’ll Regret
The more you drink, the worse your judgment is, and the more likely you will do stupid stuff that you will hate yourself for tomorrow (or even for the rest of your life). It might be something minor like a drunk dial or a fight with a friend.Or something major like unprotected sex, being a victim of rape, trusting your life to a drunk driver or losing your virginity to a stranger. Everyone who’s been dumb enough to get wasted has a horror story.
7. Every Time You Drink, Your Brain Dies a Little
Drinking too much now while your brain is still forming is bad for your adult years, as you will have more trouble completing difficult tasks, processing information and making decisions than the teens around you now who aren’t getting drunk. Not to forget that you could develop a dependency on alcohol which in turn will turn you to an alcoholic (someone who needs alcohol to function)
8. You Could Die (Yes, Really)
Drink too much and you could give yourself acute alcohol poisoning, which is like a drug overdose. If you pass out from alcohol poisoning and don’t get medical attention immediately, you might die. Drunk people also die from passing out, puking and then choking on their own vomit. If you’re taken to a hospital fast enough you might survive, but are you ready to put your life in the hands of a bunch of drunk people at a house party?
9. You Can Have Fun Without It
Seriously. What’s fun about a party isn’t the booze – it’s the hanging out with your friends, meeting new people, accidental run-ins with your crush and all that stuff. If you stay sober, you will be in complete control of yourself and able to socialize without making a fool of yourself or doing something stupid. Plus, in the morning, you might actually remember it.
