By MaCayla Jablonski, Staff Reporter.
Every year for Christmas, I get a Barbie doll from my uncle. I’m almost 20 years old, but in his mind I’m still the 7-year-old girl he knew before his accident.
When my uncle was 18, he and a few of his friends made the decision to get behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol. My uncle was able to make it out with his life—others in the car were not as fortunate. Rather than starting his first semester of college, he spent his time in a hospital bed recovering from multiple brain injuries and broken bones. He will never regain full-function of his brain.
As college students, we witness irresponsible alcohol consumption by other students nearly every day. It doesn’t phase us until someone we love suffers from a decision they made with unclear judgement.
The Washington Post article, “The often-repeated claim that 1,800 college students die from ‘alcohol-related causes,’” says that binge drinking isn’t killing students, it’s the decisions students make while intoxicated that are killing them.
More students are dying from drunk driving, drunkenly falling down the stairs and starting fires while drunk, rather than alcohol poisoning. If my uncle and his friends would’ve stayed at home and been responsible, odds are they would all still be alive and well today. With drinking comes a tremendous amount of responsibility—responsibility some college students aren’t capable of handling.
When classes get unbearable and we need to tune out of reality before losing our sanity, most college students turn to partying. It’s the one stereotype about college students that tends to stay consistent over time.
I also know that being a college student in the 21st century is taking a toll on most students’ mental health, because of how difficult it is to work enough hours, keep your grades up to maintain scholarships, find enough money to eat that day, etc.
According to Healthline’s article, “Depression in College Students,” one in four college students suffer from mental illnesses, and around 75 percent of those students don’t seek help. Instead, they turn to binge-drinking alcohol to numb themselves, and suffer through it. It scares me that so many of us turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms when stressed.
Too many of us consider alcohol as “liquid courage,” and as a solution to our problems. I don’t think college students should be drinking as much as we are. It’s hurting us more than it’s helping us.