drinking

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Why do people like drinking so much? Usually I don't care if other people drink, but people are so insistent that I drink some times. Sometimes I wish these people would shut up.

I have an aversion to alcohol that stems from some aspie tendencies. As a child, I often experienced meltdowns where I would have total loss of control of my own mind. Since inebriation also causes loss of control (especially over inhibitions), I've been fairly phobic about anything that can cause me to lose control, and being a college student, I can hardly avoid people wanting me to drink something...

For now, I can get away with it by BSing and saying that I have an allergy to alcohol, but even that doesn't stop some people from trying to get me drunk...

I used to drink to excess, (16-18 beers a day), due to the following reasons:

1. Boredom, (There's nothing better to do, so I might as well get drunk).
2. I thought life was "funner" when intoxicated.
3. I though alcohol would solve not having a social life.
4. Habit
5. Trying to turn my mind off.
6. Increased tolerance level, which required even more alcohol to get to desired level of intoxication.
7. Because I could.

Life is funner when slightly intoxicated.
Alcohol by itself doesn't give me a social life, though others' experiences may differ.
It's just another food I consume like coffee or tuna.
Getting a beer gives me a reason to make the 2 mile round trip to the store on foot, so I get up and move around for it.

I don't like alcohol for various reasons (loss of control, tastes rotten...) and have similar problems. But it's easy enough to consequently say no and at some point at least people who know you will accept it, that you don't drink.

The general idea is, that alcohol makes people more social, since they lose control to some extend and talk more or do "funny" things like dancing on tables (and in turn are able to believe others doing such scrap are funny)
In fact I think, they mainly know how stupid alcohol is and want to others to join, because if you drink in a group, that's socially more acceptable. Otherwise they would have to admit, that they're more or less alcoholics.

So basically you're saying that they want me to drink because they feel insecure about themselves?

I never drank any alchoholic beverage until my 21st birthday. All I drink is wine, I've never had beer. I've had champagne but don't really have a taste for it.

I'm not sure if this is an aspie trait but i've always had an aversion and/or discomfort with my peers doing things that I knew are illegal.

Thats actually a very large part of it, I think you will find.

Then there's the whole herding thing...where people assosciate alcohol with socializing.

Ever notice if you actually try to have an intellectual conversation about things like this in a general setting, involving this or 'rampant sex in dorms,' you might get answers like "live life to the fullest?"

It has to do with lack of imagination and mirroring. They see it as the "funnest possible thing" because everyone says that. As a result, if your not "also engaging in it" than they think you are not having fun or living life to its fullest independantly.

Now, thats just terrible logic...but they will still think its completely sound.

Its an uphill battle I'm afraid...so you could possibly begin looking for alternative methods for engaging in said social activities.

I seem more social when I'm drunk.

For me, alcohol means the following:

Go to a party where people are socializing and drink the worst beer in the world, and get massively uncomfortable because of crowding and noise
Go to a bar and maybe participate in making some jokes, drinking crappy beer or cocktails
Go to a brewpub and *maybe* have an actual conversation with a local, drinking good beer and eating horribly overpriced food
Drink at home, alone, and get to have good beer cheaply


Or drink with friends, but drinking with friends requires having friends, and I still haven't found any.


I just have a beer while watching anime on weekends.

why do peole like eating, breathing...

I love beer, liquor, wine... Getting a bit drunk helps me loosen up, but when I get too drunk, I think it brings out some of my aspie traits, as I've been known to rant for a long time about politics or string theory or history... You get the picture. Though it has worked in my favor sometimes, I've met a lot of interesting people getting drunk, some of them quite intelligent. I don't know how I'd manage to end a long day of hard work without a beer or two... or six.

That's why I commute to school... I avoid a large part of the problem, but not all of it...

And at the very least I have a place I can go where they're not going to follow...

I only drink in outside social situations. I do so because I feel like it makes me more comfortable. I seem to think people like me more that way.

I don't drink at home, or when in low level social situations. I have friends who wish I did drink more. I don't care if they do...I do care if my SO does though. I've been with too many alcoholics and would never go down that road again.

Not really an answer to your question though, is it?

Moderate drinking makes people more agreeable and sociable.

The buzz makes people that much less completely insufferable.

it makes me more able to deal with whatever current situation i find myself in

Personally, I like alcohol (at least in reasonable doses). It reduces my jitters when meeting new people, and, in my experience, drunk people are more open to listening to me talk for twenty minutes about Syd Barrett, Holistic Number Theory, Astrology, Politics, etc. - Basically, it gives me the luxury of letting my guard down a bit - 'I am acting drunk, not wierd.'

As per others insisting that you drink too, I'm not sure why this is... probably some sort of herd mentality thing. I often run into this problem with marijuana (I haven't used in 3.5 years and people don't understand why I won't smoke with them).