Last Thursday night I attended the EPH EUnitas Karaoke Night at this small pub. The first thing that I realized, when I entered was the group of shy people making awkward conversation, among the drunk, loud singing students. I felt like I didn’t drink enough yet to enjoy this. I headed towards the bar to solve this problem. While I was waiting for the alcohol to kick in and make me feel more comfortable, I was watching with my friends the drunk people singing. My friend leaned over and said to me ‘lets grab more drinks, I don’t want to feel lame.’ A few drinks later my girlfriends and I had the courage to request New York by Alicia Keys. Singing our hearts out while feeling the alcohol kicking in, we finally felt like we belonged here. Thinking back about this memory had me realize that this is a common example for how alcohol plays a big part of students’ social life. In this blog I aim to explore this phenomenon through personal experiences and to reflect on psychosociological theories, as well as what role alcohol plays in our society.

After the alcohol enters your system, according to the dual-systems model, the associative clusters of the impulsive system become activated initiating more impulsive behaviour which may be encouraged by the surrounding environment. Asa result, by following our impulses and paying less heed to the reflective part of our behaviour, we are more likely to follow our instincts in the moment more thus making us more likely to sing.

Here are some recommendations on how to have fun without alcohol:

1. Play group activities ( Truth or Dare, Never have I Ever)

2. Group Dance

3. Karaoke

4. Prepare dinners together

5. Ask personal questions

6. Mocktails