Research Blog #9

My argument discusses the influence of the glorification of alcohol consumption on adolescents. Digital media such as movies, social media, and the internet provides a platform for viewers to utilize a behavioral mechanism called “observational learning”. By reviewing trends of the alcohol consumers during the Prohibition era and examining movies that glamorize binge drinking on college campuses such as Animal House, this paper examines the detriments of digital media on behavior development and how crimes on college campuses are a result of it. A source that I disagree with discusses the idea that binge drinking is a way to cope with stress, however, knowing to drink to cope with stress is a behavior learned through observing. However, the debate surrounding the complexity of motives of binge drinking emerges from reviewing counter arguments. Each side takes a different approach, one side takes into account how the external environment shapes behaviors surrounding drinking. On the other hand, the other side takes into account the mind and how it copes with stress, which is used to make sense of binge drinking in college.