GROUP-4

Society makes us think that drinking and smoking can make our life better, but
does it really makes it better? The society or in exact terms the peer pressure
makes us think that in order to fit in we even need to drink alcohol or smoke
cigarettes. Even if we don’t actually like it, we feel this pressure upon ourselves
to do it in order to look cool. But as young people, we have the power to be
aware and make better choices for ourselves. But what is exactly the right
choice? Everybody knows that smoking and drinking isn’t actually good for our
health but then also why do teenagers fall into that trap? So we conducted a
research to know why people actually get into such stuff.
So first let’s talk why people start smoking or drinking; majorly the teenagers
start while they are with such people who consume the product and they have
FOMO (fear of missing out), so they also start doing it in order to fit into the
group. Or as some people also start doing it under stressful situations and when
they start consuming it they feel lighter and the stress goes out. Also while
conducting the research we came through one more reason why some people
start consuming alcohol, as students we all always split the bills when we go
out, so sometimes people who don’t drink also have to pay for the drinks as the
total bills splits into everyone, regardless of who drank and who didn’t. So some
people start consuming because of this reason that if they are paying then why
not to consume only.
Then, what actually makes people consume it for the next time? By talking to
different substance consumers we got to know that they did it for the second
time because they felt it to be cool and not strange to drink or smoke; according
to them it felt right. Some people consume it again as they feel it’s the token of
adulting; now as they have crossed the bar of 18 and since they are finally
adults or young adults as we say, they should be doing it to differentiate
themselves as adults. They symbolize drinking or smoking with having a good
time. Next set of people consume it again because there might be some stressful
situations again in their lives, and in order to release out the stress and feel
better, they do it again.
Next question comes that if they knew it is harming their body then why did
they continue to consume it? Simple answer, they were already addicted to it.
Or as some people said they knew it is harming their bodies but then it gives
them the enjoyment. As when people consume alcohol they get tipsy and if they
drink in greater amounts so they will obviously not be in their senses anymore
and enjoy while being drunk. Then some people also consider it to be ‘healthy’
is some manner for their bodies as they feel they are doing it in limited amounts.