Growing up in today’s society, the majority of uneducated youths respond “it will never happen to me” when asked about addiction. Incontestably, addiction is a serious problem that certainly can happen to anyone. According to Dr. Kima Joy Taylor, who is the director of the Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap initiative (CATG), one in every ten Americans over the age of twelve are addicted to alcohol or drugs (Dr. Taylor). It is not only the fact that 23.5 million Americans are addicted to alcohol and drugs that is the problem. Out of those 23.5 million people only 11 percent of those addicted receive the treatment that is needed. It is completely unacceptable that so many Americans are living with an untreated chronic disease and cannot access
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Now-a-days, young adults are overwhelmed with the burden of stress caused by school, sports, social life, and the list goes on. For teenagers with this amount of stress, it is the worst time to be transferring between childhood and adulthood. Often, one of the most challenging decisions, for an age group that is unprepared to make difficult choices, is whether to start using drugs or alcohol. As most people would argue, adolescence is a time for self-exploration, but in reality, teenagers are not prepared for the consequences that may follow (National Institute on Drug Abuse). One of the biggest reasons that kids try drugs or alcohol for the first time is peer pressure. Peer pressure is a difficult stage at any point in a person’s life, but it’s especially effective during adolescence. The struggle of fitting into today’s society is what makes saying “no” so hard. As teens mature, they also try to figure out who they are and where they fit in, this is when they are most vulnerable. When faced with the decision whether to try drugs or alcohol, most think of the consequences of saying “no”, for example, being laughed at or even bullied. In a perfect world, they should be thinking of the consequences of saying “yes” (D’Arcy Lyness, PhD). Even though peer pressure is an experience that everyone will go through at least once in their life, some people are more inclined to give in, while …show more content…
Social media has basically taken over the younger generations. The overall goal for social media and television shows is for people to enjoy either being on them or watching them, and the only way to that is to give the viewers ways to relate. Most kids grow up wishing to be like their favorite character or idol and strive to do everything they do. As a teenager scrolling through social media, the way that substance abuse is portrayed gives them the idea of; if they can do it, why can’t I? According to a study done in 2011 by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 70 percent of American teens reported that they spend time on social networking sited in a typical day. Compared to the teens that spend no time on social media in a typical day, teens that do are 5 times likelier to use tobacco, 3 times likelier to use alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana. This concept also related back to fitting in. Teens have a tendency to brag online about drugs they have used, how much they can drink, or even they might dare their friends to do the same When seeing stuff like this on social media, many teens feel the pressure to fit in, both in the real world and online, and this usually leads to excessive drug and alcohol abuse (Dr. Taylor). Growing up in today’s world it is basically impossible to eliminate the appearance of substance abuse in the media but what we need to
Now-a-days, young adults are overwhelmed with the burden of stress caused by school, sports, social life, and the list goes on. For teenagers with this amount of stress, it is the worst time to be transferring between childhood and adulthood. Often, one of the most challenging decisions, for an age group that is unprepared to make difficult choices, is whether to start using drugs or alcohol. As most people would argue, adolescence is a time for self-exploration, but in reality, teenagers are not prepared for the consequences that may follow (National Institute on Drug Abuse). One of the biggest reasons that kids try drugs or alcohol for the first time is peer pressure. Peer pressure is a difficult stage at any point in a person’s life, but it’s especially effective during adolescence. The struggle of fitting into today’s society is what makes saying “no” so hard. As teens mature, they also try to figure out who they are and where they fit in, this is when they are most vulnerable. When faced with the decision whether to try drugs or alcohol, most think of the consequences of saying “no”, for example, being laughed at or even bullied. In a perfect world, they should be thinking of the consequences of saying “yes” (D’Arcy Lyness, PhD). Even though peer pressure is an experience that everyone will go through at least once in their life, some people are more inclined to give in, while …show more content…
Social media has basically taken over the younger generations. The overall goal for social media and television shows is for people to enjoy either being on them or watching them, and the only way to that is to give the viewers ways to relate. Most kids grow up wishing to be like their favorite character or idol and strive to do everything they do. As a teenager scrolling through social media, the way that substance abuse is portrayed gives them the idea of; if they can do it, why can’t I? According to a study done in 2011 by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, 70 percent of American teens reported that they spend time on social networking sited in a typical day. Compared to the teens that spend no time on social media in a typical day, teens that do are 5 times likelier to use tobacco, 3 times likelier to use alcohol, and twice as likely to use marijuana. This concept also related back to fitting in. Teens have a tendency to brag online about drugs they have used, how much they can drink, or even they might dare their friends to do the same When seeing stuff like this on social media, many teens feel the pressure to fit in, both in the real world and online, and this usually leads to excessive drug and alcohol abuse (Dr. Taylor). Growing up in today’s world it is basically impossible to eliminate the appearance of substance abuse in the media but what we need to