How Does Social Media Influence Teens Drinking?

Half of all teens had seen their first photo of intoxicated teenagers or teens on drugs when they were 13 years old or younger on Facebook and other social media sites (“Influence of Social Media on Alcohol Use”). Alcohol and drug-related content on social media is now becoming a norm for most teenagers. A teen who sees alcohol-related content on social media is 3 times more likely to use alcohol than a teen who has not seen such content. However, there is another side to this argument that adolescent drinking has always been a serious problem since before the digital media age. On the other hand, teens use social media now more than ever exposing them to adolescent drinking. Social media has influenced teenagers into using alcohol more prominently and this affects teens’ lives in different ways. Given that social media is relatively new to the internet, many people are trying to gain insight to social media by using it more prominently. Social media is a fast and simple way to be connected to your friends, family, and others across the world. Teenagers use social media now to stay connected to their friends and post on their lives. Of all teens, 71% …show more content…
Given that teen drinking has always been a current issue throughout the years, social media has not increased the number of teens who drink. The Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility is a foundation in which it provides information to help promote responsible drinking in teens and adults. This foundation demonstrates a rapid decline of twelfth grade students who reported drinking in the last month. In 1991, 54% of 12th graders reported drinking. In contrast, the year 2016, only 33% of 12th graders had reported to drink in the last month ("Underage Drinking Statistics”). Given these results, drinking in adolescents have decreased over the course of over 20 years and continues to