A couple weeks ago, the Emerald published @@checked@@an article describing a new study that suggested pictures and statuses posted on social network sites mentioning alcohol or being drunk are strong indicators that the person in those posts is at a clinical risk for a drinking problem.
My immediate reaction to the article was, “Well, duh.” Off the top of my head, I could think of a handful of my Facebook friends whom I’ve legitimately worried about because of their pictures. And these are “friends” I don’t even particularly like.
To test the results of the study, I decided to perform a quick check of my own Facebook profile and to see if I was potentially at risk for a drinking problem myself. I was quite pleased that my most recent post about alcohol was over a month ago, on Oct. 7: “’Sex and the City 2’ drinking game: take a drink every time they change outfits. This is going to be an interesting night.” (Side note: This may in fact be the greatest drinking game of all time and my single most important contribution to the human race.) There’s just the one rule; they change outfits so many damn times that it’s super effective, and the booze makes the film at least a little more likeable. Oh boy, that totally made me sound like I have a drinking problem.@@lol@@
My next most recent drunk-ish post was on Sept. 3, when I was tagged in a bunch of photos from bars and on various beaches from over the summer. But those were in Europe, so that totally doesn’t count. They pretty much start their kids on wine in the womb over there.@@lol@@
The original article said that students who posted about dangerous alcohol use were more at risk of developing a drinking problem. I certainly don’t think that posting about a silly (and awesome) drinking game puts me at serious risk for developing a drinking problem, but I thought I had better check.
I took the same test — the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, @@checked@@or AUDIT — that the researchers in the original study used to determine whether a student was at risk for a drinking problem. My result? “See your doctor.” Uh-oh. Maybe there was something to this study after all.
I obviously needed to investigate a little more. I spoke with Kenzie Parrish,@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Kenzie+Parrish@@ a University sophomore and lover of debauchery (if you’re judging by her Facebook profile pics). She obviously isn’t afraid to post pictures containing alcohol, and I was curious why.
“I’m not going to purposefully hide a part of myself, even if it does look sloppy and indecent,” she said. “I really don’t care if people see me in that state or not. It’s me, so why hide it?”
I admired her forthrightness, and she made a good point. If drinking was a part of her life, did she really need to hide it from the world? I hate seeing someone’s Facebook page and realizing that they’ve created an entirely new online identity. Leave that to those nerds who still play World of Warcraft.@@lol@@ @@Greg?@@

But there were still the results of the study to consider. Parrish seemed to fall into the third category of students in the survey, the ones that seemed most at risk of a future drinking problem. Did she feel the results of the study rang true?
“Possibly; isn’t everyone at risk for having a problem? But it’s how you go about consuming alcohol and whether you have control over how much you are drinking and how often,” she said. “Facebook pictures have nothing to do with having an alcohol problem.”
Let’s hope she’s right.@@denial?@@ Based on a bit of Facebook stalking I did, it looks like our entire generation is going to end up in rehab one of these days.
So fellow Ducks, maybe take this study with a grain of salt; I hear the jury’s still out on science anyway. But please, clean up your pages a little. I don’t need to see puking or anybody passed out. Any nakedness needs to be reserved for the bedroom — not the Internet. We don’t need 20 pictures of your alcohol stash for the weekend. And please don’t give us a complete rundown of everything you drank last night.
Long story short: Go ahead and post those drunk pics. Just don’t be mad if I end up judging you.