One tequila, two tequila, three vodka…four beers. Just like my busy schedule: so much in such little time. I’m sure a lot of you reading this are aware of the harm in binge drinking, but still do it. I get it, you show up late to a function and have to “catch up” to everyone else at the event. I’m guilty too.

Since when did it become a thing to see how fast you can get drunk? I thought it was perfectly fine to just have a beer or two and enjoy socializing but every party I go to I’m asked to play these drinking games: Ace to the Face, King’s Cup, Rage Cage, beer pong; they are fun I will admit, but what isn’t fun is the hangover the next day and the beatdown your liver takes.

I’m not completely sure if it’s an age thing. I know when I began college, and even in high school, I was seeing it being done. My friends and I had midnight curfews and tried to get as intoxicated as we could before getting a ride home; don’t tell my mom. I don’t see the point of why we would do that, our brains were obviously not fully developed.

Now that I am old enough to go to bars and hang out with older crowds, I don’t see it done as profusely. The end result will never change though, going home drunk. Drinking games don’t really take place at bars, it’s more socializing, but it’s a lot of money spent on trying to get someone to go home with you; another reason to watch your intake.

Binge drinking is dangerous and I sometimes forget. A lot of people don’t really consider alcohol as a drug, just like a lot of people don’t really consider caffeine as a drug. It’s obvious that they are both addicting. I have a Starbucks problem and for a while I was drinking pretty frequently; it wasn’t just drinking moderately on the weekends. I have definitely calmed down and don’t drink as heavily but I love going to happy hour with some friends.

Day drinking, or as college students like to call it “day fade,” is really popular too. I’ve partaken in this as well and it is fun. It’s not my favorite thing to do but when you have no school, no work and no homework what else are you supposed to do?

I don’t think it’s fair for people to get on others about drinking, it’s normal. Yes, it’s bad for us but so are the hundreds of other things we consume. There won’t be another prohibition of any sort.

Yes, the U.S. runs on Dunkin’s, but it also runs on McDonald’s and beer.