Drinking seems funny on YouTube
The Internet is flooded with comical videos, many on YouTube of people drinking alcohol. During these quick clips, one will often hear laughing, snickering, and talking about the funny or dumb things that the person on camera in engaging in while drunk. The focus of all of these videos is humor – many of the videos show individuals doing not just funny, but dangerous things — while their friends are heard laughing and joking in the background. However, what’s missing from YouTube or from these videos is the very dark side of drinking alcohol, including drunk driving, or alcohol abuse.
In a study by Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, researchers watched YouTube videos that had been viewed at a high volume. They searched words such as buzzed, tipsy, trashed, drunk, hammered and found 70 of the most popular videos with a combined viewing total of over 330 million views. Interestingly, the researchers found that 70 percent of the videos were comical in nature and 24 percent of the YouTube videos showed actual intoxicated drunken alcohol use. However, although 86 percent of the videos showed intoxicated drunken alcohol abuse, only 7 percent actually discussed alcoholism.
It is important to realize that these YouTube and other videos are potentially influencing young viewers to believe that drinking excessive amounts of alcohol in order to be ‘funny’ and ‘comical’ to others is fun and accepted. However, young viewers lack the maturity to know that while being ‘comically’ drunk is acceptable and seems harmless, actions that occur while under the influence of drinking alcohol are no laughing matter. It seems that it would be helpful if more videos about the dangers of alcohol abuse would be posted and young fans may realize more that alcohol abuse that seems funny can soon turn into trouble. Hopefully, this prevention tactic could allow young viewers to see that drinking seems funny on YouTube, but can be equally as dangerous as it is comical.
Sources: Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, youtube.com