The Fun and Quirkiness of Active Alcoholism, According to Facebook
Alcoholism, according the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, is a cunning, baffling, and powerful disease. It tears families apart. It’s responsible for thousands of early deaths. Those who suffer with it and take action to overcome would describe it as a dark, deadly sickness, and a constant battle. Most of your Facebook friends probably feel a bit differently.
Heavy drinking, to the average Facebook user, is quirky and relatable. Cracks about binging are an entire brand of witless humor. Chances are you can’t scroll down your timeline without seeing at least ten memes on the subject. Posts like, “Me this weekend,” with a photo of somebody passed out in a ditch. The classic picture of an enormous wine glass captioned, “Need this.” People shamelessly share this content, oblivious to the fact that it reflects poorly on them and falsely makes light of a very severe issue.
I’m sure you have at least a few Facebook friends who predominately share alcohol-related memes. Some folks stick exclusively to relaying these posts, as if it’s not at all worrisome. In their eyes it’s funny and cute. They identify with “I must get hammered drunk” memes and share them with a public audience in the hopes of relating to fellow in-denial active alcoholics. Sadly, many others do get a kick out of this “humor,” and type “Me” in response.
You and your pals might find it cool to describe yourselves with drinking memes, but to recovering alcoholics and anyone with their priorities straight it’s moderately upsetting. It may have been humorous and acceptable when you were 21 or 22. When you reach your late 20s and older it just becomes unsettling. Illustrating yourself as a wine mom isn’t lovable. It’s called being a wino. Leaving your mark as the “I gotta drink 20 beers” guy is void of any charm. You’re simply a booze bag.
Sure, not all who partake in the sharing are actually alcoholics. Plenty of people can binge and manage their lives. Regardless, creating a collective of drunk memes isn’t a good look. Me saying this won’t stop anyone though. As you’ve probably gathered, nobody cares what they put online anymore. Few consider how sharing certain content might cause others to perceive them in a negative light. Those who do hold a negative perception are labeled “haters.”
More power to you if you’re enjoying drinking, identifying with said memes, and still leading a healthy life. However, I can claim with certainty that many who make this their whole online presence will come to find themselves in the throws of addiction years down the line. Even if they don’t, it’s probable they’ll eventually wise up and realize it was dumb to paint drinking as their “thing” for an online audience.
When loving booze grows to be a persona, it might just be alcoholism. At the very least it appears problematic to anyone with knowledge of the disease. You have the option of not shaping yourself in the image of a drunk, so why would you? It’s not cute, quirky, nor particularly funny. Having said that, it is easy to identify with, but that’s only because there exists a plethora of boozers out there who also love declaring their dependence on Facebook. One day they might all stumble into a meeting and have the opportunity to share war stories instead of memes.
