By Julie O’Neil

There’s a lot of talk these days about how teenage culture is changing at a rapid rate. Teenagers are no longer older kids, but rather mini-adults. They have the most expensive cell phones and laptops in classes. They broadcast their lives on the internet and are having sex at younger and younger ages with little thought to the consequences. Perhaps what has changed the most though is drinking among teenagers and underage college students. Kids drink at younger ages and alcohol has become commonplace at many high school parties and nearly all college parties.

So what is causing all this underage drinking? Many parents and researchers on the subject say that popular culture has a lot to do with it. Parent organizations such as the Parents Television Council are concerned about the way alcohol is shown to their kids. They believe that underage kids are influenced—consciously or unconsciously—by behavior they see in movies and on television shows. They believe that shows like "Gossip Girl" and "Greek" make drinking seem like the cool thing to do that’s going to make kids more popular and earn them more friends.

The question then becomes whether young people are really influenced by the behavior of the characters they see on a screen.

Laurel James BMC ‘10 isn’t convinced that’s all there is to it.

"It does influence drinking in some ways to the extent that any aspect of culture influences our perception of anything," she said. "But I think we can’t underestimate the importance of other factors like how your family treats alcohol, what your previous experience has been, how your peers treat it. It does influence it…but among a pantheon of other aspects."

Molly Parzen BMC ‘10 agrees that parents should play a primary role in educating teens about alcohol.

"If at a younger age, parents are letting their kids view more and more films and TV shows with adult leaning content like drug and alcohol use, then the kids would be more likely to emulate that behavior," she said.

"However, if you are relatively unexposed to those sort of images while you are developing your values and ideals, then i think seeing those images in pop culture later in your teens and young adulthood would be less of an influence."

Even younger students who were more recently the age of the students portrayed on shows such as "Gossip Girl" and "Greek" don’t believe they’re being brainwashed by these images of underage drinking.

"It’s not something I’ve really given much thought to," said Andrea Tang BMC ‘12. "It just…shows up during party scenes, or when characters are being angsty and depressed and self-destructive."

Unlike what many parental watch organizations think, young people cannot be manipulated through just a simple television show or movie. Going after underage drinking in popular culture is not the way to go.

Instead, parents should talk truthfully and openly with their kids about drinking habits. Teens in high school and entering college should know about the realities of drinking, instead of watching whatever martini Serena Van Der Woodsen is sipping on the CW this week.

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