How Bingeing Became the New College Sport by Barrett Seaman

In Seaman's essay "How Bingeing Became the New College Sport," the author addresses the problem of pregaming and the major effects of the legal limit for alcohol.  Pregaming is when college students gather in door rooms or apartments and drink as much alcohol before heading to parties (491). According to Barrett Seaman this is frequently seen in young 18, 19, and 20 year old possibly for the reason that they're not allowed to legally drink and feel the temptation and need to do it secretly. Seaman shares some of his experiences with drinking in college and mentions how through some of his visits he saw undergraduate students who had done severe heavy drinking which lead to many alcohol poisning, and even some deaths. For instance, he states he saw a freshman "who had consumed 22 shots of vodka" in a dorm (491). However, the author believes that the actual alcohol isn't the problem but instead the problem is the law of 21 being the legal age for drinking. Seaman thinks that because the underaged kids are prohibited to drink leagally they are more tempted to do it but if the drinking limit where to be lowerd to 18 then yes at first they would drink a lot but eventually they would get bored of it and they'd settle down to get their other priorities straight. Hence, Barrett Seaman hopes that pregamers are allowed to come out so they can begin to learn to have control over alcohol like any adult.

I really liked this essay, I feel like i understand it better because of the discussion we had in class. This topic is always great to talk about because many can relate to it and it's a problem in our daily life's. I agree with Seaman because I think that the age does not matter at all at either age people are going to have the same experience. First, they are going to go all out on drinking but eventually they will learn to control it and not abuse it so much. Like he said "it's a forbiden fruit" and i feel since teens know they can't have it then they are that much more tempted to drink. I think people should be allowed to drink at 18 because all they are trying to do is have a good time and it's only a matter of time till one starts to learn to control their drinking and it won't be a problem anymore. Seaman addressed a really great point and i completely agree with him.