Imagine waking up one day and choosing to alter your reality.

 

I have a friend who decided, after a lifetime of sobriety, to experiment with alcohol. After decades as a committed member of the Mormon Church, Adam (not his real name) wanted to try something that was taboo in his community yet normal for most Americans. He was ready to step into the unknown and explore this mind-altering substance for the first time.

 

What changed, you might ask? In his early thirties Adam had started to question the belief system of his church. He thought that trying alcohol might help him better comprehend the rationale behind banning it and revitalize his belief in Mormonism.

 

Adam had never been to a liquor store or bar. He didn’t know what types of liquor existed. He’d never heard his family or friends talk about how to mix a good drink. He didn’t even know that many alcoholic drinks were mixed to begin with. So he drove for forty-five minutes until he reached a liquor store far from his community. He asked one of the store’s employees for recommendations, which he followed: whiskey, bourbon, vodka, absinth, and of course tequila. He didn’t ask for mixers, and the employee didn’t recommend any, assuming Adam would know how to drink.

 

Back home, Adam poured himself a glass of vodka—straight, no ice—and started sipping it like water. Five minutes later, he’d finished the glass. Another fifteen minutes later, he was tipsy. For the first time in his life, Adam was experiencing an altered state of mind!

 

Adam enjoyed the new perspective alcohol was providing him with and decided to continue experimenting with different types of alcohol for a few weeks. Glass after glass, he chugged them like lemonade while trying to hide his experimentation from his wife and kids. Some of the tastes he enjoyed, while others disgusted him, but either way, the newfound state of mind was exciting.

 

Suffice it to say, Adam had no idea what he was doing. And how could he have? His education and upbringing hadn’t included the lessons that most American college kids, and even high schoolers, typically experience at a young age. Nobody in his community knew what drinking responsibly even meant. At the end of the day, he became a husband and father of two children before he had his first glass of alcohol! 

 

About a month into the experiment, after a grueling day at work at a tech startup, Adam’s colleagues suggested drinks. They invited Adam, although mostly out of courtesy, knowing that he’d declined their offers in the past. But this time Adam was ready, and he told them he would join, for just one drink. 

 

Adam had never been to a bar or ordered a drink before, and boy, was he excited! The bar atmosphere, the loud chatter, the cool bartenders mixing up drinks. All of this was new to him. 

 

Because it was his first time, he let his friends order a drink for him: gin and tonic it was. Adam watched the bartender with fascination as he mixed the group’s drinks. He enjoyed the bartender’s fancy moves and handling of glasses but he was disappointed with the result. Adam noticed the bartender poured just a tiny sip of alcohol into the glass before filling the rest with tonic water. He couldn’t believe what was happening: “Fifteen dollars for tonic water with a tiny bit of gin? Outrageous.”

 

So Adam asked his colleagues: “Are we getting screwed over? Why did the bartender pour so little alcohol?” His colleagues stared at each other in confusion, but realizing this was new to Adam explained it was a normal mixed-drink ratio. Hard liquor was supposed to be drunk responsibly, in small quantities!

 

That day, during his first ever social drinking experience, Adam was shocked and a little embarrassed to find out that drinking an entire glass full of hard liquor wasn’t normal or healthy. Adam realized that he had been an uneducated drinker, getting wasted at home every other night without knowing. His family and friends never drank, alcohol was not part of the culture, so how could he have known any differently? He could have damaged his body and mind if he had continued drinking responsibly! Luckily some of his friends were able to educate him on responsible alcohol consumption.

 

The crazy thing is that in some way we’re all like Adam, at least when it comes to our smartphones and other digital technologies. We consume information and media every day with little awareness or regard to the consequences on our well-being. Digital technology is so new and evolving so rapidly, that it is hard to know how exactly it is influencing us. Should we be allowed to drive if we spend an entire day scrolling through Facebook or binge watching Netflix?