Awkwardness generally refers to the feeling of being out of place. This occurs through saying things that may seem sensitive to other partners, attracting attention for the wrong reasons and also being in a position where a person is unable to communicate leading to silence that seems deafening. I recently conducted a small experiment to understand the phenomenon that is awkwardness. In this experiment, I invited some friends for some alcoholic drinks, but instead, I drank soda. Social drinking is a common practice all over the world done by individuals of different ages so long as they meet the legal age and through this experiment, I wanted to understand the subtle differences in environment and general social climate that occurs when one engages which drunk friends. Being a person who is not new to drinking and having a clear memory of past drinking behaviors, the experiment had a baseline for which conclusions could be made after that.
It should be noted that the experiment involved eliminating any trace of sobriety from my friends to have the best possible situation that works for the experiment. One thing to be noticed is that social drinking with friends incorporates a lot of happiness and joy. It also encompass the need for one to conform to the activity due to certain personal or group needs(Mulligan, Ellen , Amanda & Patricia, 2016). Being the only sober person, it was hard at times to understand the cheers and jeers and what they meant. My friends, however seemed to be in sync and their stories seemed to be very hilarious. In truth most of them were not very funny, at least not for me, but the bartender who was close by seemed to enjoy the little stunt I was trying to pull. I was out of place and he noticed. The exhilarating conversations that when I would normally enjoy while drinking alcohol did not seem as interesting at times. While drinking, many times the music and atmosphere in a bar or club would be over the top. Music would sound so amazing prompting cheers whenever a song came on. This was however not the case while being sober, the sons were good but there was no urge to scream to the playlist handler. My friends were nevertheless still on a high euphoric stage and comments were shared. Another thing that was difficult to witness was how my friends became loud at times. I had always heard of drunks being loud but being sober, I was witnessing it first-hand. A lot of stares from the less drunk individuals in the bar was not helping at all.
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My friends also showed elevated levels of friendliness, helpfulness and even aggression. As research has shown, alcohol damages the inhibitory process which allows for incited pressures to have more influence on their behaviors (Borsari & Carey, 2003). It is no surprise that a friend would confide his or her secrets to the group just because the atmosphere created is one that is supposedly friendly and binding. Confessions of love and care towards the friends and what may appear as a lot of unnecessary hugging and ear whispering seemed to continue for a while. Shows of affection in public has some certain limits, and for an intoxicated individual, these rules do not apply leaving the only sober member feeling embarrassed and dealing with the awkward stares. Levels of aggression also ensue in the events of agitation (Mulligan, Ellen , Amanda & Patricia, 2016, and this usually leads to many apologies by more reasonable individuals, the sober or less drunk. Generally, in social drinking meetings, people spend hours talking, drinking, and having fun. In this experiment, however, after about an hour and a half, the craze had stopped. Each person seemed to slide onto his or her cocoon of thoughts and exhaustion. The little conversation that was made was mostly initiated by me, and even then, the atmosphere had changed to a dull one. Surprisingly, a call for exiting the bar was met by resistance since all drunk friends felt that the alleged party was still at its peak.
Sitting there listening to groaning individuals with only the bartender providing meaningful conversations, I would say the experiment showed a significant difference in how a sober person and an intoxicated one views a meeting. It is evident that engaging in events that allow drinking while a person is planning on being sober proves to be a task full of awkward experiences. Awkwardness shows a character’s ability to be aware of the surroundings and knowing what is out of the cultural limits. Sobriety awkwardness shows a person’s attentive nature to the people and general environment that surrounds them and also aims at identifying the alter personality a person assumes when he or she is drinking alcohol and how it relates to his usual character.
References
Borsari, B.; Carey, K. B. Journal of Studies on Alcohol); 2003 Vol. 64, 11p. Document Type: article; ( AN JSA.FD.CCA.BORSARI.DINCDM ) [Citation Record] , Database: EBSCO Publishing Citations
Mulligan, E. J., George, A. M., & Brown, P. M. (2016). Social anxiety and drinking game participation among university students: the moderating role of drinking to cope. The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse , 42 (6), 726-734.
