Shellshocked444

I would like to know how all of you avoid movies and TV shows that glamourize drinking.

I have been trying so hard to not watch these types of movies but honestly, they are all there.

I look forward to your comments.

SS

Coldfusion

They say alcohol is "cunning, baffling and powerful." I think it is also ubiquitous, and so we need a strong support system to survive in this world.

I go to several AA meetings a week, also reading and posting often here at SoberRecovery.

SWTPEA61

I know what you mean i noticed that also in TV shows unbelievable how it is so glamorized. It hasn't bothered me because I know alcohol is there and I could drink it if I wanted to just like everyone around me but I choose not to because I feel so much better now. I really was fooling myself into thinking that all that sweating episodes i was having were just hot flashes when actually it was the alcohol coming out of my body. And all the aches and pains were because I was getting old but it was the alcohol.

PhoenixJ

Apart from the 'tools' used not to drink. I almost exclusively watch documentaries. That way I learn something- and can log on here, do step work, study whatever, with it in the back ground if it gets boring. It also provides me with background noise. I often watch alcohol/recovery doco's- or recovery humour.

Ainabla

Noticed too how much alcohol/partying/drugs are glamorized in the media. Crazy! Short of not watching TV or sticking to documentaries there is no other way.

This is just me though, this early in recovery its unnecessary trigger. Try to avoid them as much as possible.

emme99

Hi Shellshocked
I agree, it seems to be all over. There have been a few shows I just can't watch anymore, and I have cut down my TV time and focus more on visiting SR and reading. Good luck

kintsugi

Since really deconstructing our society beliefs about alcohol, I've been amazed/interested in how we frame alcohol as a 'fun'/'relaxing' social bonding tool at best, or a sexy vice that gives people a depth of character at worse. We rarely address the real day-to-day harm.

In fact, recognizing that we do this (not just in media, but in anything we think that tells us that alcohol is more than a poison) has really helped me understand my own addiction.

I don't necessarily seek them out, but when I see these messages now, I watch to understand how my own beliefs about alcohol were shaped.

FreeOwl

I don't. To avoid signs, symbols, even the presence of alcohol would be to avoid life.

The fact is, these things are there.

For me, the trick is to notice these things and to allow them as reminders of exactly why I've chosen sobriety, reminders of how much better my life is in sobriety.

Then, rather than fears to be avoided or recoil from, these things serve as powerful affirmations. Talismans of my journey's rightness.

PurpleKnight

For me the more time has gone on the more you zone out from it and don't notice half of it anymore, one of the biggest things I found difficult was all the adverts during sports, it was crazy in the beginning and I had to switch over, and now I don't really notice them.

It's possible to be a non drinker in a world that alcohol seems to be everywhere on TV, with bars on every street corner, it's just something that can be adjusted to!!

entropy1964

Maybe I'm weird (well I know I'm weird ) but I don't try to avoid it. In fact there are a couple of shows where the drinking is insane....as to be absurd. I just laugh and say to myself 'yeah, right'.

Alcohol is everywhere, interwoven in everything. I try not to judge it. It just is. It bothers me a bit when I think of how this 200 billion US market is conditioning our kids. But I also know that it was the conditioning that I received right in my home as a child that had the biggest impact on me. There are a couple of 'teen' shows that I watch (don't judge me) called the Vampire Diaries and the Originals (ok, laugh) and they drink literally non stop. Scotch is pouring out their ears. I said this to my daughter and her response was "Mom they are Vampires". Oh ok, that makes sense then. Huh?

HTown

Boy did alcohol ads bother me just a few months ago, I have to say that as time has gone by, I am blessed not to really "see" them anymore. Personally, I would like to see a ban on alcohol ads on television, and prescription drugs as well.

I love beer. I love football. I watch a lot of football, so I see a lot of commercials. It would be great if we as a society would stop pushing the drinking "lifestyle" much like we did tobacco.

teaorcoffee

I think that I have just accepted that I see alcohol differently to other people.
The glass of wine after work has become a normal habit in a lot of society.
Other people manage to drink in moderation, I don't. However, I don't get stressed by this anymore (touch wood) and am not phased by images of alcohol in movies, etc.

biminiblue

A few years back, I went TV commercial free. I cancelled my cable and since I can't get any network TV channels where I live, I switched over to Netflix only...well, ROKU. I could watch news on the ROKU and technically I could subscribe to sports on it too, but I chose not to not watch news or sports.

My responses to ads when I run across them now are so much different than when they just wore me down with their incessant chatter. Now I watch an hour or two of TV a day and no ads and I can choose shows that don't glamorize addiction. I do enjoy shows that show more of the downside of addiction like Nurse Jackie, Shameless, (parts of) Madmen.

I don't miss the ads or the news or even TV sports. My life is much calmer and more peaceful without them. I am lucky to live in a big city with lots of live sports. Much more fun in every way; except for that guy with his two liter beer cup behind me.

leighbond

I don't avoid them, I just try to change the way I think about it when I see it, slowly undo the years of brainwashing alcohol has done. Instead of wanting to drink the proper response would be disgust at the idea, feel bad for the characters or people who are stuck with that miserable habit, don't look at them with envy.

CAPTAINZING2000

Pbs

Shellshocked444

Thanks so much to all of you for your excellent posts. I guess like everything else I have to give it more *time* and in these early days try to avoid it.

uncorked

Yes, that bothered me a lot when I was newly sober. Doesn't much faze me anymore. Read a book or watch a different kind of show until you're more established in your sobriety. And if it helps, remember that they are drinking grape juice for wine and iced tea for whiskey!

BrendaChenowyth

You can only avoid them by simply not watching any movies or tv... Although I watch a lot of wholesome family/faith based stuff, especially this time of year! They might show a Christmas party where someone is holding a glass of wine, if that, but I think that's a big if... But generally on a regular network sitcom, you're gonna have a bunch of friends with beers in front of them, maybe the douchebag of the group decides to down his drink and go approach a girl.. Meh. It isn't gonna make me jealous..

I can't watch Mad Men. I watch The Walking Dead and it does make me smile when someone enjoys some found booze, just cause I know that's a little moment of delight in a very bleak world lol But it doesn't make me want to drink.

I would like to go see Office Christmas Party, it looks funny as heck! It's not gonna make me want to get drunk and act all goofy!

BrendaChenowyth

I can get in to a good pbs documentary.

ChloeRose63

I try not to be fooled into thinking good times can only be had when partying. I really never partied. I would just drink in secret so I looked like I was having a good time. This was the beginning of the end of social drinking for me. I partied in my 'closet'.