Do you have to drink and smoke in order to have a good time with friends?

Unfortunately, nowadays youths do not know how to have a good time with friends without smoking or drinking. They believe that by drinking alcohol and smoking, they will turn out to be more popular and that they will have many friends, but is that completely true? Do you turn out to be fashionable by doing it?

I see eye to eye with people who believe that children and specially youths are very strongly influenced by society. Everywhere we look, not just in bars or restaurants but on social networks as well, we see people smoking and drinking and, as we tend to associate that with being able to have fun, we unconsciously copy it as often, we believe that society will accept us if we carry out those actions.  Moreover, as teenagers basically depend on technological devices and therefore on social networks such as Facebook or Twitter, they are bombarded constantly with this social pressure.

On the other hand, it is also true that there are also many other children who do not like following society and deny smoking or drinking alcohol. These teenagers like playing outdoors, practising sports and meeting with other youths to perhaps play board games. Unluckily, many of these kids suffer bullying and they often try to keep their dislike towards these kind of actions as a secret. This is perfectly hideous as it should never happen to anyone just because they do not like the same things as the rest of the children. Therefore, if I were the government, I would undoubtedly make laws which would strictly prevent bullying, as it is something disgraceful.

Overall, I believe that although many youths try to avoid it, most of them do not know how to how to share happiness with their friends if it is not drinking or smoking. Therefore, if I were a person who had great impact on society, I would certainly make something to change this behaviour, as what is better than having a healthy time with your friends?