On a typical weekend night, college students can be found at local bars and parties, dancing, singing and talking to friends. The lights are colorful, the music is loud and people are drinking and laughing. It’s comfortable, especially when alcohol is involved.

Drinking culture is so prevalent in the lives of many young adults, especially those attending colleges with a large party scene. People drink, and this often leads to impulsive decisions, including hookups with strangers. Why do we feel the need to be under the influence to make a move on someone? And how do random hookups — under the influence — reveal truths about hookup culture today?

Alcohol suppresses our inhibition, so naturally, we feel more confident. Similarly, with cannabis, the relaxing effects bring many of us out of our shells and into a different state of consciousness where we are usually more relaxed. In this state, we protect ourselves from the fear of rejection.

Being under the influence gives us armor that coats our insecurities. However, this “armor” also poses new questions and problems. If we are masking ourselves, doesn’t that mean we are covering a part of our true self? And doesn’t this reveal a deeper insecurity of accepting rejection or having the courage to put ourselves out there? Hookups — especially with strangers — can reveal a deeper truth about the role that intimacy plays in modern love.

The fear of being called out or turned away steers many people away from making a move in the first place. And why wouldn’t it? It’s a scary thought. We need support from others, and when we use “liquid courage,” we are enabling ourselves to take the easy way out instead of facing the real problem — our self esteem.

Many young adults struggle with handling rejection, and combined with the rise of hookup culture, we compensate for this fear with alcohol or weed. When we ignore the deeper problem by placing on a bandaid with temporary solutions, we often negate the ability to emotionally develop as young adults. Hookup culture is shifting from casual relationships to ones with impaired consciousnesses.

For some, this may seem like a better option than facing the real beast: emotional intimacy. We may not feel ready to be vulnerable, and therefore reject any form of it in our lives by ways of external forces. Some hookups can lead to deeper connections, though not all have to, but the fact that they happen while intoxicated can make us question if we are trying to reject that connection in the first place. Rather than face reality, many of us would rather shrink away.

These feelings come from internal sources which are completely normal, but it is also reinforced through our social interactions. In the modern dating scene and especially on college campuses, it is normal to see a lack of emotional intimacy. Many of us have become accustomed to hookups in lieu of deep connections and a dependence on drugs to comfort ourselves in stressful situations. I think that this is a crucial time where we can reassess how we react in these situations, accept our fears and actively change our reactions to our anxious thoughts.