[imagesource:todayfood/facebook]
Teenagers will always find new ways to get smashed, but the latest ‘BORG’ trend is a testament to Gen Z’s apparent desire to kill themselves in creative ways.
So much so, that ‘BORG’ drinks even have their own listing on the US Poison Control List.
The term “BORG” is an acronym for ‘blackout rage gallon’ and has become increasingly popular among students and other kids who desire a ‘customizable and possibly safer’ group drinking experience. The idea is that if everyone brings their own Borg in a capped bottle, this decreases the chances of someone spiking your drink.
A gallon-sized (3.7 litre) mix of vodka (or another type of alcohol), water, and a flavoured electrolyte powder is put into a plastic jug and usually given a nickname – some play on the word “BORG,” like “Our Borg and Savior” or “Justin Bieborg.”
Watch on TikTok
But drinking 3.7 litres of what Gen X would have called ‘Jungle Juice’ at a party should give a clue that the trend is not much safer.
BORGs are so loaded with alcohol that they often lead to “potentially life-threatening consumption and alcohol poisoning,” according to Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and addiction medicine at Stanford University in California.
Countless videos of teens at crowded parties showing the names they’ve created for their drinks, or students sharing their drink recipes for a ‘BORG Saturday” party have flooded TikTok. The trend has even caught the attention of older content creators, like Brian Moller, who made a video spoofing the trend.
Not very funny bruh. Some have however jumped in to defend Gen Z, claiming the BORG isn’t much worse than ‘jungle juice’ — which was a communal mix of alcohol often mixed and served in a bathtub or trash can – Come on, you know you drank out of an emmer at some point while at UCT. But maybe not 3.7 litres of mix that you eyeball-measured.
“A lot of people just pour vodka in and don’t measure it, so it can actually be kind of dangerous as opposed to knowing you drank three cans of beer.”
Also, instead of having to wait in line to get a refill — and take a break from drinking — kids can continuously swig from their personal gallon-sized drink, which Lembke says “often contains 3 cups of vodka or other hard alcohol, which is about 17 standard drinks, which is a massive amount of alcohol.”
“Alcohol poisoning is a serious — and sometimes deadly — result of drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. Drinking too much too quickly can affect breathing, heart rate, body temperature and gag reflex. In some cases, this can lead to a coma and death.”
Other geniuses on TikTok claim the water content – or electrolytes in the flavouring – keep them from getting alcohol poisoning, which is not the case, obviously.
“It makes it more palatable, and people generally can drink more than they could of something like straight vodka,” Lembke says. “But that doesn’t increase the liver’s ability to metabolize alcohol better.”
Fortunately, and unfortunately, the kids are leaving a detailed social media record for future generations to learn from.
[source:people&poison.org]
