Do's and Dont's of Spring Break by: Emerald Dowdell

Every year, college students from all over anticipate the week of Spring Break and the festivities that come along with it. Sunbathing, shopping, and partying are on most of the agendas for the Spring Breakers. Yet, what these young adults fail to grasp are the dangers that come along with being out for Spring Break. With visiting places such as Cancun, Mexico, Miami South Beach, Panama City, and Daytona Beach, Florida, just to name a few, people would assume that there are nothing but fun and games that await them in these lively cities. However, alcohol poisoning, predators, and disorderly conduct are some of the issues that one should be aware of when visiting these beautiful tourist cities. There have also been a number of horror stories associated with Spring Break vacations. An example of this would be the Natalie Holloway case. Natalie Holloway, a senior from Alabama disappearred from the shores of Aruba while on her graduation trip. MTV has also covered the dangers that arise in the Spring Break world. They have given false perceptions to their viewers as to how Spring Break should be.

Ever since the early 90’s, MTV has given its viewers a second hand look into what Spring Break is like. The show entitled Spring Break came along with many different shows that portrayed half- naked young adults dancing, playing games, and enjoying the many performances by different celebrities from all genres of music, off the beautiful beaches of Cancun, Mexico. One of the many shows that concentrates on the dangers of Spring Break rather than the “ fun in the sun” is Spring Break: Uncensored. The show focuses on one group of friends, which makes it seem more personal, and the different activities or trouble that they get into over the course of Spring Break. It is recorded from a documentary point of view and shows young adults participating in binge drinking contest, wild parties, and sexual acts (yet censored) under the influence of alcohol. On the next day, most of the people cannot remember the events from the previous night, yet do similar activities the next day.

This show, and many other shows from the Spring Break lineup, introduce Spring Break as “big fun”. Most people who have viewed Spring Break on MTV have a perception of how Spring Break is, based off of the show. The show is directed towards college students, but there are many impressionable children that get to watch the events displayed on television. For these young naïve kids, Spring Break seems to be nothing but hooking up with the opposite sex and drinking until you pass out with nothing on but little bikinis and swim trunks.

This becomes a problem because when these children are old enough to participate in the Spring Break activities, they try to imitate the misbehavior of the previous generations as seen on television. This brings up the concept of the Giant Feedback Loop. The Giant Feedback Loop says that the cool hunters go out and get a perception of what Spring Break or any other event that teenagers or young adults would view as “cool,” and put it on television shows such as the lineup that comes on MTV for Spring Break. The viewers of the show see the behavior of the teens and reenact similar situations in their actual lives. So this becomes a continuous cycle and an illustration as to how to act when on Spring Break.

Some of the terrible effects that the Giant Feedback Loop has on its prey are the consequences that come from being incoherent and not thinking logically in a unfamiliar city while under the influence of drugs and alcohol. Many girls come up missing, raped, and taken advantaged of because they are not aware of the dangers that are out in the world. The harm is not always done to the girls either. Many young men end up in huge brawls and/ or in jail for not being more careful. Often times young adults take this fun to another level and people get hurt. This and other reasons could be the grounds as to why the Spring Break lineup is not as popular as it was in previous years. So to help the upcoming Spring Breakers on their adventures, here are some do’s and don’ts to look out for while enjoying your time in the sun:

Dos and Don'ts

1. Do stay in a group of 3 or more people

2. Don’t wonder off by yourself

3. Be nice to people

4. But not too nice

5. Trust your first intuition

6. Don’t except drinks from strangers

7. Always keep your phone charged

8. Don’t leave without letting friends know

9. If you’re going to drink know your limit

10. Don’t trust everyone you come in contact