Vodka Eyeballing: Better Buzz or Bogus Trend?

Vodka eyeballing is the act of consuming vodka through one's eye. Yes, you read that right. When I first heard about it on the radio it grossed me out so bad that I wanted to change the station. But then the deejay's talked about how this is "the latest teen trend", and being the mother of a teenager I thought I should listen.

Apparently, teens are ingesting vodka through their eyes because it gives them a faster buzz. You know, skip drinking it and waiting for the digestive system to process it- we've got an 11 o'clock curfew here. Gots to catch a buzz as fast as possible, so let's use the ol' eye socket to get it right into the blood stream.

As an added bonus, eyeballing also eliminates the smell of vodka on one's breath. How dumb is that? Only a teenage er would have that logic. Here's an eye-opener (pun intended) for you teens: Booze smells like booze no matter where it is on your body! And it's not like we parents won't start sniffing your eyeballs.

Let's talk about the dangers of pouring alcohol in your eye. Vodka has the potential to burn and scar the cornea, geniuses. Severe scarring of the cornea could lead to blindness. Permanent blindness.

After I heard about vodka eyeballing on the radio I did a Google search. Naturally, there are YouTube videos and even a Facebook page devoted to vodka eyeballing. (Because it's so cool.) Just when I was getting all worked up to threaten my kid with a beat down if he ever THOUGHT about vodka eyeballing, I came across some other information.

According to FoxNews, "Eyeballing is more of a prank than a way to become more intoxicated." FoxNews is saying that kids aren't actually vodka eyeballing to get drunk as much as they're doing it on a dare after they're already drunk. But here's a newsflash kids: Being drunk first doesn't make it any less dangerous!

Slate.com has an article titled "Bogus Trend Smorgasbord" which reports that vodka eyeballing is, in fact, a bogus trend. Hyped up by the media in order to get perimenopausal moms up in arms for no good reason. (OK, they didn't say that.) Slate reports that The Daily Mail, who first reported this "trend", interviewed one person who had vodka eyeballed. ONE. I don't think that's the definition of a trend.

So I guess I can stop my Emily LaTella thing of "What's all this about you kids pouring vodka into your eyeballs?". It's really not a trend. But it didn't stop me from telling my son, "If you're going to drink vodka, drink it through your mouth- don't pour it in your eyeball." Chalk that one up in the "I never thought I'd be having this conversation" column.

Sources:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,593570,00.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2255927/pagenum/2
Kimberly and Beck: The Breakfast Buzz (WBZA Rochester, NY June 4, 2010)