Stereotypes During College Students’ Spring Break

MYRTLE BEACH, SC. – Beach trips, concerts,

alcohol consumption and other nonsensical behavior
are all things college students seem to highlight on
social media during spring break. Many stereotypes
of spring break are related to the extravagant road
trips, self-indulgence, money spent on the nicest
hotels and food ate at high dollar restaurants.

As a college student, I knew I would later see posts

on social media from the spring break trips my
friends had gone on. This would answer the question
of how spring break is spent in the argued stereotypes mentioned. The point being that social
media reflects the stereotype of college students behavior during their spring break trips.

Expect to start early and go all night. Sleep for college students is hard to come by during spring
break.

Spring break is the mid-way point of the semester. After a week full of midterm exams and hours
studying, a break can be much-needed. A week with no class gives students an opportunity to
relax while momentarily avoiding any academic restraints that college puts on them.

For spring break, there are many popular destinations. Students typically travel down to Myrtle
Beach or even make the trip down to Miami or Panama City.

Freshman Hannah Messer said, “A bunch of us

from ETSU decided last minute to come to
Panama City Beach for spring break just to have a
good time. None of us really saved money, we all
just pitched in for food and drinks and luckily we
had family connections for a place to stay all
week.”

Messer and her friends posted many photos from

their trip, as well as many Snapchat videos which
emphasized the extent of their indulgence in risky
behavior.
Shotgunning beer on the beach, clubbing after midnight, and drinking games were all activities
Messer highlighted on her social media stories.

According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 11 percent of college
students drink until they black out.

From analyzing the behavior of students and comparing that to things in the media, it seems as if the
media persuades college students, giving them certain expectations for spring break which lead
to students getting in trouble. For example, on the MTV television channel, PG-13 and R rated
shows that I have watched growing up such as “MTV Spring Break” highlight drugs, sex and
alcohol which reinforce the idea that if you are a college student on spring break, you must live
up to the “partying” stereotype.

Messer added, “watching MTV in high school made me feel like I was not a normal teenager. I
always saw girls going to clubs and drinking and at the time while I spent my time watching
Netflix or staying home.”

Social media is one of the most common places for college students to get their news. By
marketing things like alcohol and partying, it makes that stereotype very appealing to college
students.

I traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for spring break this year with a few friends. My
vacation gave me a chance to see if these stereotypes were true.

We were not the only college students at Myrtle Beach, to say the least. College students from
Ohio State made their arrival well known by placing their school flag on the balcony of their
condo.

Despite the lack of a populated beach at the time, many students proved the stereotype portrayed
in media to be true by showing up at clubs and drinking. The amount of college aged students in
the club versus the amount of students participating in normalized and less rowdy activities in
the evening, leads students to the idea that a wild spring break is a common occurrence.

Emory & Henry sophomore Hannah Blevins was one of the four that went on vacation with me
and she agrees with the idea that it is not preferred by many to spend spring break inside doing
school work or sleeping all day.
“I would much rather be laying out on the beach or staying up with my friends all night, making
memories than be the one sitting inside, scrolling through Instagram and seeing everyone post
about how much fun they are having,” said Blevins.

There are many stereotypes of spring break, so no matter how spring break is spent, it should be
a time for students to relax and not have to worry about their academic responsibilities.