Farr Side: Using phone, calling people while drunk an ill-advised idea

Beyond the obvious reasons, people are warned against drinking too much - drinking and driving, alcohol poisoning and possibly becoming an alcoholic - there is one drunken activity that, although not physically harmful, can be detrimental to the social life.

Drunk dialing can be best defined as calling someone after consuming too much alcohol. This person is someone you would normally not call and are calling only because you would not have the courage to do so while sober.

Even my mother who hardly drank at all in her younger days knew what I was talking about. In the midst of her and my father's on-and-off-again dramatic dating time period as she became the victim of this dangerous habit. She told me there were a few times when she admitted to having just a little bit too much to drink and beyond knowing what was in her best interest, she would call him. Somehow, it became easier to pick up the phone. She said she was always sorry the day after.

Most people are.

Luckily their relationship worked out despite the occasional drunk dial, and almost 22 years later, they're happily married. They still act like they're dating.

Not everyone is that lucky.

For others it does not always turn out that well. In fact, after talking to many of my friends they all seemed to have their own drunk dialing experiences. The consensus: don't do it. You'll just end up annoying the other person or regretting it.

As perfectly acceptable as it may seem, every time you dial the phone or press send on the cell, you are inviting tomorrow's regrets. When drunk dialing you are thinking to yourself, "Of course that person wants to talk to me right now, even though it's 3:00 a.m., and I am either slurring my words or incredibly loud because of all the noise at the party."

No, they don't.

In the end, what it comes down to is that subconsciously you are making a decision that is long sought out and pondered in your head. The question of "Should I call? Or should I not call?" Soberly we would bail out, but drunkenly it becomes too easy.

Now with the genius invention of cell phones, the already too easy habit becomes easier to abuse.

Bypassing Drunken Dialers Anonymous, the best solution to the problem is to simply clear any potential numbers out of your phone. If you think there's a possibility you'd call them - chances are you most likely drunkenly will. After all, when the long weekend is over, and for some crazy reason you might need to talk to them, there's always the phonebook. There's always the B-Book , and there's always the friend of a friend. But there's not always the chance to take back what you said the night before.