Social Signaling and Why Drugs are Cool

There is a scene in Swingers in which Jon Favreau is explaining to Ron Livingston the nature of Los Angeles clubs. From memory:

"For some reason all the cool bars in LA have no signs. It's like a speakeasy-sort-of thing. You tell a girl you went somewhere, it's like you're bragging you had to find it."

I think about this when I think about young people using drugs and alcohol. Sure, some people just enjoy being high. But I think something else is going on.

Evolutionary psychology posits that the thing women find most attractive in men is access to resources (this is a better description than money, since money didn't always exist.) Since most young people are unable to work enough to really signal how much money they have, they must find other ways to distinguish themselves.

In our society, access to resources comes in the way of being able to navigate one's social circle. In order to find drugs and alcohol, you have to know whom to ask. You have to know where the keg party is on Saturday. You have to know someone old enough to buy you beer.

The harder the resource is to find, the stronger your signal will be.

Telling a girl you bought the best bud in town, it's like you're bragging you had to find it.

My theory is that drugs are popular among young people because they signal one's access to resources. The best way to keep kids away from drugs is to replace their social signaling system with a new, less harmful one.