Read on Twitter
Seeing a lot of takes as campuses reopen about how 18 year olds like to party. I think we can simplify this: 18 year olds are forging some of their deepest, most enduring relationships. Even the ones who aren’t into partying crave connection. 1/2
For me, what was much more common was staying up absurdly late into the night hanging out w people in dorm rooms, grabbing food in the dining hall & lingering for hours with friends. You don’t have to be a partying type to want to be close to people, to let your guard down.
I don’t like the takes about partying because they often implicitly treat 18 year olds as irresponsible or stupid, blaming them for creating community & closeness in their emerging adulthood with a powerful intensity bc of their newfound independence.
These kids are in a crucial phase of development and transition that relies on deep social connections as part of forging their identity. They’re exhausted from the constant risk calculus, from having to give up so much of normal life (proms, graduations, college experiences).
I’m bad at estimating how many tweets I need; I’ll just close with a simple acknowledgement that condescension & blame do little in the end to fight our own fears, anxieties, or ambivalence about reopening. I see despair & futility in so many of these tweets, so I simply send 
