Starting this semester, students looking to be more mindful of their alcohol consumption can sign up for Rethink the Drink, a text message-based mindfulness program launched by Student Health. The program is a part of Student Health’s ongoing effort to tackle “high-risk alcohol consumption,” said Dr. Sarah Van Orman, USC’s chief campus health officer, in a Tuesday briefing with the Daily Trojan.

The program includes two paths: one for students who are non-drinkers or “sober-curious,” and another for those who want to make more intentional choices when drinking. Participants receive three texts on USC football game days and one check-in text the following day. 

“I know that sounds not that fun,” Van Orman said. “But it’s a way to help people be intentional. … You can set your own limits, and then we will text you about it.”

On top of prevention efforts, the University also tracks students’ alcohol consumption; all undergraduates must complete AlcoholEdu, an online course that asks students about their drinking habits. 

For the 2024-25 academic year, roughly two thirds of respondents reported no alcohol consumption in the past year, and nearly a fifth reported no consumption of alcohol in at least the past two weeks, according to the Office for Health Promotion Strategy. 

Lauren Martinez, associate director of research for the Office for Health Promotion Strategy, analyzed data from the Student Well-Being Index Survey to help implement Rethink the Drink. She said its goals are to promote harm reduction and help students practice intentionality.

“This is an opportunity for students to recognize that there’s a difference between the messages they might be getting from their social environment and what they might specifically want to be doing,” Martinez said, “How do we practice that pause to say, ‘What’s the choice I want to make for myself?’”

According to a University spokesperson, student workers from the Well-being and Health Outreach Ambassador team vetted the text messages to make them more personable and less clinical.  

“Of USC students who drink, 2 out of 5 decided NOT TO because they were having fun without it. Check-in with yourself to see if you want to keep going,” read one text. 

Sophia Dettweiler, a public engagement team lead for Student Health and a senior majoring in health promotion and disease prevention, said the entirely text message-based, anonymous program is innovative.

“The reception has been really positive,” Dettweiler said. “It’s a very nonjudgmental and neutral way to help students make healthy, mindful decisions and really empower them in whatever path they choose.”

Alcohol use has been dropping for decades, particularly for young adults. In 1979, 88.1% of 12th graders reported drinking alcohol in the past 30 days; that figure has fallen to 41.7% in 2024, according to data from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research program called Monitoring The Future. 

“When we look at alcohol consumption among young adults, among teens, among older adults in the United States, it’s actually basically fallen off a cliff over the last five years,” Van Orman said. “It’s quite remarkable what’s happened with our per capita alcohol consumption — marked declines unlike anything I’ve ever seen in my career.”

Van Orman said high-risk alcohol consumption, especially for young adults, is associated with “serious outcomes” such as car crashes, physical accidents and gender- and power-based harm.  

For the 2024-25 academic year, 11.2% of freshmen were classified as “moderate” drinkers — defined as having one to four drinks for men or one to three drinks for women on their highest drinking day in the past two weeks. Five percent were classified as “heavy episodic drinkers” — defined as consuming five to nine drinks for men or four to seven for women.

Van Orman said the cause of the decline in alcohol consumption rates is unclear, but she pointed toward greater public awareness of alcohol’s negative health effects and cannabis legalization as potential explanations.  

This year, for the first time since at least 2001, a majority of Americans said drinking in moderation — defined as “one or two drinks a day” — is “bad for health,” according to a Gallup poll. In 2018, Gallup found that only 28% of Americans felt the same.  

Maya Alvarez, a freshman majoring in public policy, said that while she wouldn’t sign up for the program, Rethink the Drink’s wellness reminders may be helpful for others.

“Even with Apple’s filtering [options] I still have a lot of spam messages that I never even get to,” Alvarez said. “I just wouldn’t [use the program] in my situation because I have too many text messages.” 

Students can learn more about the program by stopping by the Student Health tent at Trojan Farmers Market on Wednesdays.

“We deal with a lot as college students that we may feel uncomfortable talking about or getting resources for,” Dettweiler said. “The purpose of the [tent] is to … help you get connected with what you need no matter what.”