Located in every New Trier bathroom are posters for the Tinkle Times, which broadcasts true facts about drug use at New Trier to the disbelief of many students.
Most, if not all students, have seen the flyers that line bathroom walls stating facts like “80% of New Trier students did not smoke weed in the past month” or “smoking weed can cause your IQ to drop.”
These flyers are part of a social norms campaign called Tinkle Times, named after its location in the school bathrooms. A social norms campaign, like the “click it or ticket” campaign to increase the use of seat belts, takes common misconceptions about society and shares true facts about these misconceptions that may not be available to the public, and the Tinkle Times is no different.
The Tinkle Times shares true facts about the prevalence of drug used at New Trier, showing that it is not as high as some students believe.
Kristine Hummel, Student Assistance Program Coordinator, is part of the group that creates the Tinkle Times. “A social norms campaign is trying to hold off the behavior,” said Hummel, “We want to get the real facts out there. We want to show the student body that not that many students are taking drugs or drinking alcohol. Drug use in New Trier is not as prevalent as the student perception.”
The original idea of putting the Tinkle Times in school bathrooms came from a panel of students five years ago. “Students came up with the idea to put the posters in the bathroom. They thought that students might stop and look at it,” said Hummel.
The data used in the Tinkle Times flyers is collected every two years through a survey taken in kinetic wellness classes. The survey was taken last year and will again be taken next year. “We have been doing this survey since 2002. The goal of this survey is to spread facts. The survey is a prevention strategy to hold off drug use in New Trier teens,” said Hummel.
Hummel also assures that all the facts are true. “We have a statistician not connected to the school who checks all the facts, and we throw away those surveys that are not taken seriously,” said Hummel.
Despite Hummel’s assurances that the facts are 100% real, many New Trier students still question the accuracy. Sophomore Jackie Thompson said, “I think that more people are doing drugs than they actually stated. I feel like many people lied on the survey.”
Sophomore Natalie Shumate said, “Last year when I took the survey I didn’t even finish, and I know that a lot of people lied and treated the survey as a joke.”
The last question on the survey asks students whether or not they took the test seriously. According to Hummel, close to 90% of students reported that they answer the survey truthfully, but close to 60% of students believed their peers answered the survey truthfully.
“This also shows the student perception verses the reality of the student body at New Trier,” said Hummel.
With close to 90% of students claiming they answered the survey truthfully, the facts broadcasted in the Tinkle Times appear to be true and accurately represent the New Trier student body.
“I don’t think anyone takes them seriously,” said sophomore Alec Lestrud. Senior Bella Morgan said “I read them for fun sometimes but I don’t find them helpful to the student body. They’re just something people make fun of.”
“I think the Tinkle Times would make a bigger impact on the student body if it had facts that scared people away from doing drugs,” said Thompson.
But according to Hummel, using scare tactics is not proven to work as well as using basic facts to prevent drug use from the beginning.
Another common critique from students is that the location of the Tinkle Times is in the school bathrooms. Junior Ryann Tuffield said, “I do take them [Tinkle Times]seriously but they seem out of place in the bathroom. I am not going in there to read about drug use at New Trier.” Morgan added “they would be better in advisery rooms or in hallways.”
Whether or not the Tinkle Times is benefiting the student body is questionable, but Tinkle Times is well known throughout the student body. “You remember them,” said sophomore Hannah Coffey. The reason why is still up for debate.