Next time you go to the beach, you might want to bury your head in the sand. A study by Beach.com found that many people have some pretty awful beach habits that they don't want to own up to. In a survey of 1,000 American adults ages of 18 to 77, 93% of respondents claimed to have stellar beach etiquette, while a whopping 92% fessed up to having bad beach habits. So if you're planning a blissful vacation to one of the 20 best beaches in the world, expect sunny skies with a chance of hypocrisy.
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survey, which polled beachgoers who hit the sand at least once a year, asked about their behavior at the shore and what they've observed in others. The study focused on what it called "shameless beach behavior," defined as "behaviors that people admit to the most, while not many find it annoying." From this, an enlightening and somewhat hypocritical picture of beach etiquette emerged. The study found that most people commit three breaches of beach etiquette: Pilfering sand or seashells, urinating in the water, and drinking alcohol.
So how do the numbers shake out? While 38% of respondents admitted to taking shells or sand, only 4% condemned it. A staggering 70% confessed to peeing in the ocean, yet only 19% found it annoying. Nearly half of respondents said they drank alcohol on beaches where it's banned, but just 15% expressed shame about it. Ironically, 70% of those surveyed said poor beach etiquette negatively impacts their fun under the sun, even though they're some of the worst perpetrators.
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How Awful Beach Habits Kill Your Fun Under The Sun
These infractions might not be as egregious as some of the foul cruise passenger habits that make everyone want to avoid you, but they can threaten fragile ecosystems and ruin a day at the beach. Collecting seashells and bottling sand may seem harmless, but it could cause irreparable harm to delicate habitats through erosion and inciting changes to the amount and diversity of organisms.
And while peeing in the ocean doesn't necessarily harm the fish or water, it can encourage a broader habit of urinating in bodies of water altogether — something to avoid, especially in pools, where urine can react with chlorine to create a toxic chemical called cyanogen chloride. As for drinking on the beach, no one loves an overly boozy beach neighbor, but the real danger is the risk of dehydration that comes with consuming alcohol in the sun.
Aside from shameless behaviors, the survey looked at the habits people found annoying enough to ruin a good beach day. Littering, not cleaning up after pets, and setting close to others took the top three spots. In fact, respondents found littering to be worse than urinating in the ocean, making it the most intolerable beach behavior. Pets running wild, vaping and smoking, and blasting loud music also made the cut. In light of this survey, if you prefer your next beach getaway somewhere you won't encounter bad behavior — while maybe getting away with your own — consider escaping to one of the 30 best undiscovered beaches.
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Read the original article on Islands.
