Gen X is drinking more as younger Americans cut back on alcohol, study finds
While younger generations are drinking less, adults aged 50 to 64 are drinking more, causing a shift reshaping the US bar scene
Alcohol consumption has decreased across the United States in recent years, particularly among adults under age 40, but there is one older demographic in which more people are drinking than before the Covid-19 pandemic – and more are doing so heavily, according to a new study.
For the first time since before the pandemic, the percentage of US adults who drink any alcohol decreased between 2022 and 2024, according to the report in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. People from 50 to 64, which roughly corresponds with gen X, were the only age group in which drinking continued to increase.
They are likely hurting their health by imbibing, according to the latest science, but they are also helping keep open bars. Such businesses have struggled as younger generations, the drivers of nightlife, move away from booze.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/sep/26/gen-x-z-drinking-habits-studyOpen linkView original on lemmy.world
172 replies
we're old and dont give a duck
Not mentioned in the article: 20- and 30-somethings are broke, and a night out is crazy expensive now. Plus legal weed is waaaay cheaper than alcohol.
ehhh if you're a PBR enjoyer $12 for a 12-pack is hard to beat. I like my weed, but it ain't $12 cheap yet here
Bummer to hear. $20 a quarter oz here lasts me longer than two twelve packs, so a little more affordable. It's definitely not topshelf weed, but PBR isn't primo either. I'm in cali though where the weed market has collapsed due to oversaturation and over regulation.
This was my argument for a long time. For 25 I get 12 that'll last me a night IF I don't share. 25 of weed will get you 3 days if you just smoke j. Plus the whole not becoming a degen that makes bad choices is a plus.
not sure about that last part
plus weed psychosis is real
Calling it "weed psychosis" is confusing correlation with causation. Nimbys and cops harass people who smoke weed, making them paranoid. Occasionally they crack and wind up in the psych ward. Doctor sees "weed use," ascribes causation, and records it as such.
Dozens/hundreds of these cases stack up, some researchers do meta-analysis, nobody points out what would be glaringly obvious to a stoner (and any stoner who points it out gets labeled psychotic/delusional), and the "causality" gets made official.
Then doctors continue recording "psychosis" every time a stoner says "I'm being stalked and harassed," and the cycle continues.
Yeah, I only go out on occasions.
As a millennial I'm tired and I think many millennials and younger GenXers feel the same. We've had to live what seems like multiple generations within our lifetime. We went from like 3 channel tv to cable tv to satellite tv to streaming tv. we went from dial up phones to cell phones to smart phones. we went from having no computer, to a computer, to a laptop, tablet, and screens on everything. we went from no internet to dial up to cable to wifi. We went from being told that we need to learn this and that in school or we won't get a job. that we needed to learn all this maths cause we'll never have a calculator in our pocket to carry around. having to write cursive cause thats how we'll always write in the future. that we MUST go to college in order to get a job to suddenly it no longer matters and we're in debt up to our eyeballs.
We had to teach our parents all this crap and now we also have to teach the younger generations the same stuff too.
We went from everyone we know having a house by the time they were our age to now we have to keep paying rent or live with roommates.
We're tired, let us have a drink.
I feel you man. Shit has been crazy fast and it’s still accelerating. What a fucking life we have.
100%
We are a long-traumatized generation in a perpetually-traumatizing world. Even when I'm lying down, I want to lie down.
Yeah, I would not have damaged my body irreparably by sitting and studying through 3 STEM degrees had I known that job security would never come. I should have just worked at gas stations so at least I know jobs were always there, even if the cash was shit. My job pays well, but not worth being told it will be over soon every 5 minutes. I'm over it. So tired.
you forgot to mention, that the constant nagging for not having your career, or sitll living at home, sitll doing min wage, still not achieve this or that and pretty much ignoring why the HCOL so high. even from other more succesful millennials(they act like boomer sometimes)
Advances in personal technology and having had to learn cursive are not high on the list of things making me tired. You need to raise your exhaustion game.
you completely missed the point. it was an example of how quickly things have changed for us and the fact we have to teach the older generations these things and we also have to teach the younger one the same things too. Most previous generations had to simply teach the younger. We on the other hand had to teach multiple generations. Thus, we're tired.
Nope I got it. And trust me, I have worked as the help desk guy and am tech support for every person I know. This is annoying, not driving me to drink. Anyone who says they drink more because they’re tired from BOO HOO having to explain phones to their mom and little brother both BOO HOO is weak af and can piss off with that whining.
My thoughts exactly. Life is always changing, and always will be.
My wife and I (Gen-X), stopped drinking altogether about two or three years ago. She identified that it was becoming a problem for her since the huge increase during COVID lockdown. I quit for moral support.
My cousin definitely ramped up since COVID, but even he has now cut down to one celebratory "survived the week" Friday night cocktail.
With all that said, my white gen-x friends are drinking like it's sophomore year greek week, every week. Except they can hold their liquor now. The amount of bottle in the recycling bin is absurd.
I'm 62 and mostly completely stopped drinking. I used to keep a well stocked bar, but now it just sits there empty except for glassware.
Friends who are in their early 50s and used to drink much heavier than me also mostly quit. She gets migraines and I think that's a big reason (he probably also quit in support).
The only people I see drinking regularly are younger people on the golf course.
It's funny you say they can hold their liquor better now. I'm in my early 40s and I used to drink excessively in my 20s. Now, I feel like just looking at a glass of wine gives me a hangover 😅
I cut back a lot in my early 30s and now I'm down to a couple of cocktails in the summer months. There are really excellent mocktails in grocery stores nowadays, it makes it so much easier to still enjoy the flavors.
What I mean by that is that it seems less like the sprint till you blackout drinkingof their youth, and more the "I'm always tipsy" ultramarathon.
My boomer dad died of dementia a few years ago. I strongly believe that alcohol was a factor in rapidly advancing his disease. Dementia scares the shit out of me, so I have basically quit drinking. I'm okay having a drink with friends a few times a year, but effectively only on special occasions.
I’m going through this very thing right now. My dad is 67. In the late stage of dementia. Married an alcoholic and was with her for 10 years. I’d say for a good 6 or 7 of those he drank heavily. Dementia has kicked his ass. It’s so horrific and just last week we got news he’s showing rapid decline. Like overnight he just couldn’t stand or talk, medical tests ruled out a stroke, UTI etc etc. He’s bounced back a little but not much. I’m so mad. And sad.
I've been there. I'm so sorry for what you are going through. It is extremely difficult. I developed a set of rules for myself with my dad. I don't know if any of them will help you, but as I figured them out they helped me.
It's all hard on everyone.
Thank you for the reply. These rules are ones I learned to follow as well. I had to tell my siblings it’s okay if he’s saying he has to go to work tomorrow, that he’s caught a huge fish yesterday etc .. whatever it may be don’t correct him. They finally got the memo and things are smoother.
His primary doctor said he needed a colonoscopy and I said absolutely the hell not. I’ve had a few and they’re rough as fuck even when you’re fully capable of taking care of yourself. I told my siblings that was a non negotiable. No way is my dad being put through that, all the prep, leaving his safe space and being sedated? Insane.
I have a lot more common sense I guess you could say. Things come naturally to me on how to handle him with dignity. My brothers are kinda brash. They’ve learned to ask me how to handle things and it seems dad is happier and smiles more.
Sorry for the rambling. It’s just hard to deal with when it happens so early and you’re still young.
You aren't rambling. And good on you for saying no to the colonoscopy. You are absolutely correct. My mom never really learned the rules I figured out. She'd challenge him on asking who she was. Because sometimes he'd forget. It really upset her, which I get. The challenge upset him and that would lead to things going downhill. I don't think he necessarily knew who she was or I was specifically, but he knew that we were important to him. And honestly that's all that mattered. Stay strong, take breaks, take turns with family. It will be difficult. Don't wear yourself out.
My friend’s dad has wet brain from drinking. Seems similar to dementia.
alcohol does caused a version of dementia so im not surprised.
alcohol does cause dementia, how often did he drink?
From my reading 'cause' is too strong a word. My mother in law drank a lot until she died in her 90's. She was sharp until her last week. Dad regularly drank a beer or three after work, but never more than that on a weekday. On the weekends they'd occasionally have parties and he'd get moderately drunk. He was never fall down drunk. I think the long term alcohol use was that contributing factor. My grandfather, his father, died at 96. The last 2 or so years of his life he had dementia. He drank when he was younger, but I think he quit by the time he was 50. I'm hoping to be like him as far as dementia goes.
I am one of those bridging the generation gap. I have siblings whom are older and part of Gen-X but I am technically a millennial born in 84. Well they are still drinkers but I quit 2 years ago and switched to weed. I have the peer pressure to still drink but I decline.
Your generation is as much about your cohort and where you were born as it is when you are born. Growing up with GenX siblings, especially if you grew up not on the coasts, would put you in the running for being GenX rather than a millennial.
For instance somebody born in 1995 who grew up in San Francisco would be closer to GenZ than somebody who was born in 1998 and grew up in rural Texas. There is always a transition gradient.
We're hitting the age where we realised we've got another forty fucking years of this instead of dying at fifty like we hoped
Nobody is lining up for the $14 six pack at the grocery store. I'm not exaggerating, I've even cut back simply because I can't justify the cost. I'm not paying a %50 increase for the same beer I bought six years ago.
$14 six pack is a bargain here. Most 4 packs are $25 in Australia. Steak night at the pub is strange as your beer costs more than your steak.
It's not. In comparison it's about the same. The local minimum wage here is about $15, and federal is an astounding $7.25 where as yours is around $25. I'm just using the figures to say either way you have to work for at least an hour to get beer. A four pack of
niceactual beer is $20-25 or more if you like the higher end stuff like the 120 minute IPA it's $40 for a four pack. I just drink trash now.Mate me too, I only buy cartoons (24packs) of the cheap stuff. Smithys was on sale yesterday for $50 so that's the poison this week.
Wait, do Australians really call 24-packs of beer "cartoons"?
I want to verify this, but with how much search engines suck these days I fully expect that if I look up "Australian cartoons beer," it will ignore the word "beer" and just return page after page of Bluey.
Carton*. Or chazzwozzer.
I meant cartons. We locally call them slabs
I think the best deal I can get is 24 cans of PBR for about $14 when it's on sale.
That's a bargain
Yeah it's the best deal around, usually sells out in days.
excuse me, what the fuck
i assume you meant the Min wage, yes its that low been for many decades. neither party in the us wants to change it significantly. some states have did thier own increases, but its not enough because COL.
Isn’t meat production heavily subsidized by the government because corruption?
Don't know about that. I know that when I have a steak I'll usually have a few beers and they make their money back. The steak is just a loss leader.
I switched to hard liquor, much cheaper
I partially did. A bottle of cheap swill costs as much as a beer at a restaurant or pub.
Yep, I fully agree
Im an Xer who rarely drinks in adult life but I can say that I have been wanting to drink more since about 2016 and much more since 2024.
Same. I drink just about never. But yeah, I sometimes pine for a pint.
I had a close family member die of alcoholism not long before COVID, so I know it's in my genes. I'd say it's more tempting now than before because of the incredible chaos at work, but I have kids so my life isn't about me anymore.
Alcoholism isn't hereditary.
"Substance use disorders... are influenced by genetic factors" - https://web.archive.org/web/20250115025115/https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8477224/
So those studies don't prove that alcoholism is hereditary, nor do they prove that it isn't just nurture. Since they aren't twin adoption studies they're generally useless.
If we look at those instead, it does not suggest that alcoholism is hereditary, but that certain genes increase the risk of substance abuse. It's not that child inherits alcoholism from the parent, but the predisposition for alcoholism is in their genetics. This means that even if a parent is not an alcholic, the child will still be more predispositioned for alcoholism, meaning the hereditary term doesn't make much sense.
I'm lost at what you are saying, I think we agree with some of the core factors. If the genes that widely encourage substance abuse are in you, and you've never touched a drink... you will not feel a strong urge to drink.
However it sounds like if you have the genes, and you start drinking, you are more likely to get dependent on it faster than someone without them. I believe that's what the studies imply overall.
No there's no magical transmission that makes you born addicted to something you've never had. But the bar to go from drinking occasionally to can't live without a drink, is a variable that's composed of a lot of different things. Some of it is nurture and life experiences, some of it is inherent to your genetics.
Think of it like this, 99.9% of the people with those genes did not become alcoholics throughout the history of those human genes existing.
Those that did did not transmit it to further generations through genes either.
So is alcoholism hereditary? No, we cannot say in any meaningful semantic sense of the word that it is.
I'd find that rather unlikely as humans producing alcohol at some levels, and thus the existence of alcoholics pretty much predates written history, and even wild animals etc... have tendencies to seek out fermenting fruits etc... obviously one of the biggest variables is the scale and availability of alchohol, people being able to buy shots of cheap vodka for less than the price of water at a gas station is certainly a more modern history development, and the modern problem where someone wanting to avoid alchohol altogether has their work cut out for them as in most states grocery stores and gas stations have it advertised and supplied.
But I'd still say based on the frequency of alchohol within stories, legends etc... which were intended to be relatable and understandable to the people of their time, I'd say at least a 5-15% alchoholism rate through pretty much all agricultural human civilization is a fairly safe estimate. and it looks like at least on some level, people with certain genes fell into that range more often than others.
admitted though the idea that we can read "throughout the history of those human genes existing" is silly. obviously we can only study peoples lives based on when the human genomes were recorded and study has begin.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/B3BAE9D2DCF78C7C4833A8DB4420F5B2/S0033291721000969a.pdf/genetics-of-substance-use-disorders-a-review.pdf
my friend, this shows the opposite of your claim - the abstract states outright that substance use disorders are influenced by genetic factors with heritability of about 50%, and the intro's first sentence calls them "heritable psychiatric disorders”
I can't tell if I'm dumb, but directly from your linked review, under "Epidemiology" (Bolding is mine)
Edit: reread your first comment. I see what you're saying. I think its a silly distinction, but I could see your argument. Leaving this for posterity
it is and has been shown by decades of studies by this point.
Nope
Hah, not this genx. 51 on dialysis for kidney failutre (fuck fascism) so I took my habit of hardly drinking down to no drinking.
Oof gl fellow lemming gl.
One of my Gen-X friends was telling me how he started drinking more during COVID.
He said one day the supermarket cashier remarked “oh hey, are you throwing a party?”
And he said “nope, this is just my personal weekly alcohol consumption.”
Awkward!
I’m in my early 40s and with rising costs of everything I just can’t justify my monthly six-pack anymore. I wonder if they controlled for that?
Maybe younger generations had less traumatic childhoods? As a millennial I drink pretty frequently and am generally high
From what seeing, the younger generation isn't sober but they don't drink. There is a lot of ketemine, nitrous and weed usage by gen z from the scene I'm around.
That makes sense. Alcohol is mid
This must be emphasized more. The WHO has made a statement that for usual alcoholic beverages no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health. This happened after carefully analysing a large body of research. Much earlier, alcohol has already been assigned to the highest class of carcinogenic substances, class 1. It sits in the same class as radiation, tobacco and asbestos.
Yes they know that they dont care they're not looking forward to a long healthy life.
I mean, with all respect, have you seen the state of this fucking world?
No i totally agree
As an older GenX I will say that my drinking hasn’t really increased, but it never really decreased from my college level in the first place.
But I don’t want to live to 80, 90 years old anyways.
Kids are grown, lost my wife to cancer 5 years ago. All of our nest egg went into her end of life care so retirement’s not an option. Everything hurts and I have to work until the day I die.
I got maybe 5-10 years left in me. Tops.
As a fellow gen x'er, I'm sorry for your loss. Take care of yourself, bro.
Just for your information, sitting in the same "class" as tobacco and asbestos doesn't mean what you insinuated here.
Asbestos is orders of magnitudes more carcinogenic than alcohol, don't be alarmist
I have never once in my life lifted an alcoholic drink without that information.
Look, have a drink every now and then. It's fine. Moderation is key, we're not meant to live forever and a life lived for 150 years in a fuckin bubble is silly.
I get it, it's a carcinogen we all know. So is smoke, should I stop enjoying a lovely campfire?
Should I stop leaving my home because someone could kill me?
And yet a lot of centenarians have their cocktails before bed. I think it must be the binge drinking that really hurts you. Or maybe the not going to bars and getting diseases from other drinkers part?
Stress is the number one killer and the core of so many health problems. Alcohol causes physical health problems too, but it is also so good for relieving stress. With any drug just know what and why you're using and do it intentionally; medical vs. recreational use, and use vs. abuse. Drinking alone out of habit when you're sad is bad drinking. Having a bottle of wine between friends or a tipple as part of a getting ready for bed relaxation ritual can be good drinking.
Agree on stress being a killer but frankly, this is cope. Alcohol as part of a going to bed ritual is pretty much alcoholism.
I think we're imagining very different scenes. If you knock back a shot of vodka when you brush your teeth at night that's probably alcoholism, a little glass of something mixed with a book and a robe in your library after supper isn't usually.
"A little glass mixed with something" usually contains roughly a shot of liquor too....
I see what youre getting at, the psychological effect is less severe, but functionally and physiologically the addiction is the same.
Im not judging, I smoke a jay most evenings and admit its an addiction. I dont need to shift the goalposts and claim its not an addiction because its not as severe as a bong...
Your liver doesn't know that you're enjoying a good book, sorry. 😔
Y'all have lost the thread.
Nuance and reading comprehension people.
Eh I'm going to take a turn on this. My Garmin watch measures my heart rhythm through the night and can absolutely report super poor sleep for the first few hours if I have 2 glasses of wine with supper, with even 1 glass I can see poorer sleep stats.
I can, however, mitigate a lot of that with 2 Aleve taken beforehand, and of course adequate hydration. So my suspicion is that alcohol is inflammatory, and the inflammation causes all sorts of problems that inflammation typically does. Maybe taking the anti inflammatory is enough to mitigate it all, maybe not. But certainly something bad is happening.
As another example, I occasionally suffer from insomnia tendencies and would absolutely choose poor sleep over no sleep. Some studies have shown you shouldn't consume alcohol within four hours of bedtime. Everyone should be making sure they are using responsibly and approach subjects with nuance
Its funny how in spite of all the advances in technology and research a healthy life always comes down to stress, diet, physical activity, sleep and social life. The factors we've known about since forever.
So the thing is, most centenarians happen to be from places that are either terrible at book keeping or at some point had a lot of their written records destroyed. There's a strong chance that most centenarians aren't actually over 100 years old, that their birth certificates were either faked or mismanaged along the way.
Party pooper
There is alcohol in lots of food including bread. Your liver is quite capable of handling alcohol.
Baking evaporates all but trace amounts of alcohol...
Our livers can handle most poisons but they all, alcohol included, take their toll.
Bread, yogurt, soy sauce, vinegar, fruit juice
All have alcohol and they are nowhere near the risk of asbestos lol
Wait until you learn about dosages, going to blow your mind
You'll find relative and absolute risk a crazy concept
It seems you have neither read my comment properly, nor the WHO statement. This is about alcoholic beverages as usually sold and consumed. No statement was made about alcohol content in apples, bread, and alike.
It is
Yeah now you are starting to troll. Click on the link. Read what I have written before the link.
I'm not. Just debating it.
Tobacco contains about 250 carcinogens when combusted, that's way more harmful than alcohol.
They may be in the same class, but the risk profile is much lower for alcohol. The most common is colorectal cancer, and the risks are minimal
For every 1,000 heavy drinkers over a lifetime, roughly 11 additional cases of colorectal cancer would be expected compared to 1,000 non-drinkers
I think this is a good example of risk through the lens of policy versus risk through the lens of personal choices.
There is no safe amount of alcohol when it comes to a government recommending the use of a substance. The decision to say "one glass a day" by the government has been shown to lead to adverse health outcomes in the population.
You are speaking to the chance that a single individual will experience adverse health outcomes from choosing for themselves to have a glass a day. You are probably right that on an individual basis it is a reasonable risk to take (though I don't know what the exact numbers suggest).
People often confuse policy level risk assessments with individual risk assessments, without considering the law of large numbers, and how a policy maker must make decisions for the population, not an individual.
I think it's also relevant to your genes. My family has made whisky since the 1600s, they seem well accustomed to it.
Counter: Bars should have taxes lifted on the first round of beverages purchased in bars. And increased taxes for alcohol purchased in shops. And maximum music dB enforced.
In the current time of AI, music by bands should be required.
Social drinking should be promoted to counter loneliness.
The bars around me charge nearly $20 for a mid drink like vadka redbull or a rum and coke. Fuck the bars. Fuck everything they stand for.
Don't forget to tip on top of it all!
I quit drinking last year at 33 years old next month is one year. I didn't do it because I had a drinking problem, I was drinking one pint of beer a week, if that and a six pack would last a month, if I even bought a six pack at that point.
It was just like all it did was make me angry, tired or an ass to be around and it was becoming a waste and I didn't feel like it was doing anything for me and it was a fucking waste after a while.
I did have a few thoughts of I could take or leave it when I was depressed a few times and those were the worst because that means I was considering drinking more because I felt like shit and then I was like fuck this shit.
.......
.... Plus empty carbs and ngl, I like root beer more than alcoholic beer. I like coffee more than alcohol. I like weed more than alcohol. I Iike chocolate more than alcohol. I like biking more than alcohol. I like everything more than alcohol.
The only time a beer really hits the spot for me is after a hot day spent working outside. The first sip of a frothy cold beer is magic.
But even then that works just as well with non alcoholic beer
A can of Pepsi that's in a cooler that's been chilled for like two hours, those are crispyyyy.
It works better with non alcoholic beer, that's why Athletic is out selling everything at Whole Foods.
Effect meet cause.
I swear to god both of my non-drinking kids make me want to drink more.
I'm 60 and never started drinking. I saw very early my older brother fall into the trap. I learned from his mistake.
My parents didn't drink or smoke, etc. I followed their example. I don't know why my siblings didn't.
i tried it once before 18, just a small sip of win. thats the only thing i did. me not being used to alcohol was very unpleasant. at one time a family member drank so much, he got gastritis from it(stomach inflammation), he doesnt drink much now if any though.
Uh…. I guess I’m in the minority. 39 and drinking a box of wine (4 bottles) in a weekend with my partner and their other drinks may be involved + a gummy.
You're not gen X lol
Til a new word : imbibing - means drinking a liquid or, often informally, consuming alcoholic beverages.
Stop framing it around desire to drink, it's wealth ffs!
I think we were always a generation of drinkers
Yeah my gut reaction is that our generation are drinkers, we're getting older and society seems to be collapsing, so maybe it's just a "Smoke 'em if you've got 'em" kind of deal at this point.
One thing that helps me is non alcoholic beers. There's quite a lot of pretty good ones now. Satisfies my craving to have a beer. Also much lower in carbs and calories.
Now they need to do it with scotch.
There are some great NA beers out there. I prefer what the Germans call a Radler, though here you have to make it with Sprite.
Their body, their choice. Sure hope that's okay with prohibitionists who want to rape their way of life on the rest of us.
Dont worry. When humanity wins the war on drugs, sober people will not be persecuted, incarcerated and forced to do drugs.
Drugs will become so much safer people might want to do drugs. For example there was this guy working on an alcohol replacement with (from what I remember) benzos analogs and he was working on increasing euphoria while decreasing physical dependence. Sounded like an interesting idea but he ran into a bunch of DEA/FDA hurdles. I have always wanted to try Coca tea, I have no desire to do cocaine mostly because it's always cut nasty like and requires intranasal.
They're at that age range where their house should be paid off by now, allowing them to have a few beers at a restaurant without maxing out their credit card.
I virtually quit drinking in 2018. Went six years with out a drink of any alcohol. Lately I drink a few in social situations but not very often.
Those are the people that were already drinking
thats why Alochol industry is so afraid of WEED and GLP-1, especially the glp-1 like ozempic and semiglutide. i think milleneals are half and half, some drinked a ton, while another never touched or barely.
Weed is the new alcohol.
every generation pickles itself when the life gets rough. it makes it a smidge more tolerable
Only while you're actively drunk, it makes it harder the rest of the time.
true. dts suck heh
Gen-X is drinking more? When did we drink less? :)
MDMA has always been better value. Now even more so.
Mescaline micro dosing helped me!
Well, let their liver receive the penance of their vote for Orange Palpatine.
Pssh. I’m drinking because others voted FOR Orange Palpatine!
That makes 2 of us. I've got a bottle of Laphroaig waiting for when it happens.
I thought Trump, like Hitler, was teetotal?
If I get freedom, I would love to drink alcohol as a Gen Z.
This Gen X stopped drinking for good.
Same
Yeah, alcohol is gross af (tried it a few times and disliked it every time, kinda never finished then/spit en out aaa) and it’s not healthy for you at all. Plus biggest reason due a lot of people out age to not drink it is because it’s way too expensive
It's also great fun. Source: me
Idk, doesn’t sound fun to us but we’re happy that you enjoy it! We’ll stick to water, juices and orange soda ^^;
To each their own my friend!
Not sure how much I believe this. I drank waaaaaay more as a young person. Nowadays as an old man I have maybe 2 drinks a month, if even that. Would be interesting to see if they're talking about casual beer/wine drinking with meals or more like cocktails & shots to get drunk.
I guess I could read the article, but I'm not going to.
I have noticed that kids today don't have that "fuck it" attitude like we did back in the day, could be a factor.
Yes, clearly your individual experience represents your entire generation better than a peer reviewed study in a reputable medical journal.
I know right? It's almost like those scientists are wasting their time.
It's all guesswork in a white coat anyway.
I had a Gen X coworker who drank like a fucking fish, despite his gout and inability to pay all his bills. Dude made as much money as I did, so i know the pay wasn't THAT bad. Turns out, he and his wife would drink away literally half of their paychecks.
I think it takes fuck it to do anything and there's substances that a lot of people still engage with that take the fuck it attitude to attempt; I just think that people over time have seen what these things can lead to and make the informed decision not to.
We're talking about kids here. It's highly unlikely they're being deterred by possible health effects 40 years down the line.
If I had to guess, it's probably because they're smoking weed instead.
What I mean is, it's hard to want to consume alcohol when you've seen addiction growing up. When I was growing up I realized not everyone had a dad that drank like mine did, albeit my dad was still functional as an alcoholic, it's not like it didn't effect us when he seemingly hated us and our mom covering for him.
So kids see what it can do and what it does and some of them will most likely not want to drink or it'll go the other way around and they'll drink to drown their problems like they were shown when they were growing up.
Those are just the more common examples but the current generations growing up are also more informed about what it can do and given that younger millennials and Gen Z aren't drinking as much as Gen X and given that millennials and Gen Z are parents right now and aren't drinking as much, it could possibly go down the line with more positive effects.
Like the younger generations not seeing their parents drink and have no want to drink.
Yeahhhhhh, I mean weed has something to do with it but I think that it's more likely that alcohol is just not being generationally passed down as an in-home vice that people don't see and want to try.
Like when I was growing up I wanted to try black and milds, Marlboro reds and budweiser because that's what the cool people did and beer and cigarettes weren't really hidden so it's like I wanted to try it out because it was around and you wonder why it's around and why they do it, so you try it out when your older because it was like that one thing you never could.
Younger generations are more likely to try a vape of some sort and an overly caffinated beverage.
Idk, I grew up in a semi broken home with alcohol being a catalyst so I'm bias.
All I'm saying is that if you asked any given young person why they don't drink, the chances that the reason is "Because I don't want to be an alchololic" or "Because I don't want cancer when I turn 60" is most likely nil.
Liquid Whatever.
Rhere is a multitude of reasons we're drinking more. none of them are pleasant.
Bro. Let me give the yung'uns some advice: Don't raw dog reality.
Wrong -- rsw dog it because the earlier you find out what you like and dont like, the easier life becomes. Wasted about twenty years of my life because i would just drink to put up with stuff i didn't like. Realized i could just stop drinking and stop doing the things i dont like and life is way easier now.
I initially agreed with "don't raw dog life" but this is a good viewpoint.
I don't know if it's always possible or desirable to not put up with stuff, but I can see that eliminating your coping mechanism would encourage you to leave the situations you can leave.
Still, when you can't, life is much easier with intoxicants.
Avoidance isn't a good way to handle (not handle) your problems either.
Well yeah, Gen X is now the generation of the Bosses. The boomers are retiring, and Gen X fills the gap. So they now have the money to throw around. Whereas anyone younger can't afford shit.
Really wish alcohol could be banned, but I guess we tried that before...
Personally I absolutely love a drink, a couple of times a month. I'd rather they banned guns, but guess my European is showing 😂
Alcohol is not the problem, binge drinking is the problem.
I mean, there is no "safe" amount of alcohol. Every drop you drink increases your risk of cancer and a slew of other problems.
To be clear, I drink now and then, so I'm not preaching.
the same is said about barbeque - especially smoking. I'm not quitting anytime soon.
We live in a society that fears it's own shadow so much, we excise all joy from life, then wonder why we're depressed.
surreal times.
Are you against recreational drugs? Or just alcohol?
Both
Well, recreational drugs include alcohol but I see your stance.
Yeah. You can ferment with live yeast caught on the wind, alcohol is not at all trivial to eliminate from society.
Guess the current solution of not letting people accrue wealth has done wonders for alcoholism prevention groups
I guess. I think younger generations are just generally trending more LOHAS, and alcohol is kind of the new smoking, like when I was young that started to seem uncool and old-coded. And now that I'm a middle-aged drinker and sometime-brewer I know how those old farts felt when us youngsters started telling them that smoking sucks, kills you, stinks, doesn't belong in polite society, etc.
It feels fine, actually. I accept it. I hope it stays uncool and a whole generation of people moves on to something healthier. Mushrooms and eating the rich, ideally but I'll take it all in stride. I'm not ready to quit drinking, but like with eating meat I can at least see the antis have sense on their side and I wish them well.
Good. Maybe we won't have to deal with them for as long as we put up with Boomers.
The "boomer" thing is just another wedge issue to distract you from the wealth inequality problem our oligarchs have caused.
I blame the Boomers for Reagan, Bush, and Trump.
They've been voting consistently for the tools that those Oligarchs use to create ever increasing wealth inequality.
Gen Z's on my shitlist for voting in Trump 2.0 as well.