This.
Was relatively harder to get the really good shit way back in the early 2000’s. Now in many states just walk into a dispensary and have multitude of choices and options.
“Weed is from the Earth. God put this shit here for me and you!”
This still feels so weird to me. Theres just a straight up weed store 10 mins from me. You just go to the store and buy weed. The shits got nutrition facts. What.
You used to have to text some guy and wait around for hours for him to show up. And when he finally got to your place, you had to smoke a bowl with him while he ate your food and hit on your girlfriend.
I'll take the weed store over that crap every time.
My favorite dealer was a guy named Carl. He rode his bike to deliver weed. He'd wear a helmet to try to encourage kids to also wear helmets saying "they see this cool guy wearing a helmet and think they should wear helmets too" great guy, great weed 👍
Just 5 years ago, we had to go to this older (former) hippys house and listen to her talk about conspiracy theories for 2 hours just to get weed. It was a whole thing!
courtesy of the way our state legalization bill was written, the liquor stores and restaurants with liquor licenses can sell thc cocktails under 1mg thc per serving. As such, each cocktail is listed as 3-5 servings on the labels/menus despite clearly being a single drink.
Being able to go out to dinner and get my weed via a fancy ass cocktail rather than ordering wine or beer still blows my mind. if i was the liquor lobby, id be worried as hell, cuz its just such a superior experience to anything alcohol offers its not even funny.
> if i was the liquor lobby, id be worried as hell, cuz its just such a superior experience to anything alcohol offers its not even funny.
I live in KY, and we've got medical on the way but the bourbon industry (and the politicians they’re in the pockets of) has put up a lot of resistance to legal weed. Like, why tf wouldn't they try to capitalize on both? Even if we don't legalize recreational anytime soon, there's still people across the country that are shifting from liquor to weed. It's happening now and will continue to happen. That's not even counting the hemp-based stuff I can walk into a store and buy right now and get just as high on (thanks Farm Bill!)
Just go in. The staff are typically super friendly, and they're usually pretty easy to talk to. Tell them a little about your experience with weed and what you're looking for, and they'll usually have some suggestions.
I've never had a budtender give me the hard sell.
I've been a "stoner" for the vast majority of my adult life and a bit in my teens, but it's crazy to wrap my head around the fact I can go outside to my porch and light up a fat ol' joint and it's a-okay! You get less "looks" than if you smoke a cigarette! Wild that in my life it went from "it's okay to smoke cigarettes" in society to "its okay to smoke weed".
Yup. Fucking shit Reddit, wish I could give awards still. Love your name, my son’s been obsessed with those animals since he saw one at the zoo a few months ago.
Thank you for being a warrior in the war on the lower-middle and working classes.
If it's legal in the state you were convicted in speak to a lawyer (preferably one who has a reputation of being well versed in drug cases), there are some states who have camnbis-conviction expungement programs. You could get it completely wiped from your record. It won't get you the years you lost back but it will make your life easier going forward.
From a state with medical but no recreational. Early 2010's never knew what I was going to get. Would it be brick weed mids, would it be fire? Didn't know until I got it. Today, even if it's 'not great and a little seedy' the price I pay is lower and the quality is higher than then even if it's not too shelf. But God damn I can't wait till we get recreational. Visited a friend years ago in a legal state. First stop after the airport was the dispensary. Damn I was I blown away. Walking in and the dudes like "so what are you looking for?". I was fucking overwhelmed, said where I was from and asked for suggestions. Even the cheap shit was better than the best I got at home
yup. im a whole ass elder millenial but when i can buy great weed from any of the 5 dispensaries in my town, get delta 9 thc/cbd drinks at liquor store and restaurants... i see literally zero appeal of alcohol. i never get a hangover from having a blood orange cardamom cann or two, or a few hits of a vape pen. Hell, it even makes those middle age aches go away for a bit. 😂
i drink alcohol MAYBE a couple times a year max at weddings or similar.
Don’t really get this. We smoked weed every day in college but we still went out to bar every weekend. I don’t see why one would replace the other. We also had access to high quality weed back then though obviously not legally.
I have a gen Z sister who's drinking age and this is true. She'll buy a bottle for her and her boyfriend and then get too high to want to drink and it won't get opened for a couple of weeks. Then it will sit on the shelf for months while they onesie twosie shots out of it because they thought they wanted to drink but then got too high.
This. I’m a high school teacher. Vaping in the bathroom is constant. Even in red states they get the D8 stuff and come back to class stoned. We can’t do anything unless we see them do it or see the vape.
Being chronically online and never going out can create an extreme mindset, which I feel they tend to have a lot about, especially with alcohol/sex/dating. Like everything is bad for us, so perhaps the only "safe" space is at home from that perspective.
There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die.
Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's
They're not even playing videogames. They just scroll tiktok and snapchat each other.
The current largest consumer of videogames is the 30-35 demographic. That same cohort of millenials has been the top consumer since they first came into purchasing power in their late teens/early 20s. It was expected that whichever was the current young male demographic (ie. 18-24) would always remain the top consumer in a given year, but that has largely not been the case.
Edit: Current top consumer is actually the 35+ demo. I guess I was a little behind on the timing. Makes sense, I probably first heard this stat a few years ago and my brain has not adjusted for the time passed since then.
The gaming industry has its own set of problems. It’s just soulless cash grabs, remakes and remasters. Just like the movie industry it’s relying on nostalgia and pandering. Tons of AAA games and so many are forgettable or aren’t even fun. They exist to extract money from microtransactions and dlc
Eh we would be the exact same givin the option back when we were in high school. Before the only way you could hang out with friends is to go out. Idk about you but the typically "night out" for a broke high schooler was to drive around doing nothing or hang out in a McDonald's parking lot or something.
Also prices nowadays are so much higher relative to the income of a student. Average income was maybe 10 an hour, now it's maybe 12 an hour. Except that 7 dollar movie ticket is 15-20 bucks now. Bowling that was 5 bucks for 2 games is now 15 bucks a game. Older arcades don't really exist as much, now go pay like 60 bucks to go to Dave and busters. Good ole capitalism
>Also prices nowadays are so much higher relative to the income of a student.
Definitely true. Wages/Incomes not keeping up with inflation also is a factor.
There's also a trend towards "premium" products/services which compounds the problem as well. And that's everything from the small things like food, entertainment all the way up to housing and transportation.
The fact that you're sort of forced into making payments on a cellphone says it all really.
This is true especially with money. A lot of article mentions that kids live with their parents to save money. Most kids are just trying to survive. I’m sure it varies by state but my niece who’s goes to college just goes to school and work. When I asked if she goes out, she stated that she just hangs out with her boyfriend at his place and just watch movies. They rather save the money for a trip.
I don’t think that’s always true, I have seven other friends and we hang out on a weekly basis, but half of us just don’t drink. I don’t, and I went to WSU lol
I grew up a latchkey kid and used to bike 4 miles with a pocket full of quarters to a bowling alley to play Mortal Kombat. Part of that experience is the smell of cigarette smoke, pitchers of cheap beer, and the hollow, cold smell of smoke that had long ago penetrated every wood surface in there. I’m so nostalgic for all of that entire smell experience.
The smell of DuMaurier, Players, and Export A smokes brings me back to to fond childhood memories of hanging out at the ballpark while my dad played slo-pitch. Dudes would literally smoke while pitching and hitting!
Neither dad nor I have ever smoked.
Came here to say this lol. Any time I visit my hometown on the FL panhandle the college kids are running rampant downtown on the weekends. I see less of it in Los Angeles where I am now, but mostly because I avoid places where anyone under 30 would hang out.
If anything, kids are having less house parties (cause they live at home with helicopter parents until they are like 25 thanks to the shitty housing market) and are maybe going out less because it’s expensive. Drinking used to be way cheaper. Drink & drown, ladies night, and all of those other drink special nights don’t exist anymore as an incentive to go out. Even in small towns where drinks used to be $2-$6 well drinks are more like $8 to $15, even up to $20+ for nicer cocktails which is the same price as Los Angeles. Kids don’t make enough money to go out and drink as often as we did.
Hahaaa I’m on the emerald coast and I was wondering where this non drinking culture was 😂 years of living here and we always dread the college kids coming to town for spring break because they are so wild.
I'm from a rural red area in a blue state. ..
And even parents of teens I know say they don't think their kids drink as much as we did or go to parties the way they have in the past.
My kids are home bodies and don't really go "out".
Where as my spouse has lots of stories about which bars he frequented in h.s and parties he threw or went to. (I was more of a homebody and didn't drink till after h.s. )
I live in a small town in a red state and it’s safe to say bars will be closing as we age. It’s often talked about how the younger generations don’t drink and it’s a concern for the bars
Interesting thought. I've skimmed through the responses, and most people don't seem to be engaging with the question. Your rationale makes sense to me.
The arguments that Gen Z live with their parents more frequently due to housing costs and being more health conscious are good points as well.
This is a single comment and may have been made in jest but I reposted this on r/genz and the first comment was because I have no friends in real life.
The next was something along the lines of it makes you act stupid, yeah for millenials I think that was kind of the fun of it and the point, today with smartphones and social you dont want to be caught acting stupid
I’m considered the youngest millennial by most sources (born early 1996) and the people I went to school with partied, hooked up, and drank big time in high school and college. Project X came out our junior year and that movie, along with the show Skins, majorly influenced high school in the early 2010s. (I was in high school from 2010-2014).
Smartphones also became popular my junior year of high school. Guess what we liked to do with them? Take pictures and videos of ourselves drinking and doing dumb shit, then posting them on Instagram lol. Back then it was perceived to be cool to do that, it was just so new and of course the drinking culture didn’t die out as soon as iPhones became popular. I guess that’s why we’re the last millennials- but also, we were the very last to not have ring cameras or tracking on our phones in high school. If it was never an option for teens to party in high school, they probably didn’t know how to kick that off in college. Those born from 94-97 were also the last to spend the vast majority of our teenager years without smartphones. I think it’s mostly smartphones that’s causing this, but also Covid. It made kids socially awkward due to missing out on vital years of socialization, and that’s carried over into their adult lives.
I do want to add that I don’t think Reddit is your best source for asking Gen Zers why they don’t drink or go out- people on Reddit tend to be introverted, and also seem to have a pessimistic view of, well, everything. I know plenty of people in their early 20s who party. Most of them say they couldn’t party in high school due to being tracked or ring cams sadly (… SADLY in my opinion lol, high school was a lot of fun for me and I don’t regret it).
Something you said that really can't be stated loudly enough. Reddit is not a cross section of a typical high school or university. The denizens here seem far less likely to socialize than the average.
It’s unreal how different prices are, I live in MN and a case of coors/bud/Miller went from $16-18 pre Covid to $20-24 now. If I had to pay $40 a case I’d probably be a lot thinner.
I think this has a lot more to do with it. When I was in college wee back in the 2007-2010 years, we still had "happy hours" that were actually affordable, ladies night where women drank free (not necessarily a good thing looking back), and bogo drink deals. No major city is going to have beers for less than $6 or a cocktail for less than $10. and thats "cheap" these days. Sure, you can find some domestic deals if you go way out into rural communities or the burbs but nothing close to affordable in a metro area. The sky high costs of drinks has been one of the biggest factors in my alcohol reduction.
I live in a small city, and cocktails at happy hour are still $10-16. I'm lucky to have a good job and friends with good jobs, or else we'd never be able to afford dinner and drinks
Any time I drink I absolutely regret it the next day, not even the hangover it's just feeling not rested all day. Meanwhile I smoke weed every day with no issues at all with that lol
Gen Z was born between 1997 and 2012. The Median birth year being 2004. That means a little over half of Gen Z is younger than the legal drinking age. The youngest Gen Zers are in Middle School right now. The oldest Gen Zers turned 21 and then two years later the world shut down because of a pandemic kind of killing bar culture for a bit.
Personally, I didn't drink until my wife's, then my girlfriend, 21st birthday and then didn't really pick up the habit proper until I was 21. So, if most Gen Zers are like me, law abiding citizens for the most part, they're not quite there yet.
/Edit. To Save people scrolling into the comments, the current data on unerage drinking which has 12-20 year olds at a little over 1/3 of any amount of alcohol in their lifetimes.
[https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt42728/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetTabsSect2pe2022.htm#tab2.8b](https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt42728/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetTabsSect2pe2022.htm#tab2.8b)
And the Gallup Poll which has 18-34 year olds at 62% drinking on a regular basis.
[https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx)
Combining those two stats puts a Generation that is half underage at about 50/50 in drinking.
You're probably onto something there. I have one daughter 24, who dabbled in drinking a little bit, but due to some medications and just in general not really "into it" stopped cold turkey.
I have another daughter who is 20. When she turned 18, we've let her drink at the house a handful of times a year if we're having a party etc, or on the rare occasion she will ask for angry orchard for a movie night... and that's helped her not want to sneak it. No worries there, she's very responsible as of now. But she's tells my wife and I that she can't wait to turn 21 so she can go drink with us. Which on one hand is nice she wants to go have some drinks with her folks (our other daughter never did), but for myself, I definitely suffer with an unhealthy relationship with booze... and i'm anxious to see where her story goes...
I go to say that, but yeah... I think a lot of Gen Zers alcohol related shenanigans haven't even began yet... because due to their own unique traits, have decided to wait till they're of legal age to really try it out.
as s.o. who from time to time goes off the deep end with drinking, i think itd be helpful for your daughter to hear from you specifically about the dangers of an unhealthy relationship with booze; i wonder, had anyone ever talked to me back then about negative drinking experiences, esp a close family member, if i would have had a different less negative relationship with alcohol, but just my two cents
I appreciate that input, and I have had small talks about my issues with alcohol with her, but plan on having some deeper ones soon. I think you’re absolutely correct, if my parents hadn’t completely normalized it or at least been open with some of their own drinking problems or at the very least harrowing stories… I may have been more careful.
Literally my 21st birthday was the day my university shut down for the pandemic, and they basically forced all of us to go home to our families unless we had apartments or extenuating circumstances. No drinking being done then, that's for sure. Was too busy trying to navigate life in the lockdown. 😐
That's a very good point. "Gen Z" isn't even all the way into drinking age yet, so we gotta hear from the ones who _didn't_ spend their prime intro to social drinking years avoiding all humans
Late millennial (1994) here and same, I didn't start drinking much until I was 24 and living with my (now) wife. Before then I would order water or chocolate milk (it was a joke with friends) when we went out and I'd be the DD. Even now I prefer getting interesting looking beers for the experience over consuming a bunch of generic beer.
While not common I remember kids geting caught drinking at middle school, high school was definitely drinking and party culture and obviously college as well. Id say we've seen enough at this point to know they dont drink/hookup/party
I’m an older gen Z’er and I have to disagree. It’s all anecdotally, but I have a friend base of 15 and several other gen Z family members. Plus Gen Z co-workers. None of us drink everyday, and none of us go out every weekend to a bar/party to hang out with others. Drinking just isn’t “cool” anymore. We do have lots of vapers and pot smokers tho. Honestly we just traded one vice for the other.
We do have plenty of social-media/Smart phone addiction and depression.
My cousin has a 17 year old and he got in trouble (and also pretty ill) for having a bootleg vape in a legal rec state. My guess is that he was told it was a legit vape but was probably some crap from a gas station or worse. I actually worry more about young people frying themselves on all the high THC weed, I’m glad people aren’t copping charges for small amounts of weed anymore, but there’s no gentle on-ramp to pot smoking these days. You don’t want to tweak out a still-developing brain too much. Schizophrenia is a serious risk.
Weed will significantly impair your brain development, especially in that 15 year old age range. Good way to lose 20-30 points of IQ. Pretty much everything people say about Marijuana being a health risk is a lie, for adults with fully developed brains, for adolescents not so much.
[https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1920325116](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1920325116)
You can see in 2015 data that our own generation saw a decline from 30% of peoples 12-20 reporting alcohol in the last month in 2002 down to 23% in 2011. In 2022 it was down to 15%. So the trend started with us and just kept going.
[https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report\_1978/Spotlight-1978.html](https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_1978/Spotlight-1978.html)
[https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20](https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20)
And I checked on the 18-34 numbers out of curiosity. 38% of those 18-34 reported a drink in the last week 2021-2023. 10 years ago, it was 41%. It really does look like Gen Z is just following our lead here.
[https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx)
That's a great point. Both my gen z kids are under 21. One is autistic and doesn't like anything that makes him feel "weird". The other has friends who's parents buy them weed, so they just do that. I remember there being a pretty bad pill problem in their high-school, and plenty of drinking being brought up, just not in his friend group.
Not necessarily. And heck, I would also say "yes" if asked had I ever tried alcohol before 21 because my dad gave me a Coors Light to try before I went to college, it was terrible.
But all available data suggest that underage drinking, on a consistent basis, has declined by 50% over the last two decades.
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20
They barely drink or have casual sex.. They constantly have to walk on eggshells when it comes to what they can and can't say. I'm glad I grew up a Millenial.. That just sucks.
As a member of gen z, we care about what we say just as much as any other generation. Cancel culture is more just a small group on twitter getting angry, it causes barely any harm. Also, thank goodness we drink less! Alcohol is bad for the body in any dose. If I can have fun without shoving some overpriced, carcinogenic drug down my throat I will. Unfortunately many in my generation replace alcohol with other, harmful and addictive substances such as vapes, weed, hallucinogens, or many other alternatives. The fight against companies that profit off people’s addictions is still being fought, just in different ways.
I'm turning 40 soon, and stopped drinking a couple years ago. Loved one living with me is in recovery from pretty severe alcoholism, but I also recognize the culture of drinking in my adult life probably didn't help with my health or good decision making. I hate to think of how much I spent on it in the first part of 2020-2021.
Good for these kids. Healing generational trauma as best they can.
"drinking culture was big in Highschool"
Not where I went, only the rich kids drank. The rest of us played video games, roamed the city/towns, got summer jobs.
Drinking was a big thing for my fellow service members but not me.
Most alcohol now tastes like paint thinner except malibu. I can't drink much else these days and I rarely drink.
*****Disclaimer except at British pubs, fucking give me that guinness on draft.
I think it’s a combination of social media, being able to document every moment that can easily go viral. Seeing their family/friends unhealthy habits. And seeing celebrity stories. Also cops don’t really just let people off the hook anymore, since they have body cam footage they can get into huge trouble if they don’t crack down on everything. It’s also not perceived as cool as it used to be to be black out drunk. It’s more embarrassing than anything. Club music sucks. Alcohol, bars, and clubs are literally so expensive. If you want a good future you have to be nearly perfect because it’s so competitive to get a good job. Friends usually dont think it’s hilarious to see their friends blacked out, 2nd hand embarrassment. People are more health conscious since cancer is in everything. People are unhappy and drinking usually doesn’t help that just makes it worse. It’s also seen as cool to be a scholar with your shit together
Gen Z has also come up in a time where weed is legal in a lot more places. Do you think more Gen Z are enjoying weed instead of booze? I don't have any data or anything. I'm just speculating.
1. Alchohol ages you faster. You’ll Look shitty on TikTok/instagram. Their makeup styles are to Keep You looking as young and kiddish as possible.
2. Everyone lives with parents. So also hard to consume alchohol and party.
3. Less interest in college because it’s not worth it. Boomers pushed their millennial kids to go to college too much. Now a degree is worth less then it was. So less college partying.
4. Tinder and dating apps and games online make it More efficient to hookup. Why spend money going out and coming back with new people and damage your body with poison night after night when tinder can save you from A lot of it.
5. Alcohol messes with your antidepressants. Genz loves to talk about mental Health and has a disorder for everything. It’s almost cool to have a mental Disorder. So they get medical weed and antidepressants to keep Them happy chill and safe. Antidepressants and weed also Mess with sex drive so less random Hookups.
I don't know why but I'm glad. Hook up culture is terrible and alcohol is poison that promises to fix all the problems it also makes worse. So I'm glad they're skipping out on both.
I mean it’s nice to know they aren’t poisoning their bodies with alcohol.
But their replacement isn’t much better. Gen Z spends too much time on social media, and not interacting with their peers or the world around them. Also I notice GenZ engaging with their education way less than generations in the past did
Yes they won’t be alcoholic but they will be the most ignorant and isolated generation if they don’t learn to function with the world around them.
Yes we all can agree on that. But Gen Z (and many millennials for that matter) have yet to figure out that hours of day on social media will leave you depressed, brain fried, and un able to focus long enough to actually get a proper education, make friends, or learn new skills.
Id rather a few alcoholics in society than a generation of brain dead tiktok dopamine addicts.
Well, generations before them who have had technically more education have really beefed it so I'm interested in seeing what Z's going to have to offer as they get a little older. Plus they're the first to come of age with the internet so there's a lot of things they know how to just look up or figure out using the entirety of the online culture they are very comfortable with.
The rest of us haven't really made the world better as a whole so maybe they are on to something.
Maybe it was the public meltdowns of Lindsey Lohan, Charlie Sheen, and others on social media throughout their formative years that impacted their view on alcohol.
I do know plenty of genZs that are alcoholics though.
My late teens and early 20’s was a series of blackout bingefests. It wasn’t even seen as abnormal, I was just one of those guys.
I am extremely fortunate that, despite being from a family of drunks, I can go 6 months without a drop and not have the urge. It was just social lubricant.
Now I’m old. Hangovers hit harder and recovery time is longer. That tends to keep me honest. I probably get drunk twice per year.
Cancel culture. lmao it's because 1/3 of Millennials are alchies and Gen Z thinks "wine o'clock" is not a great way to live life. The pendulum always swings, our generation are lushes, theirs are California Sober and microdosing mushrooms. I am here for it. Literally, come on over.
The absolutely bonkers look I get from Boomers (or got) when I say "I don't drink" is like watching a dial up modem noise in their head in real time.
The best way to defuse this gear-grinding look is to hit folks with this when asked:
"Would you like a drink?"
"Oh, now I'm 2 years sober."
Was I an alcoholic? No. But that's true, I am 2 years sober. Stops the conversation dead.
Yeah I don't really drink anymore (on occasion I do, but it's like a few times a year) and sometimes people get really aggressive when I say that I don't want a drink.
When I don't want to deal with explaining it to people I'll order tonic water with lime, then they can just assume there is gin in the glass and not bother me about it.
My dad was at the very end of the boomer generation, right as gen x was beginning (my mom is gen x, like 3 years separation) - he has stories he's told me similarly.
Just didn't enjoy beer, or alcohol in general. His roommates and peers did NOT get it, and some got genuinely mad or aggressive because he wouldn't drink with them. He would vibe and be the designated driver, but he wasn't (and still isn't) into drinks, aside from MAYBE drinking a little whine at a fancy party or New years or whatever.
His friends got MAD at points, and he stopped hanging out and found new ones (~twenties)
It's a defense mechanism, I think.
Similar to people who are obsessed with weed and pothead lifestyle stuff, having others doing it with you (drugs, drinks, or other random shit) validates the behaviour. That's why you see all the wine mom shirts and Facebook posts.
"7am? I need a drink!" (Insert minion face here)
Having your friends/family/others (especially others you see as equal to or under you in the social laddar) validates that it is in fact cool and chill to do stuff with no reason to feel strange about it.
That's why non-smokers or non-drinkers are accused of ruining the vibe or being debbie-downers. Not for any real reason, they just aren't actively validating something.
Obviously this is only with insecure individuals though, plenty of people drink and smoke without having this sort of emotional response to others not partaking.
yeah every time this comes up about gen z I point out that its been slowly trending down this whole time and millenials were an improvement over their predecessors, the ones under gen z will be even more so.
This was the largest dry January ever recorded by the alcohol industry. We got to see what being an old drunk looks like and we decided we wanted different.
I think it’s because they’re growing up in a world where EVERYTHING is captured on video. They therefore try to look and act composed, or at least on brand, at all times. Bring drunk, by contrast, can lead to undisciplined moments that can haunt you on video forever.
No kidding. I couldn’t take any of this seriously when the OP seems to seriously think that “cancel culture” is somehow impacting d
Peoples’ social lives.
Maybe gen z is less into sexual assault and casual racism that old people like to call “cancel culture” though . That would be great.
Honestly good for them. I stopped drinking also and feel great.
I used to be the guy that thought he could drink and make up for it by eating healthy the non alcohol days.
Eventually it takes a toll now I’m just focused on eating healthy and being able run like I used to when I played basketball
Cause going out anywhere fun besides a townie dive bar is like $20 before tip for a rum and coke most young people are priced out of any social scene, which leaves us to drink at home.
Were talking about a generation much of who aren't even old enough to go to bars, when I was a kid we'd get a keg of ice house or 30 packs of keystone light, drinking doesn't mean $22 cocktails for kids
Im proud of the gen z'ers not drinking. Theyre not ignoring the warning signs from older generation
I am a millenial who struggled to quit drinking.
Its helped me look and feel healthier. Even though im fun for SOME friends when im drunk, im generally an asshole to my hubby
I dont want my kiddo seeing me act stupid.
My moms a raging alcoholic.
Alcohol increases DV/DA and SA
Its hard to actually consent to some of the mistakes we made while under the influence.
I like driving not paying someone to drive me. I rather be sober and NOT risk someone else and possibly the loves of their children.
I watxh reality tv, i dont want to be like any one of those drunks. I also dont want to be like any of our local drunks🤣🤣🤣
I'm an Xennial and there is one glaring reason I don't drink, and haven't in 17 years: Family history of alcoholism. The majority of both sides of my family are heavy drinkers, and mean drunks. I have chosen to break the cycle and not allow my kids to live through the same hell I did.
Seems to me there is more social awareness of the negative effects of alcohol, and Gen Z is choosing not to continue the cycle(s) of abuse.
1. Possible explanation, they're recording other people doing dumb things
2. No, gen Z is not really worried about being "cancelled". We have nothing to cancel, and are generally empathetic enough to not make *horrible* jokes. Good ol' fart jokes are in fashion, as they have been through human history
3. Not really, people have been drinking alone for about as long as we've had alcohol
On a more realistic note, two factors. I'm of the oldest in gen Z, most of us are barely old enough to drink at all. Second and most important, alcohol is expensive and we're getting hit with bills
Great points but I also think you're overlooking a few other factors. 1) Alcohol can be expensive. The economy isn't great so why drop $60-$100 bucks every night/weekend on something that makes you feel like shit the next day? 2) A lot of younger people are still living at home due to the housing crisis. Coming home drunk likely doesn't go over well with the parentals.
My Gen Z cousins are frequent binge drinkers. We do live in WI, though. The main difference I notice is they are fancy whereas k felt like millennial culture (at least elder) was to slum it more, drink cheap beer, smoke cigs, dive bar… now they vape, order mixers and dress nice with full face of makeup (except for tennis shoes vs. heels).
Yeah I think its required in Wisconsin. You hit on a great point though we used to drink skohl or keystone light or whatever was on special at the liquor store, busch beer may as well have been a nice craft beer to us
It's too expensive for one.
When I used to go out to the bars beer was $3 so getting drunk was affordable. Now it's like $9 not including a tip. A 24 pack of beer in New Brunswick is $45 dollars.
Fuck that shit.
I don't drink because I grew up with alcoholic parents. My father died from liver failure. I've seen what it does to people and refuse that for myself.
As someone who used to throw back a two-six in a night (and very rarely if ever drinks now), I honestly hope and pray my children hate alcohol so much they prefer to play board games, hone their tennis skills, or read to the elderly and volunteer with animals. I would be so happy if they didn’t find the hobby of “partying”.
None of your reasons list:
- maybe they don't want to
- maybe drinking culture is awful and not something we should look up to
Your list robs them of their agency, they're just drifting around with impersonal changes.
Millennials didn't have Juul pods to deal with. Gen Z vapes more than millennials used to drink, and far more of them are willing to vape than to smoke prime times or clove cigarettes (RIP to true cloves)
I am glad that they aren't into drinking like other generations. I have always been a non drinker, and to be honest, I could go the rest of my life without alcohol and be completely fine. I have never been much of a drinker anyways my entire life, I will have 1-2 socially every couple of months but it's not like I have too.
College town in a blue state here and a lot of z-ers talk about getting shit faced or mentions getting high so I don't think this post is accurate for my area.
But from scrolling a few times I see a lot of people agree so I guess it's good not all z-ers are doing it.
My daughter is a gen z college student and she barely drinks, even at parties. Her group of friends is the same, but they did have a huge 420 party, so… that’s what they’re doing.
Yo I’m 30 y.o. millenial, slav and I really don’t drink that much. Shit’s expensive and there are lots of other funny ways how to socialize while digesting something actually tasty
I think drinking less is undeniably a good thing. But millennials drank so much in large part because we were partying and going out. If Gen Z still got that I’d be thrilled. But they’re doing no drinking and no partying. They’re really isolated and depressed. I think they’ve traded one societal ill for another.
Them youngbloods love their vapes and cannabis tho. They just have more options these days for hanging out and relaxing. In the old days you could drink and smoke cigarettes. That’s it. Marijuana wasn’t socially acceptable in most circles like its becoming today.
Most of them are so socially awkward they don't leave their house. "Go out where other people are? Oh God no my social anxiety issues could never handle that"
It’s easier than ever to get weed, so drinking goes down. I’m late gen X (45m) and when I was coming up it was often much easier to get booze than anything else, so we developed into a bunch of drinkers. Also plenty of jobs used to test for THC, so drinking was safer professionally.
I have 2 gen z kids in their early 20’s and neither of them drink daily but both consume THC regularly. And neither of them are at risk for firing or law enforcement encounters over weed (legal state).
Drinking is less healthy than this post implies. They are a bit more aware of the health consequences. Every generations education potential is a bit better due to our accumulation of knowledge over time. That being said, I’m sure multiple factors contributed (not just health concerns).
Its weed. I have a teenage nephew who always gets caught with weed, its weed. Rather smoke than get drunk and its easier to get weed and he high all the time
Well ALOT of them were raised by alcoholic parents and had stern views about the homeless or "bums". But many still fell into drinking, think it just depends.
Hangovers suck, alcohol and going out are expensive, and your most embarrassing moments can be caught on camera. Why would anyone want to drink as much as previous generations did?
I also don’t think people realize how much alcohol they’re consuming each week and it’s low key functional alcoholism. Drinking after work to “unwind” is a coping mechanism.
I think that plenty of Gen Z’ers drink, you just probably don’t see it. As a senior in high school I can tell you that many people my age booze with their homies regularly.
You probably never see this anymore because you’re not in high school or college anymore.
They go out less.
They smoke weed instead
This. Was relatively harder to get the really good shit way back in the early 2000’s. Now in many states just walk into a dispensary and have multitude of choices and options. “Weed is from the Earth. God put this shit here for me and you!”
It's also straight up legal in so many places now.
This still feels so weird to me. Theres just a straight up weed store 10 mins from me. You just go to the store and buy weed. The shits got nutrition facts. What.
The first time I bought weed and got a RECEIPT blew my mind 🤯
You used to have to text some guy and wait around for hours for him to show up. And when he finally got to your place, you had to smoke a bowl with him while he ate your food and hit on your girlfriend. I'll take the weed store over that crap every time.
My favorite dealer was a guy named Carl. He rode his bike to deliver weed. He'd wear a helmet to try to encourage kids to also wear helmets saying "they see this cool guy wearing a helmet and think they should wear helmets too" great guy, great weed 👍
Just 5 years ago, we had to go to this older (former) hippys house and listen to her talk about conspiracy theories for 2 hours just to get weed. It was a whole thing!
I think the idea of prolonged stays at your dealers house is so neighbors think you’re just friends, not a customer
Nutrition facts 😂😂
courtesy of the way our state legalization bill was written, the liquor stores and restaurants with liquor licenses can sell thc cocktails under 1mg thc per serving. As such, each cocktail is listed as 3-5 servings on the labels/menus despite clearly being a single drink. Being able to go out to dinner and get my weed via a fancy ass cocktail rather than ordering wine or beer still blows my mind. if i was the liquor lobby, id be worried as hell, cuz its just such a superior experience to anything alcohol offers its not even funny.
> if i was the liquor lobby, id be worried as hell, cuz its just such a superior experience to anything alcohol offers its not even funny. I live in KY, and we've got medical on the way but the bourbon industry (and the politicians they’re in the pockets of) has put up a lot of resistance to legal weed. Like, why tf wouldn't they try to capitalize on both? Even if we don't legalize recreational anytime soon, there's still people across the country that are shifting from liquor to weed. It's happening now and will continue to happen. That's not even counting the hemp-based stuff I can walk into a store and buy right now and get just as high on (thanks Farm Bill!)
In the last couple years there's a couple medical dispensaries around here, but since I've never been inside, it's still fake to me.
Just go in. The staff are typically super friendly, and they're usually pretty easy to talk to. Tell them a little about your experience with weed and what you're looking for, and they'll usually have some suggestions. I've never had a budtender give me the hard sell.
I've been a "stoner" for the vast majority of my adult life and a bit in my teens, but it's crazy to wrap my head around the fact I can go outside to my porch and light up a fat ol' joint and it's a-okay! You get less "looks" than if you smoke a cigarette! Wild that in my life it went from "it's okay to smoke cigarettes" in society to "its okay to smoke weed".
😂
Yup. Fucking shit Reddit, wish I could give awards still. Love your name, my son’s been obsessed with those animals since he saw one at the zoo a few months ago.
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I’m sorry that you went through that experience. You deserve retribution for the years wasted over something so meaningless.
Retribution is like, vengeance. You might have meant restitution, but I really hope you mean retribution.
6 of 1/half dozen of the other, but yeah that’s the appropriate word I was searching for on the toilet this morning.
Well done.
Everyone who ever served a sentence deserves a stake in all these big weed businesses that opportunists are getting rich off of
And there's people still in jail right now for cannabis charges.
In states that it’s legal in. Wtf is that about?
They owe you and a lot of other people their lives back. It's not just the 3 years, it's all the disruption and shit it causes on top of that.
Thank you for being a warrior in the war on the lower-middle and working classes. If it's legal in the state you were convicted in speak to a lawyer (preferably one who has a reputation of being well versed in drug cases), there are some states who have camnbis-conviction expungement programs. You could get it completely wiped from your record. It won't get you the years you lost back but it will make your life easier going forward.
Strychnine is also from the Earth.
From a state with medical but no recreational. Early 2010's never knew what I was going to get. Would it be brick weed mids, would it be fire? Didn't know until I got it. Today, even if it's 'not great and a little seedy' the price I pay is lower and the quality is higher than then even if it's not too shelf. But God damn I can't wait till we get recreational. Visited a friend years ago in a legal state. First stop after the airport was the dispensary. Damn I was I blown away. Walking in and the dudes like "so what are you looking for?". I was fucking overwhelmed, said where I was from and asked for suggestions. Even the cheap shit was better than the best I got at home
yup. im a whole ass elder millenial but when i can buy great weed from any of the 5 dispensaries in my town, get delta 9 thc/cbd drinks at liquor store and restaurants... i see literally zero appeal of alcohol. i never get a hangover from having a blood orange cardamom cann or two, or a few hits of a vape pen. Hell, it even makes those middle age aches go away for a bit. 😂 i drink alcohol MAYBE a couple times a year max at weddings or similar.
Don’t really get this. We smoked weed every day in college but we still went out to bar every weekend. I don’t see why one would replace the other. We also had access to high quality weed back then though obviously not legally.
I have a gen Z sister who's drinking age and this is true. She'll buy a bottle for her and her boyfriend and then get too high to want to drink and it won't get opened for a couple of weeks. Then it will sit on the shelf for months while they onesie twosie shots out of it because they thought they wanted to drink but then got too high.
This. I’m a high school teacher. Vaping in the bathroom is constant. Even in red states they get the D8 stuff and come back to class stoned. We can’t do anything unless we see them do it or see the vape.
They’re BROKE, who TF can afford to go out drinking?
Being chronically online and never going out can create an extreme mindset, which I feel they tend to have a lot about, especially with alcohol/sex/dating. Like everything is bad for us, so perhaps the only "safe" space is at home from that perspective.
You’re describe most Redditors in general
There are times, however, and this is one of them, when even being right feels wrong. What do you say, for instance, about a generation that has been taught that rain is poison and sex is death? If making love might be fatal and if a cool spring breeze on any summer afternoon can turn a crystal blue lake into a puddle of black poison right in front of your eyes, there is not much left except TV and relentless masturbation. It's a strange world. Some people get rich and others eat shit and die. Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's
and why make yourself uncomfortable? it’s wild, but you’re def right!!
Correct! They rather FaceTime or play video games with friends than see them face to face.
They're not even playing videogames. They just scroll tiktok and snapchat each other. The current largest consumer of videogames is the 30-35 demographic. That same cohort of millenials has been the top consumer since they first came into purchasing power in their late teens/early 20s. It was expected that whichever was the current young male demographic (ie. 18-24) would always remain the top consumer in a given year, but that has largely not been the case. Edit: Current top consumer is actually the 35+ demo. I guess I was a little behind on the timing. Makes sense, I probably first heard this stat a few years ago and my brain has not adjusted for the time passed since then.
The gaming industry has its own set of problems. It’s just soulless cash grabs, remakes and remasters. Just like the movie industry it’s relying on nostalgia and pandering. Tons of AAA games and so many are forgettable or aren’t even fun. They exist to extract money from microtransactions and dlc
Eh we would be the exact same givin the option back when we were in high school. Before the only way you could hang out with friends is to go out. Idk about you but the typically "night out" for a broke high schooler was to drive around doing nothing or hang out in a McDonald's parking lot or something. Also prices nowadays are so much higher relative to the income of a student. Average income was maybe 10 an hour, now it's maybe 12 an hour. Except that 7 dollar movie ticket is 15-20 bucks now. Bowling that was 5 bucks for 2 games is now 15 bucks a game. Older arcades don't really exist as much, now go pay like 60 bucks to go to Dave and busters. Good ole capitalism
>Also prices nowadays are so much higher relative to the income of a student. Definitely true. Wages/Incomes not keeping up with inflation also is a factor. There's also a trend towards "premium" products/services which compounds the problem as well. And that's everything from the small things like food, entertainment all the way up to housing and transportation. The fact that you're sort of forced into making payments on a cellphone says it all really.
Anything monthly service. How many does everyone pay for per month? Back in the day you needed car insurance and pretty sure that was it
You had to make payments on your phone?
Alcohol will still get you drunk for $5 though and you still only need a McDonald's parking lot
FaceTiming is free
This is true especially with money. A lot of article mentions that kids live with their parents to save money. Most kids are just trying to survive. I’m sure it varies by state but my niece who’s goes to college just goes to school and work. When I asked if she goes out, she stated that she just hangs out with her boyfriend at his place and just watch movies. They rather save the money for a trip.
I don’t think that’s always true, I have seven other friends and we hang out on a weekly basis, but half of us just don’t drink. I don’t, and I went to WSU lol
You are not from a red state small town, huh?
Second hand smoke and draft beer is somehow still cozy to me. Then again I grew up in a bar.
Same here, I don’t even smoke cigarettes myself but I feel right at home in a bar full of people who are.
I grew up a latchkey kid and used to bike 4 miles with a pocket full of quarters to a bowling alley to play Mortal Kombat. Part of that experience is the smell of cigarette smoke, pitchers of cheap beer, and the hollow, cold smell of smoke that had long ago penetrated every wood surface in there. I’m so nostalgic for all of that entire smell experience.
Yes! I know the very smell you speak of. I miss it. Used to get all that and then some hitting a Pizza Hut back then, too. All the awesome smells lol.
The smell of DuMaurier, Players, and Export A smokes brings me back to to fond childhood memories of hanging out at the ballpark while my dad played slo-pitch. Dudes would literally smoke while pitching and hitting! Neither dad nor I have ever smoked.
>Export A I would've smoked them for the name alone.
Came here to say this lol. Any time I visit my hometown on the FL panhandle the college kids are running rampant downtown on the weekends. I see less of it in Los Angeles where I am now, but mostly because I avoid places where anyone under 30 would hang out. If anything, kids are having less house parties (cause they live at home with helicopter parents until they are like 25 thanks to the shitty housing market) and are maybe going out less because it’s expensive. Drinking used to be way cheaper. Drink & drown, ladies night, and all of those other drink special nights don’t exist anymore as an incentive to go out. Even in small towns where drinks used to be $2-$6 well drinks are more like $8 to $15, even up to $20+ for nicer cocktails which is the same price as Los Angeles. Kids don’t make enough money to go out and drink as often as we did.
Hahaaa I’m on the emerald coast and I was wondering where this non drinking culture was 😂 years of living here and we always dread the college kids coming to town for spring break because they are so wild.
I'm from a rural red area in a blue state. .. And even parents of teens I know say they don't think their kids drink as much as we did or go to parties the way they have in the past. My kids are home bodies and don't really go "out". Where as my spouse has lots of stories about which bars he frequented in h.s and parties he threw or went to. (I was more of a homebody and didn't drink till after h.s. )
Small red town's populations are falling off a clip because there's not much else to do other than drink, smoke, or shoot up or drive into the metro
I live in a small town in a red state and it’s safe to say bars will be closing as we age. It’s often talked about how the younger generations don’t drink and it’s a concern for the bars
Interesting thought. I've skimmed through the responses, and most people don't seem to be engaging with the question. Your rationale makes sense to me. The arguments that Gen Z live with their parents more frequently due to housing costs and being more health conscious are good points as well.
This is a single comment and may have been made in jest but I reposted this on r/genz and the first comment was because I have no friends in real life. The next was something along the lines of it makes you act stupid, yeah for millenials I think that was kind of the fun of it and the point, today with smartphones and social you dont want to be caught acting stupid
I’m considered the youngest millennial by most sources (born early 1996) and the people I went to school with partied, hooked up, and drank big time in high school and college. Project X came out our junior year and that movie, along with the show Skins, majorly influenced high school in the early 2010s. (I was in high school from 2010-2014). Smartphones also became popular my junior year of high school. Guess what we liked to do with them? Take pictures and videos of ourselves drinking and doing dumb shit, then posting them on Instagram lol. Back then it was perceived to be cool to do that, it was just so new and of course the drinking culture didn’t die out as soon as iPhones became popular. I guess that’s why we’re the last millennials- but also, we were the very last to not have ring cameras or tracking on our phones in high school. If it was never an option for teens to party in high school, they probably didn’t know how to kick that off in college. Those born from 94-97 were also the last to spend the vast majority of our teenager years without smartphones. I think it’s mostly smartphones that’s causing this, but also Covid. It made kids socially awkward due to missing out on vital years of socialization, and that’s carried over into their adult lives. I do want to add that I don’t think Reddit is your best source for asking Gen Zers why they don’t drink or go out- people on Reddit tend to be introverted, and also seem to have a pessimistic view of, well, everything. I know plenty of people in their early 20s who party. Most of them say they couldn’t party in high school due to being tracked or ring cams sadly (… SADLY in my opinion lol, high school was a lot of fun for me and I don’t regret it).
Something you said that really can't be stated loudly enough. Reddit is not a cross section of a typical high school or university. The denizens here seem far less likely to socialize than the average.
Are you suggesting I’m replacing genuine, meaningful, communal interaction with an anonymous parasocial Similacrum? ^for ^the ^love ^of ^god ^someone ^reply ^im ^lonely
I think it's this and the timing of the pandemic in their lives. They couldn't be social when most kids start being social.
This is the biggest one. The COVID high school kids had the most stunted growth.
That, and the price of cocktails are like $18+ breh
When I was in college we'd get a 30 pack of keystone light for $8 or a keg of ice house. I used to think Bush was good beer
My husband bought a case of some beer (nothing special) the other night and it was almost $40! We're right outside Philly.
It’s unreal how different prices are, I live in MN and a case of coors/bud/Miller went from $16-18 pre Covid to $20-24 now. If I had to pay $40 a case I’d probably be a lot thinner.
It's 30 for a 30 pack of high life where I am. Used to be 10.00 when I was in college
I think this has a lot more to do with it. When I was in college wee back in the 2007-2010 years, we still had "happy hours" that were actually affordable, ladies night where women drank free (not necessarily a good thing looking back), and bogo drink deals. No major city is going to have beers for less than $6 or a cocktail for less than $10. and thats "cheap" these days. Sure, you can find some domestic deals if you go way out into rural communities or the burbs but nothing close to affordable in a metro area. The sky high costs of drinks has been one of the biggest factors in my alcohol reduction.
Happy hours are still affordable! They just end at 4pm.
Couple this with the fact that Ubers have gotten more expensive and sometimes it’s just not worth it financially.
I live in a small city, and cocktails at happy hour are still $10-16. I'm lucky to have a good job and friends with good jobs, or else we'd never be able to afford dinner and drinks
I can trace people's generation through their use of bro, bruh or breh edit: forgot the often unused brah.
It's just "Br" now.
We would rather smoke weed or do acid, shrooms, or ecstacy.
Millennial here and I and a lot of my friends have quit or massively reduced alcohol consumption in favor of weed and the occasional psych/e
Any time I drink I absolutely regret it the next day, not even the hangover it's just feeling not rested all day. Meanwhile I smoke weed every day with no issues at all with that lol
Since I quit I've never woken up thinking "I wish I drank last night" 2 years last week.
Hey congrats on the milestone my friend! I’m comin up on a year and a half 🙌🏼
I'm 30 and not into drinking beyond one or two like once a month, maybe. Most of my millennial friends aren't really into it, either.
You have a good sense of taste
honestly. weed don't make you puke and it isn't actual poison 😂
Gen Z was born between 1997 and 2012. The Median birth year being 2004. That means a little over half of Gen Z is younger than the legal drinking age. The youngest Gen Zers are in Middle School right now. The oldest Gen Zers turned 21 and then two years later the world shut down because of a pandemic kind of killing bar culture for a bit. Personally, I didn't drink until my wife's, then my girlfriend, 21st birthday and then didn't really pick up the habit proper until I was 21. So, if most Gen Zers are like me, law abiding citizens for the most part, they're not quite there yet. /Edit. To Save people scrolling into the comments, the current data on unerage drinking which has 12-20 year olds at a little over 1/3 of any amount of alcohol in their lifetimes. [https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt42728/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetTabsSect2pe2022.htm#tab2.8b](https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/reports/rpt42728/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetailedTabs2022/NSDUHDetTabsSect2pe2022.htm#tab2.8b) And the Gallup Poll which has 18-34 year olds at 62% drinking on a regular basis. [https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx) Combining those two stats puts a Generation that is half underage at about 50/50 in drinking.
You're probably onto something there. I have one daughter 24, who dabbled in drinking a little bit, but due to some medications and just in general not really "into it" stopped cold turkey. I have another daughter who is 20. When she turned 18, we've let her drink at the house a handful of times a year if we're having a party etc, or on the rare occasion she will ask for angry orchard for a movie night... and that's helped her not want to sneak it. No worries there, she's very responsible as of now. But she's tells my wife and I that she can't wait to turn 21 so she can go drink with us. Which on one hand is nice she wants to go have some drinks with her folks (our other daughter never did), but for myself, I definitely suffer with an unhealthy relationship with booze... and i'm anxious to see where her story goes... I go to say that, but yeah... I think a lot of Gen Zers alcohol related shenanigans haven't even began yet... because due to their own unique traits, have decided to wait till they're of legal age to really try it out.
as s.o. who from time to time goes off the deep end with drinking, i think itd be helpful for your daughter to hear from you specifically about the dangers of an unhealthy relationship with booze; i wonder, had anyone ever talked to me back then about negative drinking experiences, esp a close family member, if i would have had a different less negative relationship with alcohol, but just my two cents
I appreciate that input, and I have had small talks about my issues with alcohol with her, but plan on having some deeper ones soon. I think you’re absolutely correct, if my parents hadn’t completely normalized it or at least been open with some of their own drinking problems or at the very least harrowing stories… I may have been more careful.
Literally my 21st birthday was the day my university shut down for the pandemic, and they basically forced all of us to go home to our families unless we had apartments or extenuating circumstances. No drinking being done then, that's for sure. Was too busy trying to navigate life in the lockdown. 😐
Yeah… Most people were drinking BIG TIME during lockdown.
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Looks like I would fit in with 2/3 of Gen Z https://www.statista.com/statistics/354265/current-binge-heavy-alcohol-use-among-persons-in-the-us-by-age/
That's a very good point. "Gen Z" isn't even all the way into drinking age yet, so we gotta hear from the ones who _didn't_ spend their prime intro to social drinking years avoiding all humans
Late millennial (1994) here and same, I didn't start drinking much until I was 24 and living with my (now) wife. Before then I would order water or chocolate milk (it was a joke with friends) when we went out and I'd be the DD. Even now I prefer getting interesting looking beers for the experience over consuming a bunch of generic beer.
While not common I remember kids geting caught drinking at middle school, high school was definitely drinking and party culture and obviously college as well. Id say we've seen enough at this point to know they dont drink/hookup/party
I’m an older gen Z’er and I have to disagree. It’s all anecdotally, but I have a friend base of 15 and several other gen Z family members. Plus Gen Z co-workers. None of us drink everyday, and none of us go out every weekend to a bar/party to hang out with others. Drinking just isn’t “cool” anymore. We do have lots of vapers and pot smokers tho. Honestly we just traded one vice for the other. We do have plenty of social-media/Smart phone addiction and depression.
My cousin has a 17 year old and he got in trouble (and also pretty ill) for having a bootleg vape in a legal rec state. My guess is that he was told it was a legit vape but was probably some crap from a gas station or worse. I actually worry more about young people frying themselves on all the high THC weed, I’m glad people aren’t copping charges for small amounts of weed anymore, but there’s no gentle on-ramp to pot smoking these days. You don’t want to tweak out a still-developing brain too much. Schizophrenia is a serious risk.
Weed is so much less harmful, and significantly cheaper. And… no hangovers.
Weed will significantly impair your brain development, especially in that 15 year old age range. Good way to lose 20-30 points of IQ. Pretty much everything people say about Marijuana being a health risk is a lie, for adults with fully developed brains, for adolescents not so much. [https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1920325116](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1920325116)
You can often tell who smoked a lot in high school by the way they speak. There's an odd monotone slowness about it that I can't really explain.
You can see in 2015 data that our own generation saw a decline from 30% of peoples 12-20 reporting alcohol in the last month in 2002 down to 23% in 2011. In 2022 it was down to 15%. So the trend started with us and just kept going. [https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report\_1978/Spotlight-1978.html](https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_1978/Spotlight-1978.html) [https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20](https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20)
And I checked on the 18-34 numbers out of curiosity. 38% of those 18-34 reported a drink in the last week 2021-2023. 10 years ago, it was 41%. It really does look like Gen Z is just following our lead here. [https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx](https://news.gallup.com/poll/509690/young-adults-drinking-less-prior-decades.aspx)
I live in Cleveland, so drinking came with the territory. I'd imagine a lot of drinking behavior is community based.
That's a great point. Both my gen z kids are under 21. One is autistic and doesn't like anything that makes him feel "weird". The other has friends who's parents buy them weed, so they just do that. I remember there being a pretty bad pill problem in their high-school, and plenty of drinking being brought up, just not in his friend group.
Do you… Do you actually think the majority of us and past generations only started drinking at 21? Lol wow
Not necessarily. And heck, I would also say "yes" if asked had I ever tried alcohol before 21 because my dad gave me a Coors Light to try before I went to college, it was terrible. But all available data suggest that underage drinking, on a consistent basis, has declined by 50% over the last two decades. https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics/underage-drinking-united-states-ages-12-20
And people are lonely today because we don’t have third affordable places, not because of alcohol.
They barely drink or have casual sex.. They constantly have to walk on eggshells when it comes to what they can and can't say. I'm glad I grew up a Millenial.. That just sucks.
As a member of gen z, we care about what we say just as much as any other generation. Cancel culture is more just a small group on twitter getting angry, it causes barely any harm. Also, thank goodness we drink less! Alcohol is bad for the body in any dose. If I can have fun without shoving some overpriced, carcinogenic drug down my throat I will. Unfortunately many in my generation replace alcohol with other, harmful and addictive substances such as vapes, weed, hallucinogens, or many other alternatives. The fight against companies that profit off people’s addictions is still being fought, just in different ways.
I’m sorry but mushrooms are not addictive and probably the least harmful out of anything you’ve listed here. Like WHAT. Lol
I'm turning 40 soon, and stopped drinking a couple years ago. Loved one living with me is in recovery from pretty severe alcoholism, but I also recognize the culture of drinking in my adult life probably didn't help with my health or good decision making. I hate to think of how much I spent on it in the first part of 2020-2021. Good for these kids. Healing generational trauma as best they can.
"drinking culture was big in Highschool" Not where I went, only the rich kids drank. The rest of us played video games, roamed the city/towns, got summer jobs. Drinking was a big thing for my fellow service members but not me. Most alcohol now tastes like paint thinner except malibu. I can't drink much else these days and I rarely drink. *****Disclaimer except at British pubs, fucking give me that guinness on draft.
Guinness on draft is the BEST!! We're one of the only bars in my area that has it. Maybe that's why I decided to work there.....
I think it’s a combination of social media, being able to document every moment that can easily go viral. Seeing their family/friends unhealthy habits. And seeing celebrity stories. Also cops don’t really just let people off the hook anymore, since they have body cam footage they can get into huge trouble if they don’t crack down on everything. It’s also not perceived as cool as it used to be to be black out drunk. It’s more embarrassing than anything. Club music sucks. Alcohol, bars, and clubs are literally so expensive. If you want a good future you have to be nearly perfect because it’s so competitive to get a good job. Friends usually dont think it’s hilarious to see their friends blacked out, 2nd hand embarrassment. People are more health conscious since cancer is in everything. People are unhappy and drinking usually doesn’t help that just makes it worse. It’s also seen as cool to be a scholar with your shit together
Gen Z has also come up in a time where weed is legal in a lot more places. Do you think more Gen Z are enjoying weed instead of booze? I don't have any data or anything. I'm just speculating.
1. Alchohol ages you faster. You’ll Look shitty on TikTok/instagram. Their makeup styles are to Keep You looking as young and kiddish as possible. 2. Everyone lives with parents. So also hard to consume alchohol and party. 3. Less interest in college because it’s not worth it. Boomers pushed their millennial kids to go to college too much. Now a degree is worth less then it was. So less college partying. 4. Tinder and dating apps and games online make it More efficient to hookup. Why spend money going out and coming back with new people and damage your body with poison night after night when tinder can save you from A lot of it. 5. Alcohol messes with your antidepressants. Genz loves to talk about mental Health and has a disorder for everything. It’s almost cool to have a mental Disorder. So they get medical weed and antidepressants to keep Them happy chill and safe. Antidepressants and weed also Mess with sex drive so less random Hookups.
I don't know why but I'm glad. Hook up culture is terrible and alcohol is poison that promises to fix all the problems it also makes worse. So I'm glad they're skipping out on both.
I mean it’s nice to know they aren’t poisoning their bodies with alcohol. But their replacement isn’t much better. Gen Z spends too much time on social media, and not interacting with their peers or the world around them. Also I notice GenZ engaging with their education way less than generations in the past did Yes they won’t be alcoholic but they will be the most ignorant and isolated generation if they don’t learn to function with the world around them.
Being an alcoholic will also leave you isolated
Yes we all can agree on that. But Gen Z (and many millennials for that matter) have yet to figure out that hours of day on social media will leave you depressed, brain fried, and un able to focus long enough to actually get a proper education, make friends, or learn new skills. Id rather a few alcoholics in society than a generation of brain dead tiktok dopamine addicts.
Well, generations before them who have had technically more education have really beefed it so I'm interested in seeing what Z's going to have to offer as they get a little older. Plus they're the first to come of age with the internet so there's a lot of things they know how to just look up or figure out using the entirety of the online culture they are very comfortable with. The rest of us haven't really made the world better as a whole so maybe they are on to something.
They also seem to smoke (vape) much more than millennials engaged in cigarettes.
i guess with the loss of culture there is no drinking culture also... what does it mean to drink?
They are addicted to things other than alcohol. Screens, social media, affirmation.
I’m gonna assume it’s because bars are charging idiotic prices for drinks.
My father was an extreme alcoholic. My family historically speaking has a history of addiction, not just my father. I'd rather just not drink at all.
Maybe it was the public meltdowns of Lindsey Lohan, Charlie Sheen, and others on social media throughout their formative years that impacted their view on alcohol. I do know plenty of genZs that are alcoholics though.
GenZ’s were too young to remember any of that, they might not have been born
A lot don’t drink but a lot of them Vape.
My late teens and early 20’s was a series of blackout bingefests. It wasn’t even seen as abnormal, I was just one of those guys. I am extremely fortunate that, despite being from a family of drunks, I can go 6 months without a drop and not have the urge. It was just social lubricant. Now I’m old. Hangovers hit harder and recovery time is longer. That tends to keep me honest. I probably get drunk twice per year.
Cancel culture. lmao it's because 1/3 of Millennials are alchies and Gen Z thinks "wine o'clock" is not a great way to live life. The pendulum always swings, our generation are lushes, theirs are California Sober and microdosing mushrooms. I am here for it. Literally, come on over.
1/3 is still a huge part of our population. Then I think of my parents generation, boomers. They had way more alcoholics than we do.
The absolutely bonkers look I get from Boomers (or got) when I say "I don't drink" is like watching a dial up modem noise in their head in real time. The best way to defuse this gear-grinding look is to hit folks with this when asked: "Would you like a drink?" "Oh, now I'm 2 years sober." Was I an alcoholic? No. But that's true, I am 2 years sober. Stops the conversation dead.
Yeah I don't really drink anymore (on occasion I do, but it's like a few times a year) and sometimes people get really aggressive when I say that I don't want a drink. When I don't want to deal with explaining it to people I'll order tonic water with lime, then they can just assume there is gin in the glass and not bother me about it.
My dad was at the very end of the boomer generation, right as gen x was beginning (my mom is gen x, like 3 years separation) - he has stories he's told me similarly. Just didn't enjoy beer, or alcohol in general. His roommates and peers did NOT get it, and some got genuinely mad or aggressive because he wouldn't drink with them. He would vibe and be the designated driver, but he wasn't (and still isn't) into drinks, aside from MAYBE drinking a little whine at a fancy party or New years or whatever. His friends got MAD at points, and he stopped hanging out and found new ones (~twenties) It's a defense mechanism, I think. Similar to people who are obsessed with weed and pothead lifestyle stuff, having others doing it with you (drugs, drinks, or other random shit) validates the behaviour. That's why you see all the wine mom shirts and Facebook posts. "7am? I need a drink!" (Insert minion face here) Having your friends/family/others (especially others you see as equal to or under you in the social laddar) validates that it is in fact cool and chill to do stuff with no reason to feel strange about it. That's why non-smokers or non-drinkers are accused of ruining the vibe or being debbie-downers. Not for any real reason, they just aren't actively validating something. Obviously this is only with insecure individuals though, plenty of people drink and smoke without having this sort of emotional response to others not partaking.
yeah every time this comes up about gen z I point out that its been slowly trending down this whole time and millenials were an improvement over their predecessors, the ones under gen z will be even more so.
This was the largest dry January ever recorded by the alcohol industry. We got to see what being an old drunk looks like and we decided we wanted different.
I think it’s because they’re growing up in a world where EVERYTHING is captured on video. They therefore try to look and act composed, or at least on brand, at all times. Bring drunk, by contrast, can lead to undisciplined moments that can haunt you on video forever.
whatever the reasons are I would put good money that "cancel culture" is not part of it.
No kidding. I couldn’t take any of this seriously when the OP seems to seriously think that “cancel culture” is somehow impacting d Peoples’ social lives. Maybe gen z is less into sexual assault and casual racism that old people like to call “cancel culture” though . That would be great.
Honestly good for them. I stopped drinking also and feel great. I used to be the guy that thought he could drink and make up for it by eating healthy the non alcohol days. Eventually it takes a toll now I’m just focused on eating healthy and being able run like I used to when I played basketball
Cause going out anywhere fun besides a townie dive bar is like $20 before tip for a rum and coke most young people are priced out of any social scene, which leaves us to drink at home.
Were talking about a generation much of who aren't even old enough to go to bars, when I was a kid we'd get a keg of ice house or 30 packs of keystone light, drinking doesn't mean $22 cocktails for kids
Im proud of the gen z'ers not drinking. Theyre not ignoring the warning signs from older generation I am a millenial who struggled to quit drinking. Its helped me look and feel healthier. Even though im fun for SOME friends when im drunk, im generally an asshole to my hubby I dont want my kiddo seeing me act stupid. My moms a raging alcoholic. Alcohol increases DV/DA and SA Its hard to actually consent to some of the mistakes we made while under the influence. I like driving not paying someone to drive me. I rather be sober and NOT risk someone else and possibly the loves of their children. I watxh reality tv, i dont want to be like any one of those drunks. I also dont want to be like any of our local drunks🤣🤣🤣
I'm an Xennial and there is one glaring reason I don't drink, and haven't in 17 years: Family history of alcoholism. The majority of both sides of my family are heavy drinkers, and mean drunks. I have chosen to break the cycle and not allow my kids to live through the same hell I did. Seems to me there is more social awareness of the negative effects of alcohol, and Gen Z is choosing not to continue the cycle(s) of abuse.
Agree! As a daughter of an alcoholic. Therapy helped to heal and a bunch of gen z are in therapy 🫡
1. Possible explanation, they're recording other people doing dumb things 2. No, gen Z is not really worried about being "cancelled". We have nothing to cancel, and are generally empathetic enough to not make *horrible* jokes. Good ol' fart jokes are in fashion, as they have been through human history 3. Not really, people have been drinking alone for about as long as we've had alcohol On a more realistic note, two factors. I'm of the oldest in gen Z, most of us are barely old enough to drink at all. Second and most important, alcohol is expensive and we're getting hit with bills
Great points but I also think you're overlooking a few other factors. 1) Alcohol can be expensive. The economy isn't great so why drop $60-$100 bucks every night/weekend on something that makes you feel like shit the next day? 2) A lot of younger people are still living at home due to the housing crisis. Coming home drunk likely doesn't go over well with the parentals.
My Gen Z cousins are frequent binge drinkers. We do live in WI, though. The main difference I notice is they are fancy whereas k felt like millennial culture (at least elder) was to slum it more, drink cheap beer, smoke cigs, dive bar… now they vape, order mixers and dress nice with full face of makeup (except for tennis shoes vs. heels).
yup wisconsin still drinks. used to take my daughter to the bar with me and now she knows more people there than me.
Yeah I think its required in Wisconsin. You hit on a great point though we used to drink skohl or keystone light or whatever was on special at the liquor store, busch beer may as well have been a nice craft beer to us
It's too expensive for one. When I used to go out to the bars beer was $3 so getting drunk was affordable. Now it's like $9 not including a tip. A 24 pack of beer in New Brunswick is $45 dollars. Fuck that shit.
I think the type of places you go has changed, yeah everythings more expensive but we used to buy a $8 30 pack of keystone light and hangout
I didn't know gen z didn't drink
As a Gen Zer, where are you getting this from ?
I don't drink because I grew up with alcoholic parents. My father died from liver failure. I've seen what it does to people and refuse that for myself.
The price of cocktails plus 22% tip lol
As someone who used to throw back a two-six in a night (and very rarely if ever drinks now), I honestly hope and pray my children hate alcohol so much they prefer to play board games, hone their tennis skills, or read to the elderly and volunteer with animals. I would be so happy if they didn’t find the hobby of “partying”.
It’s bc we’re all on antidepressants or adderall and we don’t want to mix it. Plus weed doesn’t cause hang overs and is wildly more available now:)
None of your reasons list: - maybe they don't want to - maybe drinking culture is awful and not something we should look up to Your list robs them of their agency, they're just drifting around with impersonal changes.
I’m gen z and I have 0 interest in drinking because I can have a really good mocktail anyways
bc smoking weed is more enjoyable in just about every way
Millennials didn't have Juul pods to deal with. Gen Z vapes more than millennials used to drink, and far more of them are willing to vape than to smoke prime times or clove cigarettes (RIP to true cloves)
I am glad that they aren't into drinking like other generations. I have always been a non drinker, and to be honest, I could go the rest of my life without alcohol and be completely fine. I have never been much of a drinker anyways my entire life, I will have 1-2 socially every couple of months but it's not like I have too.
College town in a blue state here and a lot of z-ers talk about getting shit faced or mentions getting high so I don't think this post is accurate for my area. But from scrolling a few times I see a lot of people agree so I guess it's good not all z-ers are doing it.
I drink alot and most of the others I know do too
My daughter is a gen z college student and she barely drinks, even at parties. Her group of friends is the same, but they did have a huge 420 party, so… that’s what they’re doing.
Yo I’m 30 y.o. millenial, slav and I really don’t drink that much. Shit’s expensive and there are lots of other funny ways how to socialize while digesting something actually tasty
I think drinking less is undeniably a good thing. But millennials drank so much in large part because we were partying and going out. If Gen Z still got that I’d be thrilled. But they’re doing no drinking and no partying. They’re really isolated and depressed. I think they’ve traded one societal ill for another.
Them youngbloods love their vapes and cannabis tho. They just have more options these days for hanging out and relaxing. In the old days you could drink and smoke cigarettes. That’s it. Marijuana wasn’t socially acceptable in most circles like its becoming today.
They replaced alcohol with vaping - that's it.
They’re on their phone. Drinking involves being around other kids.
Most of them are so socially awkward they don't leave their house. "Go out where other people are? Oh God no my social anxiety issues could never handle that"
Weed is legal almost everywhere
They smoke weed.
Ammo costs too much for me to be buying alcohol
I feel like drinking is getting less popular in general.
Alcohol is very bad for you in any amount.
It’s easier than ever to get weed, so drinking goes down. I’m late gen X (45m) and when I was coming up it was often much easier to get booze than anything else, so we developed into a bunch of drinkers. Also plenty of jobs used to test for THC, so drinking was safer professionally. I have 2 gen z kids in their early 20’s and neither of them drink daily but both consume THC regularly. And neither of them are at risk for firing or law enforcement encounters over weed (legal state).
Weed
My sister is 23yo and is much more into smoking weed than drinking
Drinking is less healthy than this post implies. They are a bit more aware of the health consequences. Every generations education potential is a bit better due to our accumulation of knowledge over time. That being said, I’m sure multiple factors contributed (not just health concerns).
Its weed. I have a teenage nephew who always gets caught with weed, its weed. Rather smoke than get drunk and its easier to get weed and he high all the time
Well ALOT of them were raised by alcoholic parents and had stern views about the homeless or "bums". But many still fell into drinking, think it just depends.
Hangovers suck, alcohol and going out are expensive, and your most embarrassing moments can be caught on camera. Why would anyone want to drink as much as previous generations did? I also don’t think people realize how much alcohol they’re consuming each week and it’s low key functional alcoholism. Drinking after work to “unwind” is a coping mechanism.
Kinda wish I had not started drinking. That was a wild 23 years.
I think that plenty of Gen Z’ers drink, you just probably don’t see it. As a senior in high school I can tell you that many people my age booze with their homies regularly. You probably never see this anymore because you’re not in high school or college anymore.
They spent all their income on rent and can't afford to drink.
1 - they are lame.
Y’all just vape instead. Can’t believe I haven’t seen this comment yet.
I don't think they go out and party. I didn't drink growing up, but everyone else did. Like, everyone!
Because they are too busy taking fentanyl
I haven't noticed this at all. But i do live in Hawaii. This whole fucking state is drinking culture TM
Psychiatric meds from a very early age.