To wonder why the young people don't enjoy drinking alcohol

Spot on from my experience. And I can honestly say that I do have lot of experience working with young people. My kids are in mid twenties and will have a drink now and then as it’s a good way to let your hair down for some of us. They are well functioning adults with jobs and responsibilities. But indeed not everyone has to enjoy alcohol but it shouldn’t be out of fear IMO.

💯

I hate the taste of wine.

An evening meal with only wine would be crap for me.

It’s expensive, slows you down, think younger generation are more interested in health, exercise and the environment, more things to do outside of going to the pub and drinking esp when comparing to the baby boomer generation 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’m teetotal and you’d probably consider me “young”.

I am definitely not missing out on anything (and my evening meals are great). Reasons include

• Family history of alcoholism / aggressive behaviours when drunk
• Physical health - I don’t need to expand on the benefits of abstaining from alcohol
• Mind at 100% - I don’t want to ingest substances that can be so harmful to my brain. I want my neurons to work at their highest capacity, and I incidentally also need them to do that for the job I do, so I’m not about to choose to negatively impact my performance by regularly drinking alcohol.
• Cost

I actually don’t quite get why people think those of us who don’t drink are missing out on so much. My life is great without alcohol, so I genuinely am surprised when I hear these statements.

Agree with this. (1) health and wellbeing and (2) social media

I also don’t see the point of one glass of wine every night. Surely it’s not doing anything? Just switch to a non-alcoholic version if you like the taste.

Interesting, I never noticed this. It's only the older generations like Gen X brag about the love of alcohol and being very drunk was the cool thing. You don't hear this from the younger generations.

My dcs are late twenties and only drink occasionally. They are both very fit and health conscious and just see it as a poison. That said they drank at university but aren't bothered by it.
Their friends are the same.

My DS is 17. He has a drink occasionally but can generally take it or leave it. He says teenagers don't drink now as their drunk behaviour would just get recorded and shared all over social media and it would be too embarrassing.

Yes, it's just changes in culture. I remember in the 90s when I was in the middle of my pubbing, clubbing and gigging years, trying to describe what my nights out consisted of to my auntie who'd never had children and had married a much older man so was perhaps a bit out of touch with young people in some ways, and what they did culturally. She was shocked when I told her that we didn't have to wait to be asked to what she called a "dance" by a "young man", we could just go and have a good time with our mates, and get drunk down the pub first before the nightclub if we wanted to. She didn't understand the current fashion at all (height of grunge) - in her day it was all 50s style dresses and heels and the men made themselves look as smart as possible. If you wanted to dance you had to wait to be asked in a fairly formal way so she was just gob smacked when I told her how I quite enjoyed a mosh in rock club.

She looked horrified at all this and it stuck in my memory ever since that she looked like she felt sorry for me and that in her view it just wasn't an enjoyable night out at all. Clearly she thought her way of doing her early 20s was the right way, yet I was living my best life and still look back on that time so wistfully.

I have to remind myself of that conversation when I find myself thinking that my kids' generation doesn't seem to be having loads of fun or a good time. I guess they are in THEIR way, and it will be different to mine. And yes, their idea of a good time does not have to mean alcohol, I suppose!

I’m not that young, and I don’t really see the point in just one, and once I started getting hangovers it really wasn’t worth getting drunk for the misery afterwards.

How does one glass of wine change an evening meal? If you’re missing the taste then can you substitute for alcohol free? If you’re missing the buzz, surely it’s more psychological if you’re just talking about one glass?!

Agree. My dd 20 is very aware of drink spiking much more so than me at her age. It is terrifying. I hope she looks out for her friends and they look out for her when they go out to pubs.

Must remind myself to remind her when she next comes home to be vigilant.

I asked dd & her friends this a while ago and then there was a conversation at work about it

Dd and friends are 20 and at uni. They prefer to stay in and have people round if they are drinking. Because it’s cheaper, less chance of being sexually assaulted with a select few people round (that was real gut punch especially when dd said how common it is at uni), they don’t like clubs and only go to pubs if there’s something on like a these night or pub quiz. She says in her uni town she can go get something to eat, a drink and a night entertainment at Spoons, for the same cost as entry and a drink at a club.

They are all wanting professional careers and all worry they will do something stupid on camera, if they get completely drunk. Again, less risk in their house. Not zero risk. But less.

A lot of this was echoed when we had the conversation at work.

society overall would be better if acholic beverages were none existent

Kids can't get in to pubs and clubs at a young age anymore. In the 90's it was common to see 15 and 16yr olds in a pub, usually being kept an eye on by the older and wiser set. It's harder to buy in supermarkets so they aren't getting drunk in the local park.
By the time they hit 18 a bit of maturity has crept in, alongside A-levels and driving.

There seems to be a certain group of young people today who basically never do anything due extreme forms of anxiety. They don’t leave the house, answer phones, meet in person, drink alcohol, try new foods, get a job.
They are very limited in life and arrested in their development as young adults, it’s very sad to see but swerving alcohol is probably the right thing for them to do as their lack of emotional resilience means they couldn’t cope with the hangover.

I’m 30, don’t drink, haven’t done drugs, never smoked. My parents don’t drink or smoke so I’ve just never been around it, and my now DHs mum died due to being an alcoholic so he is sober also.

Exactly

God I cringe when I think back to what 18 - 25 year old me did. The risks I took, the decisions I made, definitely as a result of losing control.

It was pre social media/Internet, so there is scant evidence (if any) of the stupid stuff I did.

I went out for a meal a couple of weeks ago, bought a round (pornstar martini for the pisstaker, glass of wine and two lemonades) barely any change from £30.

I rarely drink these days, I just don't enjoy it, pub culture isn't as big as it once was round here, neither is club culture.

And frankly hangovers are hideous, they are definitely not worth the money you spent to get one.

I'm not remotely surprised young people are drinking less alcohol - or at least, they don't think it's the height of cool.

I grew up in the 90s and drinking - not just drinking but getting wasted, off your head, trashed, was really pushed on us as glamorous and even sophisticated. In retrospect that was all rather messed-up - just as much as previous generations being sold cigarettes as glamorous and sophisticated was.

An attitudinal shift isn't the same as a behavioural one. No one in my generation thought smoking was cool. A lot of my friends still smoked, because they liked it - but they didn't think it was cool. But in my early 20s almost everyone fell into the trap of thinking getting drunk was cool.

Getting drunk was fun for sure, can still be fun and I'm certainly not going to be teetotal any time soon. Love a nice glass of wine. But the 90s/00s cultural view of alcohol wasn't healthy, and I'm not surprised young people think "ugh, no" when they see their parents and their parents' generation behave in unedifying alcohol-influenced ways. I saw some unfit, red-faced 50-year-old men stumbling out of a pub at 11pm the other night, absolutely unable to control their bodies, one of them vomiting, and... I tried not to judge as I'm no stranger to that state but I thought, god, no wonder their kids think this sort of behaviour is uncool.

Maybe like I thought about my parents' friends who reeked of cigarette smoke, tbh.

Having said all that obviously plenty of young people still drink. They just seem to have a healthier attitude to it than we did.

This is it, it's just a backlash. In 10-15 years the kids will be fucking loaded all the time (eek, that'll be my kids)

My 19 year old barely touches any alcohol. He just can't be bothered with it.... His words

There is also a risk of drink spiking. This isn't a little experienced phenomenon. Probably any woman aged 25 years old has a good friend who has experienced this. Drug culture is very prevalent in young people hence there's always going to be a few young men within a 2m radius on a night out ( and even part of a woman's wider social circle) who would spike their drink. Those of you having daughters going to university please do constantly remind them, not to leave their drink unattended or even with someone else looking after it.

I’m not ‘young’ anymore at 44 but I haven’t drank for years, not since my late 20s. I’ve got no interest in it beyond the occasional cocktail or glass of wine socially and even that is rare. I don’t really enjoy the taste of most alcoholic drinks and when I did have them it was to fit in at university and boost my then very low self esteem/confidence.

They’re doing ket instead :)