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

Probably one reason is the price.

It seems so much more expensive then it was when I was that age (1990's). We would regularly go to pubs and clubs. Although I never drank my friend did.

Also I think the lockdowns have a lot to do with it. My 20 year old and all her friends both sexes seem to prefer to 'talk' over playing computer games. They learnt to keep in contact via the computer rather then meeting up in real life when at 16 - 18 where as we socialised in person.

Alcoholic parents?

By the same coin, why are my parents generation (DM in 60s) so fucking obsessed with it? Why do you need wine? Don't any of you understand how unhealthy it is to rely on what is effectively a drug to get through life?

Have you ever seen drunk people passing out falling asleep through booze and not been disgusted?

It's weird.

I'm in my mid thirties. I don't drink. I'm not boring: if you think anybody who isn't drinking alcohol is boring, maybe you're the problem? Needing alcohol to have fun is beyond tragic.

I don’t drink, I don’t really like the taste which helps! I did drink in my 20s but slowly just stopped. I don’t like the cost or the affect on my body.

I’ve seen too many drunk people off their faces and it never looks fun.

If you can't have fun without it, you're a boring person.

If you feel you need it to relax, you've got a problem.

If you try to justify altering your perceptions of reality, you may be struggling to accept reality.

Alcoholism isnt just getting blind drunk regularly and falling over, and it sounds OP, that you've got a problem

Judgey McJudgepants

Cost - £1 a pint nights are a thing of the past.

Greater appreciation of well-being, health and fitness.

The sight of older people
embarrassing themselves by being absolutely shitfaced, and an understandable desire not to follow their example.

More emphasis on quality of what they’re drinking over quantity.

And the majority still do drink. I was out on Thursday after work and the beer garden was full of people 20-30 who were all drinking what looked like alcohol (I accept some might have been alcohol-free alternatives).

Dd 15 is far far more health conscious than I was. Single ingredient items only as a rule. Wouldn't dream, yet - might change but she's already a year or two older than I was - of 'poisoning' her body with alcohol. This, I thank tike tok for.

So does weed, which 'young people' seem to much prefer!

Because they’ve realised it’s the work of the devil 😂
No seriously, they’ve been educated more on the downside of alcohol.

Yep! This..

Lack of pubs and clubs, so there’s no rights of passage and normalised drinking culture, that older generations experienced.

My adult children don’t drink ( or do drugs) , the eldest doesn’t like the taste of any he's tried and the younger one isn’t interested. They’ve been bought up in a non drinking house and they’ve been raised to know that you don’t need to drink to have fun . My Nan was an alcoholic pub landlady , I saw enough booze by the time I was 18 to last me a life time and then as a nurse I worked on a liver unit , it really is enough to put you off .

I don't know about the young young people, but in my 30s and I don't like it. Never enjoyed being drunk, don't like the taste of it except in very fruity cocktails. So don't bother. Neither does DH.

I also wonder why people rely so heavily on it to have fun. There's so much to do in the world that's fun, and doesn't require being squiffy or drunk.

This. They don’t drink but they do take far more drugs than I ever did. Drinking isn’t seen as “cool” because their parents do it. Pills etc? They believe they are the first generation to do that 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

@OptimismvsRealism I'm pretty sure my children's primary school discussed the negative effects of alcohol in PSHE lessons, and that had the same impact on them as lessons about smoking (at primary school) and drugs (from Grange Hill and Blue Peter 🙂) had on me ... I never smoked or took drugs, but I did drink too much. My boys don't do any of the above.

Primary school lessons obviously don't work on everyone, but perhaps they sink in enough to tip the balance at societal level.

It stinks tbh.

I don't drink either (45 yo) but I think because they are frightened of every little 💩, like "not feeling well".

It’s harder for them to buy it than it was in our day but all of the teens I know drink (apart from Those who don’t for religious reasons). I have two in their late teens.

I think it’s a myth that teens don’t drink now. Some don’t but the majority still do.

Maybe you should be asking why you need it? Each to their own I say

Weed has largely replaced alcohol for young people, so that's one reason. Socialising in the pub has also died a death and loads of clubs have closed down. So the places where fun revolved around alcohol have more or less gone. Many young people still live at home with parents and don't have their own flats (like I did) where they can throw parties or invite friends over for boozy evenings. They are engrossed in and communicate on social media which doesn't particularly lend itself to being tipsy and you might get filmed. Finally, they all seem to be gym fanatics (even the weed smoking ones). It's become the new religion.

Most young people still drink alcohol. They very possibly drink more at home due to cost, and drink in different places to you when they do go out with friends, hence giving you the impression when you go out that young people don’t drink, but the percentage of young people who don’t drink at all has only increased by a few percentage points in the last few decades.

Anecdotally, among the people I know who have vehemently chosen to give up alcohol (other than for religious reasons) only a handful are people who I’d say were more or less completely “healthy.” A lot of them seem to have been sucked into the wellbeing movement, struggle with their mental health constantly, eternally focussed on trying to improve something about themselves and their lives and never seeming to quite reach a point of contentment - which ultimately also seems to be a fairly destructive mindset and way of living. Do stuff in moderation and learn to be happy in your own skin.

Some of them like it, but they're sensible about it, know how to have fun without excess alcohol, plus they aren't rolling in spare money.

I'm 32. I was tipsy once, I didn't like it and felt out of control.
I also don't like the taste of anything, not beer, cocktails, or vodka or wine
I don't see the point, but I'm a curl up with a book and some chocolate kind of person.

Camera phones everywhere on nights out mean any stupid drunken antics/snogs get posted all over social media. Young people can never really ‘let go’ on a night out because the evidence lives forever on the internet.

Thank fuck I did all my stupid shit before Facebook/insta/TikTok.