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

No one is stopping you from pouring yourself a glass of wine. We don’t know you in real life so we won’t know if you do.

It’s a divisive subject because people can be very anti alcohol because there are a lot of serious negatives to it. I’m not for it or anti it, I’m just glad I don’t really like it.

I'd say it's a hell of a lot easier for younger people (and others too) to never drink or give up alcohol than it is to be without a smart phone and all that entails.

Social media is the drug of the day now, with a bit of weed thrown in.

Each to their own! Sounds like you know your vice, consume it in moderation and enjoy it a lot - I don’t really drink but it definitely sounds like me and vanilla latte Oreos 😁.

When you look at the stats (NHS: Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England), there a clear downward trend from the peak of my heyday in the early Nineties for the first two (even vaping isn’t as ubiquitous as smoking was back then), but the drug use has gone up massively. Getting their kicks through different ways.

Hope you had a lovely glass of red tonight with your dinner, OP!

I definitely think the younger generations drink a lot less than I did when I was younger

One of mine is teetotal and the other two only drink if its an occasion

Myself and my friends still enjoy a cold drink at home .Something my lot would never do.
It's actually a good thing.

Not convinced of the cost argument, really. If you really, really, really, really, really wanted alcohol, it is embarrassingly easy to brew beer or wine. Even for todays mayflower attention youth. One of my hobbies on and off these past 40 years. Don't do it much now as we have a bottle of wine a week - and I can't be arsed to work the calories off.

I have to take issue with the idea that countries with little or no alcohol are somehow less violent or more peaceful than the UK though. Especially for women.

It seems to be a controversial thing to say (on MN) but I enjoy drinking alcohol, from time to time. I never drink in the house and never drink to falling over / throwing up excess, but I do, once or twice a month, like to have three or four drinks with friends. I find relaxing and fun. I also have nights without alcohol and really enjoy them too but I do, occasionally, like a social drink.

I think pub and club culture isn't what it was like in the 90s/00s (and I'm told also the 70s and 80s from older siblings) could be why it seems that they don't like it like we did.

I don't think anyone here gives a shit whether you drink or not.

What does your last sentence mean?

Same.

My father in law is a binge drinker. An upbringing with an alcoholic had different effects on both his sons. My DH binge drinks and has now stopped drinking completely due to the effect on his mental health, and his brother is teetotal.

The British drinking culture is horrendous. My fil comes stumbling in at least twice a week, falls asleep on the floor in the sitting room in his pants with kebab dribbling down his front.
when my DH was very young, mil used to put him on the phone to ask daddy to come home so they could eat dinner when he was out getting wasted after work and missed dinner time. Both Mil and Fil think this is normal, horrendous role models for children.

They couldn’t understand why I don’t want to go to their family Christmases, they push so much alcohol onto guests, the men go off to the pub while the women cook the roast. Grim. Was a hard no after my daughter was born.

It's not though, is it? Because if you read MN, a huge number of people drink daily, or 4-5 nights a week. They can't go out for meals without a drink, can't watch TV without a glass of wine in their hands, and according to many on here, can't even cope seeing friends without having alcohol to make it enjoyable

Because so many of us have grown up around it, with parents who overdo it on the booze on the regular, and find the culture surrounding drinking to be incredibly weird. If you can't have fun without drinking, you're probably an incredibly boring person or so full of insecurities you don't know how to let loose without substances.

Additionally, I know the older generation didn't have their every move papped and put online - so getting drunk probably felt safer. Now, younger people are more image conscious because they're much more likely to be in the background of someones photo - and if you're too drunk, you're probably going to get caught in a bad way. (I know this bit is very ironic when I mention alcohol and insecurities in previous paragraph - I think insecurities manifest different between generations tbh)

It's literally a poison, it has no real health benefits, and we are more than aware that the health system is is falling to parts so we are trying to look after our health a bit more. Links in with the rise of run clubs and popularity of gyms with younger people and things like hyrox etc. Again, probably many of us have seen our parents health fall to pieces through excessive drinking and want to preserve us for longer.

The cost of it - I live in a big city centre, its £6 for a pint or £9 for a glass of wine. Many of us just do not earn enough money to regularly pay that out - the friends of mine who do drink are significantly worse off financially than those that do not drink (but still regularly socialise) - despite earning similar amounts.

I'm not anti-alcohol btw, I have the odd drink here and there (it flares up my endometriosis so I don't drink much tho), but these are the main thought processes I here when talking to my friends and peers about this stuff (I'm late 20s, but friends from early 20s to mid-30s).

They’re just bullying and harassing people online instead which is just as damaging, really.

But anonymously calling people pathetic online is admirable behaviour.

To a degree I think it is. My sons and their friends don’t go to pubs the way we used to years ago. My son would never go to a pub and just sit there drinking. He likes pool so will play that. We have a number of traditional ‘drinkers’ pubs in our town and they’ve never been in any of them.

Of course it is, people do it all the time? It’s not something new or revolutionary.

What is actually concerning is the amount of young people who feel like they can’t socialise in person. I’d argue that is more unhealthy than a few beers.

I hadn't noticed particularly but there have always been young people not keen on alcohol. I never was when young (though have had my moments), and my late husband only drank occasionally.

My son drank often as a teenager then calmed down and drinks rarely now (he's nearly 45).

Some do, some don't. Your impression depends on whom you mix with at any given time and will vary.

People who look at their phones or use social media generally aren't out fighting, abusing their partners, smashing stuff up, stealing things or other alcohol-fueled crime, though.

If alcohol was invented today, there is no way it would ever be made legal.

I suspect we'll look back on it in the same way we do cigarettes one day.

23 year old son and friends all drink. They all have pretty good jobs going on.

It's hard work to drink alcohol now. Constant ID requests mean you can't go out until EVERYONE in your group is of age. Lack of public transport means you can't get home cheaply after a few drinks. Cost of drinking out (and even entry into clubs) is too high. Easier and cheaper to muck about online or meet at the gym.