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Original poster

Is alcohol going out of fashion?

139 replies

Shepherdspiemix · 28/02/2023 22:08

Many of my close circle have cut right back & a few have gone teetotal. I understand to a point. They don't have time for hangovers etc. Just wondering is this a rising trend or just in my circle. I'm not a big drinker, I enjoy a few glasses of wine over the weekend but thinking of gradually phasing it out..

OP posts:
catgirl1976 · 28/02/2023 22:09

I’ve just knocked it on the head myself. Not so much fashion but I needed to and the when mentioning it find I’m not alone. Maybe it’s an age thing? (I’m 46)

mrsbyers · 28/02/2023 22:09

Part of getting older plus health issues for me , socialising is more likely to be around a meal out or a craft activity now

Original poster
Shepherdspiemix · 28/02/2023 22:12

I'm 42. I was out with friends Saturday night & found I was the only one who ordered a glass of wine. In the past we would have been ordering bottles to share! Maybe it's when you hit your 40s?

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GreenLeavesRustling · 28/02/2023 22:13

Me too. Given it up. Just made me feel like crap. Three years in now. I’m 47

Heatherbell1978 · 28/02/2023 22:13

Definitely age related. I'm 45 and I love wine and beer but it now gives me insomnia and horrendous hangovers so I avoid if I can. I was out in town a few weeks ago and it was heaving with (younger) drinkers.

RoseThornside · 28/02/2023 22:16

Yes I think it is, but very very gradually. It will be like smoking and take a generation or two. I know the figures on hospital admissions interesting - something like 7% of admissions are alcohol related - and possibly the government has realised that the revenue they gain from duty on alcohol sales is not outweighing the amount the NHS is having to spend on its related diseases and/or accidents and/or injuries from drunken brawls! Which is why we're hearing do much more about the risks of cancer etc from drinking....

Original poster
Shepherdspiemix · 28/02/2023 22:19

@RoseThornside yes I was thinking the same, it might be like cigarettes & eventually youth start kicking it to the curb.. I really enjoy my wine at the weekends at home with dh.
I felt uncomfortable bring the only drinker among my mates at the weekend..

OP posts:
PillBoxes · 28/02/2023 22:19

Not sure, and even though I don't drink myself, every single social occasion seems to be centred around drinking. Weddings, funerals, christenings, birthdays, graduations, sports events, the lot. It is the default.

I think alcohol for younger people is still a thing when socialising, and recreational drugs of course. Slightly more mature people will not be as drink filled if going for a meal on a Saturday night rather than pub and club.

It is an age thing I think. But there are many I know in my circle (and I'm OLD..) who neck alcohol back as if there was no tomorrow.

Hard to say really.

teaandtoastwithmarmite · 28/02/2023 22:21

I've given up properly now after stopping on and off for a few years. I got sick of doing stupid stuff and having hangxiety for a week. My friend and I went out just before Xmas and only had a couple before going back to mine and drinking tea and she's normally a big drinker. Another friend of mine has been teetotal a couple of years. My sister in law still loves it though.

maddy68 · 28/02/2023 22:22

My son doesn't drink. Hasn't since he was 19. Many of his friends don't

Original poster
Shepherdspiemix · 28/02/2023 22:23

@maddy68 that's really encouraging to hear. Hope my dc will be the same.

OP posts:
Endofdaysarehere · 28/02/2023 22:24

Maybe, amongst my 40ish girl friends everyone hardly drinks, we have sensible but fun nights.
Happily amongst my 40ish male friends they still enjoy a pub.
I go out with my female friends for a lovely time, I hang out with my male friends for a dirty laugh.

Valentinesquestion · 28/02/2023 22:24

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JoonT · 28/02/2023 23:12

I really, really hope so. One of the things that makes me ashamed to be British (along with The Sun ‘newspaper’) is the sight of drunken Brits on holiday in Spain, or throwing chairs around an Italian piazza during the World Cup. Alcohol brings out the worst in us. I have never felt more ashamed than I did back in the early 2000s when I took a couple of American friends out for a drink in my local town. I can remember it to this day - the screeching girls, the foul language, the idiots pissing in shop doorways. Horrible. And all fuelled by alcohol.

It’s such a rubbish drug as well. Not only does it make people behave in slobbering, disgusting ways, it intensifies anxiety and depression. At least MDMA and ecstasy make people happy and affectionate! Give me a nice coffee shop any day. Fingers crossed we’ll become more like the Italians and French - going out to savour food and conversation rather than alcohol. I was a teenager in the ‘90s and even then I knew there was something wrong. The priority was to get as drunk as possible. Indeed, people would be proud to have drunk so much they passed out, or had to be taken to A and E. How can that be normal?

Icequeen01 · 28/02/2023 23:19

My DS23 has never drunk alcohol - never even tried it. I thought he was very unusual but talking to others I have found he is not as unusual as I thought. My DH and I only drink occasionally but do enjoy a glass of wine so he doesn't get it from us!

JoanThursday · 28/02/2023 23:22

I work in a university in a student facing role. It seems to me that the students I see every day drink a lot less than we used to 30 years ago. I was by no means a heavy drinker then (I'm crap with hangovers), but our students' social lives don't seem to revolve around alcohol in the same way.

I've never really been one for drinking on a school night but I rarely drink at all now. Perhaps a glass or two on a Saturday night but I hate how it impairs my sleep and gives me a raging headache even on one glass.

And I've discovered BrewDog 0% beer - it's really nice!

Original poster
Shepherdspiemix · 28/02/2023 23:23

It's interesting.. Unless people really did the dog on it over covid (DH & I definitely did). I definitely would like to cut it out. Effects me differently every time I have a drink now. Sometimes I'm great other times I'm dying.. I found now even after a glass or 2 of wine I wake up around 4am & can't get back to sleep...

OP posts:
LetThemEatTurnips · 28/02/2023 23:28

It is declining in popularity yes. Younger people statistically less likely to drink. Still very high numbers of problem drinkers amongst middle aged people though.

Original poster
Shepherdspiemix · 28/02/2023 23:31

I'm sorry I let my dc's see me drink since they were babies.. I'm glad it's declining however the drink companies will be upping their marketing campaigns big time to ensure it doesn't go down the swanny....

OP posts:
ziggiestardust · 28/02/2023 23:31

I’ve gradually been cutting down these past few months. I’ve moved and surrounded myself with different, much more positive people to be quite honest. I have been analysing why and how much I drink and to be honest a lot of the time I’d sooner have a kombucha or a Diet Coke. When I drink, I try to drink mindfully and I’ll have something really, really nice. I use an app to track it so when I go to the doctor I can answer truthfully how much I drink, and also out of interest. Whereas I used to drink a glass of wine almost every day and more at the weekends or an occasion, I can see I currently haven’t had a drink for almost 3 weeks, when I had one single measure of gin and tonic. I’m shocked at how much I don’t miss it.

Sarahcoggles · 28/02/2023 23:43

I think it's an age thing OP.

As a teen and 20-something my fiends and I all got drunk pretty much every weekend. We carried on in our early 30s but gradually people peeled off to have babies and drank less. I also found that as I entered my mid 30s my hangovers got longer and nastier. Then I had kids, by IVF, so for about 7 years I was either doing IVF, pregnant or breastfeeding, and alcohol was off the menu. By the time I emerged from that phase I was in my early 40s and a big night out just wasn't worth the misery of being woken at 6am by kids when you've got a hangover. Now I'm in my 50s I don't drink at all. Some of my friends still drink now and then, but none of them get drunk any more, except very very occasionally.

However, my 17 year old and his mates get wasted at parties, so I don't think times have changed really.

kirinm · 01/03/2023 00:08

I'm 45 (in a couple of days). I do drink but really cannot be bothered with the hangover. I think my drinking ability has changed massively since having my daughter 4 years ago. I haven't gone tee-total.

SamE1995 · 01/03/2023 01:51

I'm 27 and don't really drink alcohol anymore, to be honest I can't be bothered suffering with a hangover in the morning anymore.

I've realised I can have just about the same fun sober as I did drinking, plus no sore head in the morning and being sick 🥳

FourTeaFallOut · 01/03/2023 02:32

Apparently the NoLo market is on the march and set to increase by 34% in the next year. So it seems it's a big enough trend to set the industry scrambling to cling on to customers and extend their product lines in this area.

And while I was looking, because I can't sleep and I'm bored, it looks as though the number of hospital admissions of underage drinkers has practically halved in the last ten years.

Keepitweird · 01/03/2023 02:49

Well I'm 50 and currently keeping the wine economy afloat apparently according to this thread lol