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

[OptimismvsRealism]

I mean I know some people have always not really liked it but why as a generation do they feel differently about it?

(Come to mind because I've decided to go sober for a few weeks and it's NO FUN and I want to know their secret).

Mine do - have done since about 16, as have all their friends. My generation were nightmare drinkers. The only difference I can see is that they are much more into the gym, fitness and nutrition - perhaps one of the better things to come out of social media.

This

I think its great things are changing - its really dysfunctional to think anyone has to drink to have a good time and we are now seeing the quite serious health consequences in my age group (40s) of people who succumbed to that idea back then.

I agree with this, but it seems if you say that on here, you're accused of being judgemental or miserable or boring.

Two of my grandparents drank themselves to death and I had the awful experience of finding a client laying in their own mess (twice) because she'd been drinking. She was only in her fifties (but looked 80), drank herself into oblivion and eventually died of multiple organ failure, alone, in hospital.

I think when you've had bad experiences with alcohol, you see a whole different side to it.

I don't actually care if other people drink and plenty of my friends drink (as does DH) but it's not for me. It actually scares me a bit, in all honesty.

I’m not young but I’ve never drunk as an adult - my parents were both addicts. Being around drunk people is also really, really shit when you’re sober - alcohol only makes the drinker think it’s more fun, in reality it’s rubbish for everyone who has to deal with them.

It also doesn’t taste great and costs a fortune. If younger generations are eschewing it then good for them as far as I’m concerned. It’s a public menace.

It's insanely expensive.

Alcohol is also a depressant and tbh young people of today seem to struggle with their mental health as it is.

People have given great reasons in this thread and I agree with the expense of it too. Its just not worth it, paying all that money to feel hungover the next day.

I also feel like being drunk is viewed very, very differently now. In my youth, bands would get hammered and throw things out of hotel windows or be visibly drunk on stage and everyone would laugh about it with the attitude of "haha! they're so wild and crazy arent they- what are they like?!" in a kind of bemused, isnt it funny/cool way. I remember as a kid when Oliver Reed was on TV very obviously steaming drunk, it was considered humorous and fun by everyone. Literally noone at the time expressed any genuine concern for him.

However, when Amy Winehouse was stumbling about drunk on stage years later, everyone was utterly shocked (and rightly so- it was really sad and worrying). Being drunk is no longer seen as "funny" any more and I think thats far healthier and due to better education about the very serious effects of alcohol abuse on people's mental and physical health.

My theory is because smoking has gone down. I mean back in the day a cigarette and a drink was just a great feeling, wet and dry, or so we thought.

A lot of cheap alcohol just tastes like piss. You're unlikely to be drinking expensive wine or interesting spirits. Smoking masked that.

This is clearly the crux of the issue. Someone is going to film you and bung it on social media. No more " what goes on tour, stays on tour".

I am thinking it would be nice to have the extra cash. The wine I like is usually about £15 a bottle now (at home so say £45 out). Maybe I'll save it up and buy some nice shoes.

I'm 40 and it just doesn't occur to me to drink at home. I've never really had alcohol with a meal or anything
I drank on nights out, mostly to get drunk but a glass at home doesn't appeal to me

I’m not a big drinker. I have a glass or two of wine 3 or 4 times a year but oh my goodness I really do enjoy it when I do. Wine is beautiful.

Care to elaborate?

Personally speaking, I don't like the taste of wine, I don't know how anyone can drink it, much less in large quantities. Far too sharp for my tastes. I think the "acquired taste" part = addictive properties kicking in. So if you don't drink much, you continue not to drink much.

I get where you're coming from, but I know plenty of people, sober and alcohol drinkers alike, who bemoan the lack of non-sweet non-alcoholic options. A friend of mine has gone sober recently and has really struggled to find enjoyable options. I'd love some non-sugary options too for when I'm not drinking! Defo a gap in the market.

Off the top of my head:

• alcoholic parent(s) / family members (trauma)
• More expensive - especially in cities.
• Greater knowledge/awareness of downsides of alcohol.
• Higher awareness of health.
• More shame. Everyone carries a device that can record drunken antics and have it shown to the world within seconds.

DS would not put a thief in his head to steal his brains. There were many that didn’t drink at uni. I think the ones that did put them off.

I stopped drinking alcohol 6 years ago due to the hangovers and terrible decisions I made while intoxicated. Stopping drinking is one of the best things I ever did. No night out or booze fest ever feels as good as waking up on a Sunday morning, fresh eyed, enjoying your coffee, going for a walk and just having nice day. I could write pages and pages about why I love not drinking, and why I'm now convinced that alcohol use is a poison that we have somehow accepted into society. I think it's great that young people are seeing it for the destructive substance that it is. I think alcohol is insidious and often worms it's ways into people's lives in very unsettling ways. So many people are enslaved to it and they don't even know. Anyway, I think that the youth are cottoning on to this and can see the many potential issues more clearly than we could.

Probably so embarrassed watching their middle aged parents drinking.

I don't drink wine at all. It's vile. In fact I'm very fussy about what I will drink, there aren't many alcoholic drinks I like. But I have a good stab at drinking a lot of few I do like.

It's expensive, everything gets recorded and shared nowadays, and they're all obsessed with the purity of their Body Temple.

That’s simply not true and quite pejorative
Not all youngsters are vapid vain IG hoping for big break

Not drinking doesn’t equate to love the nody as a temple

Because I don’t find joy in wasting my life rotting my organs and waking up not remembering what happened the night before
I prefer cosy nights in or going out for a meal
I did grow up with alcholics but wouldn’t say that’s why I don’t drink I just care so deeply for my health

I don't think it's necessarily true, I just think they are more sensible about posting pics online than our generation and also the places are different. I teach year 11 seem to be constantly talking about parties and we've run into sixth formers on a night out before too. We know there's certain clubs that staff avoid because the sixth formers go there. During a PSHE lesson with year 9, I was shocked by how many admitted they had access to beer and alcopops at home and how many admitted they were allowed to drink at sleepovers.

I don’t know the answer to the question but have a read of This Naked Mind and The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober.

It's strange isn't it. I have noticed this as well. I can't explain though. When I think back to my own adolescence (in the 1990s), the young seemed obsessed with alcohol. At my sixth form college, the boys would talk/boast endlessly about how drunk they got at the weekend. Still, if the young ARE drinking less it seems a positive change to me. My local town used to be awful on a Friday and Saturday night – girls screeching and vomiting into the gutter, boys urinating against shop windows or fighting (over nothing). And all thanks to alcohol.