To not really understand the need for people to drink alcohol all the time?

[BusWankers]

I really don't understand why people socialise and drink alcohol all the time, or go out specifically to get drunk and have fun, or all the "LOL Prosecco time!" At 11am in a Sunday. And people buying boxes if beers and 4 bottles of wine as part of the weekly shop.

I do drink, very rarely, sometimes for weddings or whatever.bit I really don't understand the normality of everyday drinking.

I know I'm in the minority, bit
..what gives?????

It's a highly addictive substance that is socially acceptable and extensively marketed.

Spot on!

We're on holiday abroad and second holiday for newly sober partner. It's been a revelation and a very different experience not drinking alcohol.

Sounds like a failure of imagination. I don’t eat meat but I don’t struggle to understand that others do.

Nailed it.

People like different things to you. There you go. Not really hard.

I'm newly sober myself and am LOVING it. I finally feel free form the endless merry-go-round of drinking.

Yes to what the poster above said about its addictiveness, but also ... people like different things? I mean, I don't get why some people climb mountains or watch Bridgerton but I don't feel bewildered that they do it.

My partner hasn’t drank alcohol for a few years now. and that has made me see how much we, as a society, normalise and encourage alcohol consumption. We went to a social event recently where the host was clearly really puzzled as to why he doesn’t drink, it was never an addiction issue, so she just couldn’t understand his “it’s not good for me and I feel worse for having it explanation”. I do still drink, and enjoy it when I do, but I’m less likely to drink now and drink small volumes.

Cultural norm in the UK to drink a lot, particularly among middle aged and older people.

This does seem to be changing though. I’m in my thirties and the regular drinking has fallen of a cliff among nearly all of my friends (male and female).

Unsustainable when everyone has young families and full time jobs, and people seem a lot more into their exercise regimes etc instead.

I think the UK seems to be moving into a new era for drinking where it’s less of the focus of social events.

It's also really strongly culturally associated with having fun and letting go of responsibilities, putting your own enjoyment first and living in the moment. And has been for thousands of years. Obviously it's only one trigger for "having fun", but how is it hard to understand that people like to do things that are strongly associated with having fun? And look forward to doing them?

"Oh, I have no idea why people would want to put on going out clothes to go out, it makes no difference to their ability to leave the house! Ooh, why on earth do people eat dessert? You can get all the calories you need from gruel!" etc etc

Is your weekly shop a box of oats to make thin gruel? Maybe a basics rice so you can eat a handful of grains once a day. After all we just need to eat to survive.

Are you also railing at the people buying mega packs of crisps and litres of ice-cream? It's want not need and obviously harmful but legal.

Disclaimer I don't buy booze on the regular and at 11am on Sunday I'm drinking tea with church buddies not drinking prosecco.

Your post paints a picture of people drinking excessively and constantly, this just isn’t the case in my experience.

”I really don't understand why people socialise and drink alcohol all the time” - you can socialise without drinking alcohol. Many people do this eg meet friend for a walk, a coffee, lunch, shopping, sport, bbq

Most people drink occasionally rather than ‘all the time’ it’s rare to fine someone who drinks multiple times a week.

“go out specifically to get drunk and have fun” Well, yes, people do go out to get drunk and have fun. Most of them have a few drinks and have fun, the streets aren’t littered with vomiting 40yr olds every weekend.

”people buying boxes if beers and 4 bottles of wine as part of the weekly shop” Yes, people buy alcohol at the shop. You don’t know who for or how long it is meant to last. Would you rather people bought alcohol in isolation without other items?

“I do drink, very rarely, sometimes for weddings or whatever” - so you do drink. You do see why it can be pleasant and part of normal interactions.

There are a lot of people who do not drink (38% of UK population) so your lifestyle is not really unusual.
Humorous narratives about drinking are prominent on SM but this does not mean that everyone but you is a drunk.

YABU to wonder why ppl drink - alcohol is addictive, provides a buzz and is everywhere. It’s not hard to understand that

YANBU to think the amount of alcohol we as a society consume is bad for us

You sound so wise OP. You're my hero.

People like to change how they feel. It’s addictive. It’s engrained into every social event we have and seen as the norm. It’s ubiquitous 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don't like being drunk and and will always choose an alcohol free beer over one with alcohol because I genuinely prefer the alcohol free version, and I like to have a grown up soft drink like Mother Root or Pentire on most occasions where people might have a gin and tonic, but I really, really like wine and gin and whiskey and there just aren't alcohol free versions that taste anywhere near as good.

But I'm not in a heavy drinking circle of friends. Some people drink, some people don't and it's not a big deal either way.

Also, lots of people do actually enjoy the taste. I don't drink anywhere near as I used to. Money, age, lots of reasons. But when I do, I savour the taste of wine or a good gin or whiskey or a great IPA beer. It's pretty rare these days I'd have more than a couple but I'd factor that in too.

I love the smell and taste of it and the mellow feel it gives. Zero % doesn't have the same mouth feel.

BUT, fortunately for me, the ability to get as pissed as a rat on a couple of glasses of wine, and hangovers from hell (and a lack of budget) has kept me mostly sober and healthy.

I buy alcohol in my shop but don’t drink every day, will drink if I have friends round or sometimes just in the garden. I enjoy it and it relaxes me, especially after a stressful week at work. Sometimes I’ll climb a mountain, sometimes I’ll get a bit pissed instead.

Human beings are social animals who socialise by sharing food and drink.

Alcohol is addictive. It is a relaxant and it reduces social inhibitions. It’s also an industry that evolved natural because fermentation creates alcohol so people have experimented with it for millennia and honed their skills to create regionally distinctive products that gain cultural significance.
Historically, weak alcohol like small beer was often safer than water.

I suspect a lot of people self medicate with it because their lives are too stressful. I don't think it's bad to need something to unwind every now and then but it's going to make you ill if you do it too much.

I love a nice glass of chilled Pino Grigio, Prosecco or a Bloody Mary.🍾

But, I haven’t been drunk or anywhere near It for about 30 years.

Some of us can just enjoy a drink without being addicted.🙄

I don’t drink anymore really, in the last 6 years, I’ve had about 3 drinks. I never really intentionally ‘stopped drinking’, it kinda just happened. I have Crohn’s and alcohol was a major trigger for a flare up, so it just petered out, and one day I realised I hadn’t drunk in a year or more.
All that being said, I do like the feeling of being a little buzzed on alcohol, that warm fuzzy feeling is nice. It’s not hard to understand that people enjoy that.
I don’t enjoy Michael Buble, or running, or drinking coffee. But I can understand other people’s love for those things. Empathy shouldn’t be that hard, surely?

I drink more in the summer in the garden with friends or a bbq or even stop at a beer garden where I wouldn’t necessarily have gone inside.
Life is hard work and I need a little bit of enjoyment now and again, it’s an escape from the reality that we are just workers until we die.