Only? Still seems like a lot.
It’s nice to see some good news once in a while.
I honestly can’t help but thinking that the different media diet nowadays is also a driver of reduced alcohol consumption. If you watch traditional TV and movies, alcohol and drinking are absolutely everywhere and invariably normalized as part of everyday life. Kid has problem in school? Mom drinks a glass of wine. Getting promoted at work, everyone a round of scotch. Vacation doesn’t count if there are no umbrella drinks.
You barely see any alcohol at all on TikTok, and I assume it’s either forbidden or demonetized on all major platforms. Out of sight, I guess, out of mind.
I hate that it’s because of visa/mastercard but alcohol is forbidden in porn too.
That’s more to do with consent issues on set. At least, it is for studios that run things correctly.
You can find videos out there with fake alcohol, though.
That’s true too but I’ve had content flagged just from a red solo cup being on-screen in the background. Shit’s getting rediculous.
I’m 42 and I barely drink, even when I was in my crazy 20’s I would drink a little but I never got crazy with it. I believe personally it’s because I grew up with an alcoholic parent and most of my family were heavy drinkers and smokers. And seeing them destroy their lives was a reality check for me at a young age. Idk if that’s a factor with the younger generations now but just like politics I feel like the younger generation has learned what not to do. At least I hope so.
Same with me, I binged a few times in my 20s and it wasn’t good at all. So I just stopped drinking altogether, alcoholism is in my family genes. It’s a dumb ass habit to be honest. Waste of money, waste of health, waste of everything.
Only drink on the weekends. 2-4 drinks spread across the second half of the day.
Weed is cheaper.
And is less likely to turn certain people into assholes the way that alcohol does sometimes
Yeah I never get high and want to fight
Earlier this year, the outgoing U.S. surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, recommended a label on bottles of beer, wine and liquor that would clearly outline the link between alcohol consumption and cancer.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States — greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the U.S. — yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a statement in January.
The federal government’s current dietary guidelines recommend Americans not drink or, if they do consume alcohol, men should limit themselves to two drinks a day or fewer while women should stick to one or fewer.
Seems about right. My partner doesn’t drink alcohol, and I very seldomly drink alcohol. I petty much buy it if I’m going from cook with it, but beyond that, it’s money I’d rather spend (or need to spend) elsewhere.
If I’d had to guess, I’d say it’s a combo factor of people being poor, health consequences of partaking being more widely known, and adults choosing to socialize more online instead of going to bars.
Being poor is not really a factor. If you want to drink, in most countries usually you can buy some crappy alcoholic drink for cheap.
If people literally living in jail can get a hold of alcohol, pretty much anyone can.
Yeah. There’s a reason a lot of places limit the sale of things like fortified malt liquor to certain times or places. It’s the lowest cost per unit of alcohol, and often the drink of choice for the homeless.
I just hope we don’t slide into another Prohibition, honestly. Between people who don’t drink because health, and the social conservatives who want a fundamentalist theocracy, we are squeezed.
For me, it’s money - I finally have a good job AND a husband with a good job, and over time have accumulated a collection of booze to use for cocktails. And if we want to go out for a drink it won’t bankrupt us. I practice moderation, one drink 3-4 times a week but never more than one, plus two months off each year, and really like that much drinking, feel good physically.
Beers cost $15 per pint!
Damn, only $3.50 at my local bar. $5 or so for a nicer one. And if I’m feeling cheap, Applebees has $5 LITs.
I knew it must’ve been bad given the local place that did 99¢ margaritas on Tuesdays nowjust 5 years later does $3.99 margaritas on Tuesdays
This must be the 54% of those who put Trump in office.
One of the many things I’ve cut down on because of unemployment. I used to socialize in bars more often.
I was drinking heavy but lack of funds meant lack of funs.
Something something recession indicator
When I was unemployed I went from drinking sparingly to drinking like six to eight beers and a bunch of shots every day. It was years of just getting messed up and having fun with my spouse.
Now it’s been way too long of doing that every day and we have bellies. We quit recently (after a medium/fast taper) and the only issue we’re both running into is horrible sleep. I assume it gets better after a few weeks.
Be proud of yourselves, that’s a huge accomplishment! Me and my partner are tapering right now too and I hope we’ll be like you soon!
Thank you! I was sooo scared to go from a couple beers daily to zero alcohol. I realized that even with a couple beers before bed, I was still sleeping poorly, so we jumped to zero this week. It’s been so odd, no cravings, no seizures, no anxiety or shakes… just shit sleep, but then I wake up not hung over and feel awesome. It’s been a LOT easier than I expected. I hope it’s also easy for you! We’ve been taking a lot of naps when we can. Overnight sleep should get better over the next couple weeks.
We’re still going to have Drinkin’ Fridays, which is not recommended, but for our own sanity we’re taking one day a week.
The hard part was quitting. The next hardest part will be staying quit. You require sleep to live, the sleeping will eventually sort itself out.
Troof. We were very responsible drinkgurls until COVID. I drank a bit more than they did before, but once we had nothing to do, we just drank a bunch and had fun every day.
Now we have things to do, and bellies we don’t want. So we’re adamant on this. We have other stuff we can do to get weird occasionally, so we can always do that if we wanna get weird during the day. I did some THC yesterday for the first time in like a year (it gave me super anxiety/panic because I was hung over all the time) and it was a LOVELY experience. I think I’ll be having some toots of live rosin after work now instead of 14 drinks.
I get it, I enjoy the herb, too, but it’s generally not a good idea to replace one bad habit with another.
You’re trying substitution therapy, but you’re doing it wrong. You might want to try replacing drinking with working out or running. It will fill your drinking time with a positive activity. My Dad quit smoking by playing with Rubik’s Cube when he got a craving. I’ve lost 85 pounds by keeping a guitar next to my chair, and picking it up and playing, instead of eating out of boredom. Knitting, needlepoint, woodworking, painting/drawing, etc., nearly any hobby can help.
Or, y’know, fire it up. Weed has its it’s issues, but it’s definitely not as dangerous as liquor.
When I was quiting caffeine one of the things I did was I kept a bottle of water right next to my coffee cup, so every time I felt the urge to reach for the coffee I’d move my hand slightly and grab the water instead. It worked really well for reducing my coffee consumption before I quit entirely
We’re scared too. Especially my boyfriend is really scared about withdrawal symptoms. Anyway he’s also started to realize that he got a beer belly already. I know it’s not recommended but I think drinking once a week isn’t that bad. And also I don’t believe in the whole one drink again and you will drink again all the time. Hope your sleep improves soon!
If you don’t mind sharing, how many drinks were you having every day, and how many are you down to?
My partner and I were having between 14 and 16 standard drinks daily, sometimes more if we were doing coke or something. For a while I was taking Xanax every morning and drinking a ton every night. I stopped Xanax about a year ago.
We tapered our drinking over two weeks down to 6-7 beers and no hard booze. The last day we drank, we had a couple whiteclaws and split a little bottle of soju. Then we went to zero this week.
If he’s been drinking less than that, I think he’ll be pretty fine on withdrawal symptoms like I am! I realize the amount I was drinking is pretty insane, but my tolerance was skyrocketed after like seven years of it.
So my boyfriend was drinking about 6-8 beers per day and some schnaps. (Sometimes half a bottle to a bottle per day). For me it’s like 3 beers a day, but because of work I can’t drink everyday so I guess for me it’s not going to be that hard. Just when I have a hard day at work I’m so happy to come home to my boyfriend and beer. I think it’s not going to be a physical withdrawal for me but a mental thing I will have to fight. And also of course when partying we used to drink much more also …
Ooh everyone is different, but I really think he will not have any withdrawals! That’s a similar amount to what I was drinking… at my worst I’d split half of a 1.75 with my partner on top of 8+ beers.
The mental thing I completely understand! Our house is cluttered cuz we’ve been too tired to clean this week, and we have empty whiteclaw cans on a bedside table and some boxes with crushed cans in the kitchen. Even with that stuff around, we have not at all been tempted… just tired.
I’m back in the office next week (hybrid) after being home for months, so I DEFINITELY will have some struggles not having some drinks after dealing with being in the office… but I will persevere! I want to fit my cute clothes again!
I really hope both of you have a similar experience to us, but maybe with more sleep. Other than sleep, it’s been way easier than we thought it would be.
Not just health hazards, but legal hazards, too. Get a DUI, and you instantly becomes a pariah to everyone around you, including work, who may fire you. Then there are the costs, fines, possible prison, increased insurance, etc.
Going out and partying it up in a city that requires cars, is too much of a risk, and getting drunk at home is kind of pathetic.
Also, legal/ semi-legal weed.
Only a few decades behind the rise of skepticism in the health benefits of smoking. (Even with all those doctors recommending Camel and all.)
I’d point out that the same tactics the tobacco industry used are the same ones being used for fossil fuels. “Clean coal” and the like are just like filtered cigarettes. The lobbying and therefore conservative backing of existing industry groups is also the same. Climate “institutes” and private studies funded by fossil companies that magically agree with industry over every other scientist and reports. Conservative media doing industry propaganda (Rush Limbaughs grave is a gender neutral bathroom) until things get bad enough that everyone gets personal experience with the outcomes. Cancer, heart attacks, skin and teeth issues, etc. There was an increase in lung cancer rates until like the 2000s for men and a little later for women. Lung cancer rates have since drastically decreased as smoking rates continue to go down.
The problem with climate change is that same sort of lag to the worst effects. These heatwaves and wildfires we’re experiencing are 30-50y from the worst of it and thats assuming we get our collective shit together tomorrow.
You see, to do things that cost money you need money to spend.
To get money you can get a job, maybe in a bar or restaurant.
Places that hire people need people to spend money at them to then pay people.
No one can afford the high prices in bars and restaurants on a regular enough basis.
Not enough people go to bars and restaurants to have them hire you, and with less people going there is less reason to go.
Its cheaper to buy booze and drink at home.
Government and everyone wants more money, so the price of everything goes up (booze included).
You don’t get paid enough for non essential purchases.
You go into debt, just to have a little joy.
The debts are not paid and the debt companies struggle (klama etc). They stop lending.
You have to cut spending, by not drinking (even the cheap swill at home) you save money and feel like ass less often.
You (and many others) stop drinking altogether. <---- We are here
At some point the K type recession becomes so clear and you understand that you are not on the good part of the K.
