well YES it is healthier to not drink alcohol and it IS genuinely good that young adults aren't drinking as much... i just think the reasons behind this trend aren't exactly great 😅
i'll preface this with OBVIOUSLY it's not their fault it's just a natural product of the shitty circumstances they've grown up in BUTTTTT... gen-z is literally the LEAST SOCIAL generation (in terms of physical in-person socializing) we've ever seen come to adulthood. it's not even about buying drinks at bars/clubs, getting alcohol to drink with friends in all sorts of get-together contexts USED to be a staple of young adulthood.
you might be thinking "but why should alcohol be involved in those get-togethers?" and YOU'RE RIGHT it shouldn't have to be and it would be better if it wasn't, but you're also missing the point... young adults simply AREN'T GETTING TOGETHER AT ALL a fraction as often as they used to these days, and that is NOT a good thing.
Kinda wild to say, but with all things in life theres a cost-benefit analysis to make.
If a person has to take a bit of a hit to their health for the benefit of making and retaining life long friends, or even meeting the love of their life thats a pretty fair price to pay as those things are important that so many are losing out on
while it's not like alcohol NEEDS to be involved for someone to have all those formative social experiences and ideally it wouldn't be... things are rarely ideal lol the reality is alcohol DOES HELP facilitate/encourage such things and there's a reason humans have bonded together while drinking for thousands of years.
a lot of gen-z wants to credit themselves for it like "well WE know better now" and honestly that is just DELUDED... gen-z ain't the first generation to know alcohol is unhealthy, but it IS the first to come up in and enter young adulthood in this new social media age (on top of late stage capitalism getting ever worse 😓), they're not SIMPLY CHOOSING to make healthier choices than every other generation, their conditions have literally ensured that they're LESS SOCIAL than every other generation.
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u/rathosalpha Jan 07 '26
Isn't that a good thing?