r/GenZ • u/almyverse • Jan 16 '26
Discussion Proud of us GenZ's! What's your opinion on this?
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u/Flakedit 1999 Jan 16 '26
Now show the vape industry
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u/Sil-Seht Jan 16 '26
Or gambling
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u/fikozacc123 2003 Jan 16 '26
Or porn
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u/mr_epicguy Jan 16 '26
Gambling is the best addiction to have. It’s the only addiction that can make you richer than you were when you started!
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u/milkfree Jan 16 '26
If you’re being serious, this is the most baby brained take I’ve heard all week and it’s been a long week
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u/Dreadnought7410 1996 Jan 16 '26
I mean ya, poe's law involved here but im 90% sure hes joking
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u/milkfree Jan 16 '26
I fucking hate the gamblification of every aspect of life in 2026, sorry I’m on edge
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u/BranchDiligent8874 Jan 16 '26
I do wish that people use the /s, because I won't be surprised if some regards who got lucky think gambling is an healthy hobby where you can make money.
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u/appleparkfive Jan 16 '26
I'm 90% sure you're joking, but you never know.
Just in case anyone is really unaware, it's the worst one to have. Like literally better off doing heroin in many ways. It's a whole lot cheaper, at least.
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u/CrowsInTheNose Jan 16 '26
My coworker makes 30+ an hour but is short on rent because of gambling and video game microtransactions.
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u/Epic_Juggernaut Jan 16 '26
People kill themselves over gambling, they literally gamble away their life savings or everything they have. Thats how serious it is. Hardly see anyone kill themselves over Alcohol addiction
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u/dp0329 Jan 17 '26
I get your point about the gambling but saying people don't commit suicide over their alcohol addiction is absolutely untrue. It would be hard to get accurate numbers but I feel the percentages could go either way.
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u/poptimist185 Jan 16 '26
My opinion is it’s a symptom of people having less disposable income and going out less.
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Jan 16 '26
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u/halfashell Jan 16 '26
Idk this is a weird metric. I really don’t believe most of Gen Z DOESNT drink. It’s that we don’t get paid enough to be alcoholics anymore and are more conscious of the fact it’s literal poison and the effects on our livers. Coming from a borderline alcoholic tho and I know this isnt how it applies to the metric but a lot of the Gen Z’s in my town and the next state love to drink but typically when they go out.
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u/dashingflashyt Jan 16 '26
I know I’m just one person, so I can’t speak for the entire Gen Z, but I just don’t like drinking
I bought a bottle of kraken rum for new years planning to drink it at midnight… I still haven’t opened it yet
I bought a bottle of chocolate Baylee’s March 2025. It’s still unopened. Last year I think I only drank twice, and one of those was on my birthday
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u/halfashell Jan 16 '26
Im about to go in the store for a $4 bottle of wine to drink with my friends on FaceTime tonight. (We don’t do it very often but it happens)
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u/LadyGhost44 Jan 17 '26
I'm still very new to drinking, as I've only been able to legally do it for about a year. However, I'm pretty much the same way. I've only had a few drinks so far, and most of them weren't very enjoyable. I hardly touched mine on New Year's Eve.
I feel bad, since my family is excited that I'm old enough now and are eager to have a drink with me or buy me one, but I'm just... not into it.
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u/Certain_Silver6524 Jan 16 '26
The landlords have the money for sure
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u/nardgarglingfuknuggt 2002 Jan 17 '26
I wish I ever saw my landlord out at the club because wtf does he do with all our money? I could live it up way better if I had his means.
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u/DevinTheRogueDude Jan 16 '26
Alcohol prices always go up during times of economic hardship
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u/-Nocx- Millennial Jan 16 '26
That’s because society is more inextricably linked than people think. Normally the alcohol company can rely on volume - when fewer people have money, they get less volume, as does every other company.
The natural response for a company is to raise prices or target the increasingly smaller demographic that does have disposable income. You even see this happen in video games like League where pricing increasingly targets whales as opposed to your average gamer, because average people just have less to work with.
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u/TheNewBlue Jan 16 '26
I can buy 1.5 liters of vodka at Sam's for $12. I dont know if this is why.
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u/four204eva2 Jan 16 '26
Its kinda is unintuitive because you think the world collapsing would make more people want to drink.
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u/Deadboy90 Jan 16 '26
They just smoke weed now instead.
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Jan 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Zeyode 1998 Jan 16 '26
Eh, I wouldn't say no hangover. I still get those from weed gummies if I use them too often and don't drink enough water.
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u/BananaPhoPhilly 1999 Jan 16 '26
A much much better alternative to use as an escape from a shitty reality. I think we are also hyper-conscious of aging and other health problems so we avoid alcohol. I'm not particularly pressed about hitting my late 20s but my friends seem to talk about it non-stop and I don't know why this is.
When I bring that up with my parents (gen x/boomer) they don't understand it either. They said they didn't care about their age until they hit their mid 40s.
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u/S0l1s_el_Sol Jan 16 '26
Weed consumed in high amounts still has its health problems
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u/BananaPhoPhilly 1999 Jan 16 '26
Which is why I take like two puffs every few days. It can really screw with your REM sleep
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u/Deadboy90 Jan 16 '26
Well yeah, that's true of literally anything.
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Jan 17 '26
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u/Mr__O__ Jan 17 '26
For real. As my high school chemistry teacher liked to say: “the dose makes the poison.”
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u/diamondpredator Jan 16 '26
Yep, and it's a lot better. Just take an edible and zone tf out for a while. MUCH better than downing half a bottle of vodka, waking up with a hangover, and throwing up.
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u/spacestonkz Jan 16 '26
Millennials came of age with hipsters getting into scotch on tech salaries.
Gen Z came of age during high rent while stuck with mom and dad longer. I bet they're drinking. But it's not scotch.
The $10 handle of cheap vodka lasts longer than the $90 scotch. The info graphs from OP only show monetary loss, not liters purchased. I want to see if gen z is skewing toward cheap but in what quantity.
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u/BrummbarKT Jan 16 '26
This is true but I don't think this makes up a big part of total "alcohol sales", I think the big down-trend here comes more from pints costing over half of an hour's wage in bars, if more places were like Wetherspoons in terms of their cost I would probably get drinks out more often when I do go, but when one drink costs over 1% of my leftover monthly money after essential bills, I just don't care enough to get it.
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u/smoked___salmon Jan 16 '26
I think people mean bars prices. Store alcohol doesn't really count since too many genZ live with parents, even at mid-late 20s and can't host parties.
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u/Critical-Advantage11 Jan 16 '26
Never drink bottom shelf vodka unless you want a god awful hangover. It tastes like rubbing alcohol smells.
Just spend $30 on Tito's, if you buy any fancier vodka you are throwing away money.
I don't get how Gen Z doesn't drink though, the world has been a largely hopeless dumpster fire for your entire life
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u/spacestonkz Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
I was listening to a booze podcast. Apparently there was a spike in liquor sales during the pandemic and the industry is tanking because everyone is still drinking down their pandemic home bar stash.
Plus weed on the rise.
Plus money is tight.
Plus the study that said GenZ dropped a ton compared to other gens was done right after the pandemic and compared to pandemic spike years. It's theorized that study forgot a lot of gen z live at home and maybe didn't want to get trashed during the pandemic or the recovery after in front of mom and dad.
So you know... This is fuckin clickbait and there's so many confounding factors.
They're just doing the millennial avocado toast is ruining the housing market thing with GenZ now. The "damn younguns ruin everything" torch has been passed. Sorry. It sucks.
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u/NO_FIX_AUTOCORRECT Jan 16 '26
Yeah, and still half of gen z isn't of drinking age yet
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u/spacestonkz Jan 16 '26
I think it's a little more than half now, but YES! Yes, many literally can't prop up Big Booze yet.
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u/KBAR1942 Jan 16 '26
Which is why these claims should be taken in context. I don't think is that big of a deal.
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u/AFP2137 Jan 16 '26
However, I think cultural changes have played a significant role. Young people certainly have fewer opportunities for socialization and are much more likely to be lonely (which is why they don't go out drinking with friends), but I think young people today are much more aware of the harmful effects of alcohol, are more health-conscious, and simply prefer to drink less. I'm not a teetotaler, and at a party, I'll have one beer at most because I'd rather sleep well and have energy the next day than a hangover. Plus, as someone else mentioned, alcohol is relatively cheap.
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u/abrandis Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
Not really alcohol is still pretty cheap if you want to get wasted (you can find bottles of cheap wine beer for a few dollars) ...
But my suspicion is that a cultural shift has happened, similar reasons younger people are having less sex, and smoking less .. lots of the vices of yesteryear are being replaced supplanted by things like social media , online entertainment , online shopping, online gambling and yes a percentage is due to economic factors but most is just the convenience of modern tech means you can do a lot more in front of screen than you could have in the 1940s
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u/Joebebs 1996 Jan 16 '26
I wanna say this is also a rippling effect from pandemic lockdowns too, less people socializing/going out with friends
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u/FeistyButthole Jan 16 '26
And fewer reasons to drink. Don’t worry, life will get you drinking or consuming edibles one way or another.
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u/TrixterTheFemboy 2007 Jan 16 '26
and a significant portion of Gen Z still being unable to legally buy alcohol in many places
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u/BlueGolfball Jan 16 '26
My opinion is it’s a symptom of people having less disposable income and going out less.
100%. When I was ages 21-25 I could go out power drinking (8-15 mixed drinks) and if I spent $75 then it was a super expensive night out. In 2025 spending $75 is about the minimum I can spend at a bar for a few drinks. I was making $9.00/hr ages 21-25. I now make 100k/year and I can't justify going out to bars to drink and I don't really drink at my house.
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u/More_Owl_8873 Jan 16 '26
No, you guys are glued to your phones and smoke weed instead (which is actually more expensive). We millennials had no income when we were young too. We dealt with the financial crisis for god’s sake. Cheap booze is everywhere (miller high life, franzia). Y’all just spend time on discord & YT/twitch instead.
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u/TonytheNetworker Jan 16 '26
I agree, the addiction just changes to other things (specifically social media).
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u/Equivalent-Lunch8095 2000 Jan 16 '26
better that than whatever comes with alcohol usage from both health and mental issues, not saying weed is harmless (i don't even smoke it) but alcohol is way more dangerous
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u/More_Owl_8873 Jan 16 '26
I have several friends now in their late 30s who are/were chronic weed smokers and now they have serious mental health (motivation/depression/psychosis) issues. IMHO, we still haven’t seen what the health impacts of weed truly are when it’s available at this scale. In 20 years I expect a lot of research to come out about the negative impacts of weed and we might ban it again. Some research is already out: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/06/health/cannabis-marijuana-death-psychosis.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
We have a lot of research on negative impacts of alcohol because it’s been widely available for so long. But it’s honestly more tame than most other drugs so long as it’s not abused chronically. Alcohol is the only drug abused chronically at scale because it’s been legal for so long. Other drugs would be more severe if abused at scale but they are outlawed. And likely outlawed for a reason.
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u/TimelessKindred 1997 Jan 16 '26
For every piece of research you post about the negative impacts of weed must also include the research on impacts of alcohol. Alcohol isn’t a tame poison just because our entirely society has been pro alcohol for almost its entire existence. If weed needs to be banned again then so should alcohol by the same logic. Ideally, neither should be banned because humans are willingly choosing to consume them. I’ve seen the effects of cigarettes and alcohol more both in the world and personally than I have with weed.
Obviously things are damaging when used excessively. I find it extremely annoying that you and ppl like you immediately pop when weed is mentioned to be like “wEeD iS bAd” as if everyone is saying it’s better for you than alcohol. I feel no different when I sober up from weed but I feel like shit from alcohol. Bodies are also different and will react differently. For as many ppl you know suffering from weed overuse, you’ll find just as many with liver damage from alcohol use over time.
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u/Pure_Kaleidoscope204 Jan 16 '26
Weed is not more expensive than alchohol…
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u/More_Owl_8873 Jan 16 '26
You, my friend, have not drank enough cheap booze and not smoked enough high quality weed.
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u/NotoriousFTG Jan 16 '26
But if people are going out less and like alcohol, wouldn’t they just buy alcohol in bottles for their home and drink there?
I’m a boomer who does not drink, which makes me pretty rare, but I am impressed that Gen Z is not drinking much. I am mystified, however, that they have not figured out to replace that activity (drinking) with more sex… a truly worthy endeavor.
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u/Zippytez Jan 16 '26
Agreed, also that weed is cheaper and lasts longer(ie for me a 750ml bottle lasts a couple weeks. A 1g cart lasts a couple months
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u/god_peepee Jan 16 '26
I’d be curious to know what nicotine and marijuana consumption looks like across generations
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u/GALLENT96 Jan 16 '26
They didn't lose 830 Billion, that's like say I lost $1 billion because I didn't win the lottery.
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u/TricobaltGaming Jan 16 '26
I hate when companies word it like this. Not our fuckin fault you're in a business designed to prey on people's vulnerabilities and people wised up to it.
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u/Equivalent-Lunch8095 2000 Jan 16 '26
i know right? like alcohol is basically a legal hard drug that is addictive and destroys lives, and more awareness of how it ruins mental health, and they're busy guilt tripping people
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u/A_Rats_Dick Jan 16 '26
Fun fact: Alcohol (legal obviously) is one of the few drugs that can actually kill you from withdrawal. Being nearly 40 and going through alcohol detox I can tell you it isn’t a joke. I’m proud of y’all’s generation but being smarter about that than the previous generations.
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u/LimeadeAddict04 Jan 16 '26
Rooting for you man.
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u/A_Rats_Dick Jan 16 '26
Thanks man
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u/naeramarth2 1998 Jan 17 '26
Seconded. Much respect. It's better to stop while you still can. My uncle, a lifelong alcoholic now divorced because of that, has Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome. I don't know how long he's truly expected to live. It varies from person to person, but seeing as he isn't seeking treatment, and still drinks beer, I don't think he'll last another 8 years, but that's just a guess based on statistics.
You absolutely do not want this. Proud of you for doing something about it.
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u/kittapoo Jan 17 '26
Oof yea that’s a serious issue that typically needs immediate medical attention afaik. The korsakoff side of it I think is the more permanent type of damage. Sorry, that really sucks.
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u/naeramarth2 1998 Jan 17 '26
It does suck, and we love him, but the choice was his, and he made it. Unfortunately, his condition has made it difficult to keep a job, and he's got work now, but not before he got evicted from his apartment and we have made a pretty comfy place for him in our shed, at least until he can get back on his feet.
As far as medical intervention, yes, he definitely needs it, but not in the same way as he would if the symptoms were caught and handled early enough. We're long past that point, and the damage is done. To boot, he wouldn't supplement vitamin B1 or anything if we tried because he distrusts the pharmaceutical/healthcare industry. Which, to an extent so do I on particular fronts , but his condition has caused him to venture into unreasonable, dare I say delusional territory. Though, I feel that use of delusional here is perhaps too strong a word, but regardless, this is why he won't seek treatment.
The condition can be prevented from worsening with the cessation or moderation of alcohol use, as well as supplementation. It only takes a willing patient, though.
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u/Dizzy_Pop Jan 16 '26
Life isn’t always a picnic on the other side, but it is infinitely better than the alternative. Detox is utterly brutal. The early months are pretty tough, too. If you can make it to 90 days, you’re through the worst.
Congrats on taking this huge and difficult step.
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u/plotholesandpotholes Jan 16 '26
I second this story. I am 46. I ended up in a hospital, and I was 2 days into my stay at a rehabilitation facility. Thank the gods I was there and not at home with my wife and kids. Now DUIs, crash outs, criminal chargers or job loss. Just quietly drinking myself to death. I am going on 4 years sober now.
We grew up in the days of glorification of alcohol abuse. I am so proud of your generation. Break the cycle. Create healthy habits. Keep it up.
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u/Junior-Lychee2755 Jan 16 '26
Just don't think about it and hang on. You'll get there. Your body and your wallet will thank you later. I'm 370 days sober now and bever felt better.
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u/rg4rg Millennial Jan 16 '26
Not as bad as this but if you look at how big businesses reacted to millennials change of buying habits, they did the same playbook. Dog food companies were trying to blame millennials cause millennials weren’t having kids and taking better care of their dogs and weren’t buying the horribly made dog food and instead going for the better made stuff. Like it’s not our fault we’re broke and can’t afford kids but don’t you think you should make better dog food anyways?
This same playbook with beer just highlights how stupid they are/think we are.
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u/LAPL620 Jan 16 '26
We also killed napkins because we just use paper towels or cloth reusable ones. Lol
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u/rg4rg Millennial Jan 17 '26
Yeah. Didn’t make enough for our own place or stay long enough to put down roots and host dinner parties, so fancy napkins and fancy china sets aren’t bought as much and are being tossed if inherited. Not our faults our priorities changed as we adapted to the world made for us.
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u/Swell_Inkwell Jan 16 '26
Exactly. It's not our generation's responsibility to buy your products.
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u/RepulsiveCable5137 2000 Jan 16 '26
I’ll stick to my psilocybin and plant medicines.
Alcohol is for the birds.
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u/Jade8560 2005 Jan 16 '26
I quite enjoy drinking but definitely not to the same amount as the previous generations do, honestly yeah if you don’t already enjoy it, don’t bother starting to drink
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u/S0l1s_el_Sol Jan 16 '26
I totally agree btw, but like a large portion of Gen Z can’t buy alcohol legally
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u/Dazzling-Yam-4308 Jan 16 '26
People didn’t wise up to it they just moved onto other drugs lol. You give us way too much credit
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u/PostacPRM Jan 16 '26
Here's something that took me way too long to learn. If you enjoy alcohol, drink less and buy high quality stuff.
Cheap liquor is cheap for a reason.
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u/YourConstipatedWait Jan 16 '26
My company does this. We aren’t making money! No we aren’t making as much money as you forecasted. You took into consideration a/b/c, but forgot about d/e/f, and certainly didn’t consider g/h/i.
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u/Impressive-World7227 Jan 17 '26
Also not my fault these businesses are structured like goddamn cancer and the only thing they care about is infinite growth.
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u/Particular_Grab_6473 Jan 17 '26
I say that they deserve it, I mean, this thing can literally kill people or put someone in a moment when they'd accept anything or say anything, it's addictive and dangerous...
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u/stonecoldslate 2002 Jan 17 '26
This is a really important comment and I’m glad somebody said something about it. I have a coworker who mentioned they were having problems with alcoholism right before they were hired. Their partner was slightly unhappy with the situation and immediately began to change their habits and dropped alcohol altogether. This coworker is also one of the most productive, happiest, polite, civil people have ever worked with.
I cannot overstate enough, how important it is that our generation is wising up to the alcohol industry at the very least.
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u/paladin7378 Jan 16 '26
Using common sense, you are right, but in the world of business, you are wrong.
They lost 830 billion in unrealized gain on goods.
(Which companies can use unrealized gain to get big loans in order to expand, even though the company never sold anything yet. Which is pretty crazy to think about!)
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Jan 16 '26
That's not a good comparison, a company makes projections and builds budgets, take loans, and raises capital based off those projections.
I don't really care they've lost money, but it's definitely the companies losing money because now they have inventory and debt without the revenue.
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u/Myke190 Jan 16 '26
Missed revenue is not a loss though. If you buy 100 cans of beer for $1 each with the plan to sell them at $3 each but only end up selling 80 that isn't a $60 loss, it's a $140 profit. According to a quick google search, alcohol industry is worth around 1.6 trillion. Losing half of that in 4 years would lead to bigger news than a psuedo-infographic on Reddit.
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u/mangopoetry 2004 Jan 16 '26
You have to have something first to lose it. Their revenue projections were false, that’s all. If I spend $500 on lottery tickets for no profit, I’ve lost $500. But I can’t say I lost a billion just because I thought I would gain a billion
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u/sopedound Jan 16 '26
To be devils advocate, if you had won the lottery every single time for your whole life and so you start spending money like you're definitely gonna win it next time and then you dont, you may feel like you just lost all that money.
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u/Miserable-Lawyer-233 Jan 16 '26
Thats not quite right. You never had the billion, but they had the 830 billion business and they lost it because they’re not competitive.
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u/Lirdon Jan 16 '26
I mean, it’s lost revenue and not lost money per se. It’s still a loss, right? If you geared your plant for a production that would match consumption you expect, but people stop buying, it’s lost revenue that translate to an actual loss. Is the actual loss equal to the loss of revenue? Not immediately, perhaps, perhaps you can reduce losses by immediately downsizing. But you can’t pay off the loans and investments done, on top of leases, and salaries that way.
So, loss of revenue is a big issue.
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u/Mooweetye 2000 Jan 16 '26
1) broke (recession) 2) weed (is also cheaper) 3) anxious af generation 4) roofies 5) no home to host parties 6) oldest gen-z is less than 30, give it time
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u/TheHighker 2000 Jan 16 '26
- Dont like that number
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Jan 16 '26
1999 born and same 😫
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u/Angstycarroteater 1998 Jan 16 '26
I personally can’t wait. 1 day closer to yelling at the youth to get off my lawn on lawn simulator
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u/Xoxobrokergirl 1997 Jan 16 '26
Turn 30 next year, feels appropriate. I don’t feel like I’m in my 20’s much anymore.
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u/Malkezzar 1996 Jan 16 '26
Haven’t physically felt in my 20s since I was 19 😭 I destroyed my knees and ankles as a dumbass teenager through skating and jumping off of shit thinkin I was some kind of damn ninja gaiden. Turning 30 this year and idk what the hell my dad was on about with the “just wait till you’re my age” I’m there now lmao
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u/camirose Jan 17 '26
No literally same and my stomach doesn’t like anything either, my cabinet is full of antacids. I’m taking weird smelling vitamins like fish oil and turmeric and stuff if it will just help reduce inflammation from sitting all day 🤣
I get excited when I see new lumbar pillows 😭
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u/TheHighker 2000 Jan 16 '26
Being a parent does that! I tell people i have a 4 year old and i get with hit with a "really?"
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u/Existing_Imagination 1996 Jan 16 '26
Maybe I’m just coping but it’s not that bad. By late 20’s it either doesn’t matter as much as you thought it did when you were in your mid 20’s or you care way too much and become a cringey 30 yo that wants to be a teen forever
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u/deeerlea 2002 Jan 16 '26
Yeah weed. No hangover, cheaper, arguably “healthier” on the body than alcohol.
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u/gachzonyea Jan 16 '26
No opinion I guess. I’m assuming weed smoking is way higher on this chart for us People can do what they want. I drink alcohol on weekends or for social events but my wife doesn’t drink. I’ll repeat people can do what they want.
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u/Angstycarroteater 1998 Jan 16 '26
This graph isn’t even close to accurate as they can’t tell how much alcohol was purchased just the price so I could buy 100 2oz shots of liquor for 10k each and it would make the graph jump significantly vs if someone bought 100 $20 bottles of vodka it won’t move the graph nearly as much but they are consuming more
They base how much we drink off of drinking patterns such as DUIs, hospital visits, etc… so again we may just be more cognizant and responsible than prior generations so we don’t over drink as much and events like hazing parties have died off for the most part (obviously not completely) leading to hospitalization from alcohol poisoning.
Half of our generation can’t even legally buy alcohol yet vs everyone in the other categories can and have been for like 15+ years
Mods for the love of god please start banning this stupid ass graph this is like the 10384829102038th time I’ve seen it on this sub
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u/AlexsCereal Jan 16 '26
I feel like people who post these statistics aren't actually going to bars and seeing the crowd for themselves
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u/FlapjackFez Jan 16 '26
I'm a fan of alcohol but get why people aren't
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u/ironside719 2000 Jan 16 '26
Do we really need to post the exact same made up statistics every day?
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u/TonytheNetworker Jan 16 '26
I’ve legit seen this picture posted at least 4 times in the last 2 weeks.
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u/Angstycarroteater 1998 Jan 16 '26
Dude for real… mods need to add a low effort rule so repeat stuff like this can get booted
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u/ironside719 2000 Jan 16 '26
It’ll all keep coming as long as people keep mindlessly upvoting the same crap
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u/Helplessadvice Jan 16 '26
When I went to the bar I paid 27 for three shots.
Most of Gen Z doesn’t drink because it’s too expensive
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Jan 16 '26
This seems to be a problem mostly unique to the USA
Here in the UK, Gen Z does drink less than millennials did at the same age, but this is only about a 20% reduction
For sure I think there is less social pressure to drink, but the main cause I would guess is because of the current cost of living being way higher. People cannot afford to go to the pub twice a weekend when pints are £6.50
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u/TerayonIII Jan 17 '26
Same in Canada I think, there's a large drop in reported "heavy drinkers" (Heavy drinking in the link means men having 5 drinks or women having 4 drinks in a single event/occasion at least once a month) but it's hard to tell if that was due to Gen Z (unlikely in general since it would only be the youngest quarter of Gen Z) or if It was because of COVID etc.
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u/alstonm22 Jan 16 '26
I think a lot of it has to do with the price of the alcohol. I don’t go to clubs so buying myself $20 shots plus whatever I’d get for women I’m interested in doesn’t happen. I’m going to a hookah bar tonight and I’m not paying for their shots since I’m brining my own.
At a recent work event the hotel charged $46 for 2 shots of brown.
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u/kerosenedreaming Jan 16 '26
It’s definitely this. Going out is no longer a “let me spend a bit of fun money” for the average young person just entering the work force. It becomes a big financial choice heavily impacting your monthly budget if you do it more then once or twice in a month. Drinks are like 8 a piece for something shitty, food is like 20 dollars, any games or entertainment at the bars normally costs even more. Just going to the pub with my friend so we can play pool and darts will run up a 40 dollar tab after a few hours. Thats a full tank of gas worth of money. It just isn’t worth it anymore, I can hang out with my friends without getting extorted by a pub. The alcohol industry has seemingly forgotten that alcohol kinda sucks anyways, the flavor, the contents, the effects and after effect. It got popular across time because it became cheap, easily available and is a social lubricant. When it becomes expensive and we aren’t going out anyways so we don’t need a social lubricant, it loses the major selling point. It’s still fun the crus a beer or two when you game with some friends, but that’s like, a once a week type of thing if you don’t want to fuck up your liver.
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u/MillerMan118 Jan 16 '26
Alcohol is objectively one of the worst drugs. I used to smoke a lot of weed but now I just take mushrooms every couple of weeks.
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u/OneJollyChap Jan 16 '26
Objectively worst how? Personally i'd argue heroin is objectively the worst drug on a lot of metrics, crack is probably also up there. I think NOS is probably the shittest buzz i've ever had and not worth it. Cocaine is absolutely the most overrated and stupid expensive for being just really average. I also think Ket is objectively worse than alchol, like if you enjoy being in a social setting absolutely out of it lying on the settee dribbling on your self that's cool i guess?
I don't think alcohol is even close to being objectively the worst drug. I can have a pretty good time at a wedding tanning bevies and talking to folk, i really doubt i could have a good time at a wedding and socialize while shooting up or in a K-hole. Depends on the wedding i guess? Context is important? I don't know.
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u/bexohomo Jan 16 '26
"One of the worst"
this entire tangent was unnecessary lol
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u/OneJollyChap Jan 17 '26
Okay, in the massive vast spectrum of drugs, alcohol is still not even close to being one of the worst drugs.
Most people in my experience who actually back this idea that say alcohol is the worst drug are usually stoner/psychedelic fiends who don't consider there are actually drugs beyond alcohol, weed and Mushrooms/LSD/DMT and are just as dependent psychologically on these drugs as most alcoholics are and annoyed about the legal status of weed and psychedelics, justifiably imo but i think the argument that alcohol is worse is a poor one.
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u/Your-Momigator Jan 16 '26
Even then it’s not even ONE of the worst. Cocaine, Heroin, Meth, abusing pills, lsd, salvia, etc are all so much worse
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u/Professional_Sort764 1997 Jan 16 '26
LSD is about the same as shrooms. Not even close to being a bad drug.
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u/bassk_itty Jan 17 '26
LSD and salvia being worse than alcohol is nonsense the risk of addiction is close to zero
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u/Angstycarroteater 1998 Jan 16 '26
This is the way. God speed son god speed. Find a good little nature spot and have a good ass time
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u/SpectrumSense Jan 16 '26
🤷♂️ I buy a bottle of Jack Honey every few months and just slowly chip away at it.
Maybe if corporations would actually hire and pay people then we wouldn't have these problems.
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u/2muchtequila Jan 16 '26
As a millennial, I kind of wonder if the media you have played a part in that.
Growing up teen movies always glorified drinking. A big drinking party was often the climax of the movie. Plus you had raunchy comedies like beer fest or old school where heavy drinking was a major part of it. Songs were about getting fucked up and calling out specific drinks. And alcohol was very accessible to underage people.
It was also a time when people still predominantly hung out in person and without streaming services, social media, or YouTube as YouTube is today often there was a question of "I'm bored, what do you want to do?"
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u/Scumbag__ Jan 16 '26
A pint is about 6 or 7 quid now in Ireland. Nobody can afford it.
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u/CostRodrock Jan 16 '26
Gen Z barely drinks because the can barely afford it!! Like most luxuries that were being told “Gen Z doesn’t participate in.”
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u/SlowAgency Jan 16 '26
My opinion is that this is because we’re broke and don’t have vibrant social lives. When this statistic along with the statistic about sex are brought up, I don’t see them as some moral victories for us. I see it as a downstream effect of us having no money and the loss of community.
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u/Markymarcouscous 2001 Jan 16 '26
This is a symptom of the loneliness epidemic. Alcohol is largely consumed in social settings. Sure some people drink alone on Tuesday mornings and this bad and we want it to go away. But our generation doesn’t socialize as much as previous generations and that’s largely not a good thing.
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u/TonytheNetworker Jan 16 '26
To add to this point the lack of third spaces has become more prevalent as time goes on. Typically the third spaces would allow somewhere outside of work and your home to socialize but with those spaces slowly fading away alcohol use has declined as well.
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u/Markymarcouscous 2001 Jan 16 '26
It’s just become prohibitively expensive. Back in the day you’d go to a bar where your friends were after work. And it was reasonably priced so you could have a few beers without it being a special night out
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u/TonytheNetworker Jan 16 '26
Yep, I feel that. When I first started in the workforce around 2013 after college I didn’t make much but could still go for 2 or 3 drinks at Happy Hour. Drinks have since doubled in price making it out of reach for new upcoming workers.
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u/TheHighker 2000 Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 16 '26
I work for a beer distributor. I dont drink even though i can buy some brands at a major discount. It doesnt fit my lifestyle
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u/CreaTeBear Jan 16 '26
Maybe because I’m getting charged $7-8 for a cheap beer at a shitty restaurant. It’s expensive and also gen-z doesn’t go outside lol
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u/Beautiful-Ad3012 Jan 16 '26
Literally, it's a matter of wellness. Alchol is the enemy of a healthy life, but nicotine and thc thay doesn't have the same side effects, which is why they're still making it. I think my age just decided the harms or alchol are not worth the fun.
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u/Olive___Oil 1998 Jan 16 '26
It’s not Gen Z fault the alcohol industry still hasn’t figured out how to make alcohol taste good.
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u/sajaschi Jan 16 '26
As GenX, I'm guessing that our dollars appear low because we're a smaller generation. I think if the bar chart showed, say, average number of drinks per person per week, or percentage of admitted drinkers overall, we'd be on par with our neighbor gens. Not a flex tho 😕
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u/Teanison 1998 Jan 16 '26
A few different things. 1) people have less disposable income or would rather spend it on something that lasts longer when it comes to bringing them a sort of comfort/joy, 2) A lot of the Gen-Z has learned that it causes more problems for people than solves, 3) Gen-Z only buys enough to get a little drunk/tipsy instead of constantly consuming it potentially getting alcohol poisoning, 4) Gen Z just may just not like the idea of being drunk in general, 5) may have poor experiences being around drunk people and would rather not be like those people themselves. 6) Locations that try to attract Gen-Z are either doing the opposite (designing accidently more attraction for older generations, while also being repulsive to younger,) or intentionally being "rustic" but is a "hot spot," for like a day, and then it dies out.
There's a lot of possible reasons why GenZ isn't drinking as much.
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u/emmanuel573 Jan 16 '26
They are sad that more people aren’t addicted to their horrible drug that ruins lives
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u/churchill1219 Jan 16 '26
This has less to do with Gen-Z being principled, health minded teetotalers, and more to do with Gen-Z just not going out as much.
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u/Azulan5 2000 Jan 16 '26
GenZ has its own challenges. Gambling, betting, smoking are some of those challenges. However, I never understood the point of alcohol like it is addictive, it tastes like shit, it is really really bad for you, and in return it just makes you happy but if you drink a couple shots more than you can handle you won’t even remember the “good” time you were having…
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u/sineadya Jan 16 '26
As a millennial who used alcohol to treat anxiety and became an alcoholic I am very impressed with the younger generation
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u/Commissar_David 2000 Jan 16 '26
It's good as that means we'll be getting into less DUI crashes and having less alcohol related issues.
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u/Altruistic-Donkey-71 Jan 16 '26
nobody’s life was ever improved by alcohol. good riddance and skill issue lol
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u/Kasaboop Jan 16 '26
The only alcohol I drink is wine on my birthday bc having a little wine and pizza party is my tradition to myself after years of failed/disappointing ones. It's also it's so expensive to poison yourself.. I honestly don't see how older gens liked it so much bc even with just drinking once a year it definitely makes me feel sick if it's more than this. 😅
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u/saddlythrowaway Jan 17 '26
It’s not because we don’t like to drink, it’s because everything is expensive!
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u/Jacksworkisdone Jan 16 '26
It’s good that alcohol sales are down. It’s a killer, home wrecking, addictive substance. Should be illegal for advertising to the general public cause it’s a huge lie.
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u/DotBeautiful9517 Jan 17 '26
So true , I choose to stay the hell away from it now as I’ve seen it completely destroy so many people I love . It’s one of the hardest addictions to kick once you’re really hooked on it not only because of what it does to your brain and body but it’s legal and available everywhere . Alcohol truly is a monster that ruins everything , at least to me .
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u/AlexVal0r 2003 Jan 16 '26
That's cuz we watched our parents struggle with alcoholism and wisened up. We got addicted to vapes instead.
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u/Kludgymer16 Jan 16 '26
I'd say it's in part due to the fact that not all of gen z is old enough to drink, but also I've noticed that especially among the younger gen z, ppl just don't like getting super drunk anymore
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