I used to drink socially every weekend or so, and never to the point where I'd reach a drunken state. Nowadays, I rarely drink, and on those occasions it tends to be limited to 1 drink.
Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
31–40 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#32A drinking problem is one where drinking contributes to you not fulfilling your responsibilities. For instance, if your job performance decreases, you get into some kind of legal trouble, or you don't pay your bills. I've used this measure to check my drinking habits.
There's such a thing as a "high-functioning alcoholic", you know: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-functioning_alcoholic
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#33If I'm not wrong, Phil Katz it's the most notorious case of programming + alcoholism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Katz#Alcoholism_and_death Bonus: https://xkcd.com/323
Jeez, what a guy. When I'm found dead in a room, I hope I'm holding something more manly than peppermint schnapps.
"Somewhat influential halfwit logicrime found dead in hotel room, having drank himself to death. He was found on the floor with a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand. He probably won't be missed, good riddance."
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#34Would that be a coffee-drinking culture? I think it is a horrible culture and only serves to prop up large corporations that solely exist to evade tax and get money by providing you your daily fix of caffeine, fat, and sugar.
It's funny how tolerant and even encouraging I've found people to be around outright addiction to a substance. If it was anything other then caffeine than people would be shocked.
I do love my espresso though :)
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#35Gone. I quit drinking 10 years ago and everything has gotten 10x better. Sober enough to meet a great women and get married, in better shape, sleep is better, eating is better, work is better and my finances are better. I am at a point with not drinking that when I interview with a company, I ask about team outings and how much alcohol is involved and if it is too much, I pass on the job. My sobriety is so important to me that I won't work on a team that has a drinking culture.
Those of you who are on the fence about not drinking, quit drinking and see how much better you life can get.
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#36Quit altogether for 2 months as a diet experiment, with 2 expectations: 1) it would be socially frictive 2) I would lose some weight. Both were wrong. 1) Quitting had basically no social consequences. The friction of ordering a non-alcoholic drink at a bar is gone by the third time. Only one person gave me shit about it, and they were a friend-of-a-friend and easy to disregard. 2) It had almost no weight-loss effect,…
Have you stopped drinking altogether? Did you consider yourself someone with a 'problem' when you did your experiment? Did your findings change the ferocity with which you drink? Given that it was one of your original expectations of the experiment, do you think that social friction plays a major role when it comes to the frequency with which you drink?
I find the idea of that type of experiment fascinating, perhaps you documented it in more detail....?
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#37As a gradstudent my program provides absurdly large amounts of alcohol. My first year we were provided with essentially unlimited access to free beer/wine once a week. Fortunately they seem to have gotten things back under control. My old lab also had 2 cases of beer in the fridge at all times (European PI) so that didn't help. In my experience if you want to reduce the amount of drinking you have to reduce the amount of alcohol that is easily available. Self medication in high and even medium stress environments is almost going to be a given.
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#38Never saw anyone with a drinking problem except my mother, honestly. She would get blind drunk and scream every afternoon.
You do realize one drink a day is supposed to be healthy, right? Even coworkers who went to the bar ever night rarely did more than a couple, which had no bad effects and helped form networks.
Maybe your problem is not drinking enough?
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#39At the time of writing this comment, there is just one comment on this thread complaining about the amount of alcohol in company outings. That comment has been downvoted and is now marked [dead]. The question isn't about each individual's drinking problem. The question is about tech culture's drinking problem. And there's the answer: denial.
And where exactly is the proof that there is some drinking problem in tech? Just people who refuse to drink anything at all and complaining when one a day is healthy? I think it's likely more of a religious problem, or anti-social problem, honestly. If you are too lazy to go drink one with your peers, then you will suffer less social success and poorer network, but I think you are being intentionally lazy, so you reap what you sow.
Re: Ask HN: How's your drinking problem?
#40Lifetime non-drinker here which I guess makes me even more aware of it at times. Many things are discussed "over drinks" and after a lifetime of ordering a "Diet Coke on the Rocks" I still get odd looks.
I once ordered a virgin rum & coke. Got a laugh from the bartender :)