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U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

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Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#91

Post by mrtksn »

leptons wrote: post #87
mrtksn wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do actually believe that weed replacing alcohol as drug of choice is destroying the social fabric of the society. What's so controversial about it? What is the last time when a joint got someone laid or made friends?

If you need alcohol to get laid or make friends then I feel very sorry for you. Most people I know got laid in high school (sometimes actually inside the school), without any alcohol involved at all. We also made plenty of friends. YMMV, I guess. I suppose some people are only likable if other people are drunk? I generally avoid those kinds of people no matter how inebriated I am.

I'm happy that people you know got laid in high school but loneliness has become society destroying epidemic and your friends that are getting laid are not doing enough to save the fertility rates.

The strange tone in your writing reminds me of Dinesh from the Silicon Valley series :) I'm sure you are one of the cool ones with the good hairstyle who doesn't need alcohol unlike the lesser people haha.

Alcohol is not about being so drunk that you do degenerate stuff and fuck people you don't like. It's about easing the social anxieties and improving the mood together with a good company and some music.

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#92

Post by kruffalon »

socalgal2 wrote: post #63
atsushin wrote: post #14

There was a pretty good Kurzgesagt video posted earlier today on alcohol in general: https://youtu.be/aOwmt39L2IQ The shift in perception of alcohol is certainly a good sign. Even outside of the health benefits, a night out at the bar is expensive now (at least on the East Coast) and honestly speaking other drugs are simply more cost-effective. I still have the occasional cocktail when going out with friends but now…

> The shift in perception of alcohol is certainly a good sign. Is it? That same video, in the last 2-3 mins, mentioned all the positives of alcohol and ton of possibly related fallout from social drinking going down. People being lonely and depressed instead of socializing. If I had to choose between living an extra few years but being lonely and depressed vs living a few less years but enjoying them a bunch more I'd…

> my friends/co-workers/classmates introduced me to izakaya culture - being with friends for 2-6 hours, drinking and snacking and talking. And sometimes going to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th outings.

There must be something I'm not understanding about "izakaya culture", because that just sounds like hanging with friends without a specific activity planned so you just talk shit, have a drink and eat (whether at home or different places around town), maybe someone breaks out a pack of cards?

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#93

Post by mrtksn »

Barrin92 wrote: post #79
mrtksn wrote: post #23

Such a sad development, Young people need to drink more and socialize. No wonder the virginity rates are skyrocketing. You don't get into situations by getting stoned at home. Sure it is bad for your body but when used in moderation the benefits are much much more than that risk. What a scam the weed culture is. Maybe we should ban it again together with the social media to save the birth rates and the society in gen…

Yup. Hitchens was pretty prophetic about this when he wrote his "in defense of teenage drinking" piece 30 years ago. Now you have an entire generation of permanently in therapy pill poppers or weed smoking loners. An entire cohort of Biedermeiers, bores and shut-ins. Here in Germany where the drinking age is 16 it was always funny to see US expats let loose when they realized that teenagers can legally drink and don'…

True. Trump is also a teetotaler and he definitely needs a drink sometimes.

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#94

Post by dmonitor »

littlexsparkee wrote: post #84
OkayPhysicist wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dedicated spaces to consuming social lubricants naturally are social spaces. Losing them would be a dramatic blow to the entire concept of social life.

Yeah, I agree with you. I'm just saying someone could take a 5mg THC mint and then grab a beer at a bar to be social. My point is that weed can be social in any third place, whether or not it's dedicated to it.

> and then grab a beer at a bar to be social

I feel like you're missing the point. The bar a necessary part of the equation because alcohol has a social monopoly on physical locations.

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#95

Post by OneMorePerson »

This is not a direct response to this article, but related to the topic of not drinking. I'm usually a follower of the latest data and such but I am highly skeptical of all the recent news about how drinking isn't safe in any quantity.

The latest data can be wrong. No different than how there was a period of time where UV light was considered this evil to avoid, and now we know it's actually pretty critical to get sunlight in moderation (and completely avoiding UV causes its own issues). This seems to be a problem with US health science where they will find something bad like partially hydrogenated fats (a terrible man made substance), and then go on to claim "fats are bad" (this is back in the 90s ish). The health system just ignored the long history of diets that were relatively high in fats (actual good natural fats), and tried to use "data". Ultimately data is only as good as our ability to measure, which is limited with something like the human body. That overcorrection has since come back to a more reasonable middle point but still has some issues.

It's undisputed that drinking a lot of alcohol is bad for you, but I don't see clear data for the grey area. If I fed a rat a whole bunch of vinegar day after day in large quantities it would get health problems, yet drinking a bit of apple cider vinegar, salt and vinegar chips, etc. are all fine, likely beneficial (pickled vegetables are good for you).

I'm not saying that there's any proof that alcohol is beneficial yet, but the lack of clear data for that grey area of risk is interesting. In Japan for example it's believed that drinking sake in moderate quantities has health benefits.

I guess going back to the sunlight analogy, it's hard to believe that a substance that has been around as long as alcohol has could be so toxic that occasional consumption has any meaningful negative effect.

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#96

Post by moi2388 »

gwbas1c wrote: post #90

I recently had a cardiologist wag her finger at me and tell me that recent data pretty much demonstrates that there really isn't any healthy amount of alcohol to consume. 20 years ago, when "1 drink a day is healthiest" was all over the news, I said cheers and picked up the habit. It's kind of hard to break, considering that I really, really enjoy the flavor of alcoholic beverages. Alcohol, as a solvent, allows for f…

Reply to her that this is only true for populations, not individuals.

Plenty of people who drink age well and plenty of people who don’t drink don’t age well.

Statistics say something about aggregates, not individual data points

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#97

Post by doublepg23 »

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #18
littlexsparkee wrote: post #9

Found myself cutting back, too. I drink beer and usually have 1-2 at a time - any more and the flavors just get muddled. It's water, tea, coffee for me most of the time (added benefit of polyphenols, antioxidants for those brewed drinks). If I drank more, I would be too worried about handicapping my intellect.

I love tea, but because of the caffeine I think of it as a morning/afternoon enjoyment. It'd be lovely to have more evening refreshments. I have various mixers for seltzer water, which helps. Also just drinking less liquids at night probably helps some with sleeping in general but I really like having something to sip on.

I’ve been making cold brew tea during this summer and sipping on that.

3-4 decaf black tea bags for a body, 2 or so random herbal teas for flavor all tossed in a large tea jug in the fridge overnight.

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#98

Post by Gunax »

mrtksn wrote: post #23

Such a sad development, Young people need to drink more and socialize. No wonder the virginity rates are skyrocketing. You don't get into situations by getting stoned at home. Sure it is bad for your body but when used in moderation the benefits are much much more than that risk. What a scam the weed culture is. Maybe we should ban it again together with the social media to save the birth rates and the society in gen…

We will all live long, safe, and boring lives

Re: U.S. alcohol consumption drops to a 90-year low, new poll finds

#100

Post by leptons »

mrtksn wrote: post #91
leptons wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you need alcohol to get laid or make friends then I feel very sorry for you. Most people I know got laid in high school (sometimes actually inside the school), without any alcohol involved at all. We also made plenty of friends. YMMV, I guess. I suppose some people are only likable if other people are drunk? I generally avoid those kinds of people no matter how inebriated I am.

I'm happy that people you know got laid in high school but loneliness has become society destroying epidemic and your friends that are getting laid are not doing enough to save the fertility rates. The strange tone in your writing reminds me of Dinesh from the Silicon Valley series :) I'm sure you are one of the cool ones with the good hairstyle who doesn't need alcohol unlike the lesser people haha. Alcohol is not a…

Since you are assuming things about me, I'll assume that your social skills suck if you need to be intoxicated to be social or get laid. It seems like your parents failed you.

But you don't know me and no, I don't have "a good hairstyle", and no, I'm not "one of the cool ones". I'm just as average as anyone.

"fertility rates" and people getting laid are two very different things. People don't have sex only to produce offspring.

And the world could use a lot less people anyway, so I don't see it as a bad thing if fertility rates drop, no matter the cause, even if the drop is significant. The world will be fine with a billion or two less people, in fact it may just improve some situations.

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