The good news is that this becomes less of an issue with age. In another 5 years you'll deal with this situation slightly less, and another 5 years after that (

The good news is that this becomes less of an issue with age. In another 5 years you'll deal with this situation slightly less, and another 5 years after that (when many of your peers have kids or whatever) nobody will care at all. I think most of this entire discussion simply revolves around the young age of the startup scene in general. It's the same with any scene full of people your age. Now that I'm in my early 30s, I can tell you that anyone this age who's still doing peer pressure is someone you need to remove from your life immediately. Most of us just want to have a few cocktails and call it a night. BTW, it's not "soma" when used in social situations. It's social lubricant. I'd equate alcohol with soma when a person is sitting on the couch watching NFL or MLB with beer, not caring about anything in the world. Which also has its place in the world, you just don't need to do that on a consistent basis. Long story short, my advice to you is to find a few older friends who just don't care.