3 ms·

I don't mean to derail because I think you have a valid point, but I believe alcoholism is still a way worse problem today. If I'm remembering correctly, it's

by dmoy 10y ago

I don't mean to derail because I think you have a valid point, but I believe alcoholism is still a way worse problem today. If I'm remembering correctly, it's something like the same number of people die due to alcohol every year in the US as shoot themselves death (~30k)... and that's just fatalities; if we're talking family problems it's way higher.

lovich 10y ago
What was it when the boomers were starting families? If it was higher then, his point still stands even if there's work to do
sandworm101 10y ago
Alcoholism is certainly still a thing, but there is a generation of young people these days who simply aren't drinking. Some do, and do so to an excess, but something like like half of collage-educated young people just don't. It isn't religion or ideology and so they aren't shouting it from rooftops. They just don't want to drink. For me it started at university. I was riding a motorcycle to class and a job with insane hours (film/TV). Drinking wasn't a practical option. (Riding in pouring rain, on a fiday night night, after 20+ hours of class and work... I would not have survived long.) Without making any decisions either way, one day I realized I hadn't had a drink in over a year. "The proportion of 16-24-year-olds who do not drink increased by more than 40 per cent between 2005 and 2013. Today, one in five is teetotal." "...wet sales at student union bars have dived in the last 10-15 years." http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/generation-abstemious-more-and-more-young-people-are-shunning-alcohol-a6811186.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/featu...
- flukus 10y ago
  That's in the UK, do they have the same insanely high alcohol tax as Australia?
- webmaven 10y ago
  This is interesting. Does this also carry over into startup-culture? In the US, many startups have normalized the consumption of alcohol to an alarming degree (in-office happy-hours, kegerators, beer-Fridays, etc.). What does it look like in the UK? Are there equivalents (aside from the traditional round-at-the-pub-after-work, that is)?
ethbro 10y ago
Historically, we (Americans at least, I hear Russians are quite a bit higher) aren't drinking much these days: ~2.25 gallons of pure alcohol a year. Compared to 6.6 gallons in 1770 [1] and 7.1 gallons in 1870 [2] (thus igniting the calls for Prohibition). [1] http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/moonshine-whiskey-in-american-history-ze0z1502zdeh http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/moonshine-whiskey-i... [2] http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31741615 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31741615
- sandworm101 10y ago
  There is a big non-drinking movement amongst young people in Russia right now. Putin, love or hate him, has passed on an attitude to his young followers. I'm reminded of an interview with a British soccer hooligan about confrontations with Russian hooligans: "It's not fair when the other team is sober!"
  - thriftwy 10y ago
    People still drink in Russia, but it's much less about drinking their brain out and much more about socializing and sipping quality liquor. Don't end up wasted except by accident. People usually drink in company, which acts as moderator. This compared with Sovied men from 70-s and 80-s which would drink any alcohol-containing liquid immediately without even asking themself "why". I don't think it's Putin related, not even economy related so much, it's just return to normalcy after a century of Soviet experiment.

by dmoy 10y ago

lovich 10y ago

What was it when the boomers were starting families? If it was higher then, his point still stands even if there's work to do

sandworm101 10y ago

Alcoholism is certainly still a thing, but there is a generation of young people these days who simply aren't drinking. Some do, and do so to an excess, but something like like half of collage-educated young people just don't. It isn't religion or ideology and so they aren't shouting it from rooftops. They just don't want to drink. For me it started at university. I was riding a motorcycle to class and a job with insane hours (film/TV). Drinking wasn't a practical option. (Riding in pouring rain, on a fiday night night, after 20+ hours of class and work... I would not have survived long.) Without making any decisions either way, one day I realized I hadn't had a drink in over a year. "The proportion of 16-24-year-olds who do not drink increased by more than 40 per cent between 2005 and 2013. Today, one in five is teetotal." "...wet sales at student union bars have dived in the last 10-15 years." http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/generation-abstemious-more-and-more-young-people-are-shunning-alcohol-a6811186.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/featu...

flukus 10y ago
That's in the UK, do they have the same insanely high alcohol tax as Australia?
webmaven 10y ago
This is interesting. Does this also carry over into startup-culture? In the US, many startups have normalized the consumption of alcohol to an alarming degree (in-office happy-hours, kegerators, beer-Fridays, etc.). What does it look like in the UK? Are there equivalents (aside from the traditional round-at-the-pub-after-work, that is)?

ethbro 10y ago

Historically, we (Americans at least, I hear Russians are quite a bit higher) aren't drinking much these days: ~2.25 gallons of pure alcohol a year. Compared to 6.6 gallons in 1770 [1] and 7.1 gallons in 1870 [2] (thus igniting the calls for Prohibition). [1] http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/moonshine-whiskey-in-american-history-ze0z1502zdeh http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/moonshine-whiskey-i... [2] http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31741615 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31741615

sandworm101 10y ago
There is a big non-drinking movement amongst young people in Russia right now. Putin, love or hate him, has passed on an attitude to his young followers. I'm reminded of an interview with a British soccer hooligan about confrontations with Russian hooligans: "It's not fair when the other team is sober!"
- thriftwy 10y ago
  People still drink in Russia, but it's much less about drinking their brain out and much more about socializing and sipping quality liquor. Don't end up wasted except by accident. People usually drink in company, which acts as moderator. This compared with Sovied men from 70-s and 80-s which would drink any alcohol-containing liquid immediately without even asking themself "why". I don't think it's Putin related, not even economy related so much, it's just return to normalcy after a century of Soviet experiment.