3 ms·

I'm well aware that this isn't healthy, but it is the norm within much of the US. There was some unfortunate use of "most" and "much". However, the point is tha

I'm well aware that this isn't healthy, but it is the norm within much of the US. There was some unfortunate use of "most" and "much". However, the point is that this type of behavior is extremely normalized. The cited percentages don't mean much to me, except I will take your point that I should have used words more carefully. 17% might sound tiny, but I don't think it makes much sense to look at the total population here. There are quite a few people who don't drink at all, or very little (to the point that I wouldn't call them "drinkers"). I should have specified that the populations I'm looking at are 18-35 year old "drinkers". The cited behavior wouldn't be shocking at all within this group, and would absolutely be considered normal. The problem is somewhat masked by the fact 16 oz or larger beers are common these days. From what I've heard CA/UK/AU isn't doing much better. I'd highly recommend the documentary "Drinkers like me". It features a middle aged man in UK, who's not considered an alcoholic by friends slow realization, that his drinking might not be as moderate as he thinks; and that society may normalize alcohol abuse.

dpark 7y ago
> 17% might sound tiny, but I don't think it makes much sense to look at the total population here. It's not just the population, though. Your binge frequency is 4 times higher than that of the CDC report, meaning that you're really discussing some population much smaller than 17%. My guess is that you're probably covering about 5% of population with your example. Even when I was in college this wasn't normal. There were certainly people who drank this much, and given the frequency of binge drinking, they could fit in without being so obvious. But people who admitted to drinking a case of beer a week were very rare.
- P_I_Staker 7y ago
  5% is one out of twenty people. That's not very rare, when you consider these things tend to have a lopsided distribution. You have to be careful with statistics, because in our minds numbers like 5-17% are minuscule, but the reality is that's not uncommon. If you were to consider this drinking pattern a disease (we'll call it "borderline alcohol abuse"), it would be considered "very common", since there are over 3 million cases (16 million +) > Your binge frequency is 4 times higher than that of the CDC report I think you're exaggerating a bit. I present a wide range and you're focusing on the highest end of it. The low end would be much more reasonable, though not completely healthy. > But people who admitted to drinking a case of beer a week were very rare. That's kinda the point. People aren't admitting it or being realistic with how much they drink (I'd be willing to bet these statistics are low also). A guy in the UK started counting and was over 100 units (~30-50 beers). Nobody thought he was an alcoholic at all. It's just a bit of fun social drinking. Of course you're gonna go out with boys after your beer league hockey game (where you had 1-3 beers in the locker room), later in the week there's trivia, and you have to go to Mark's party. Oh, and you like to have a beer or two with the game (forgetting you frequently grab 3). After a stressful day of work you have a drink or two, so what? In my experience, this kind of behavior is totally normalized; I'm not the first person to notice.

dpark 7y ago

> 17% might sound tiny, but I don't think it makes much sense to look at the total population here. It's not just the population, though. Your binge frequency is 4 times higher than that of the CDC report, meaning that you're really discussing some population much smaller than 17%. My guess is that you're probably covering about 5% of population with your example. Even when I was in college this wasn't normal. There were certainly people who drank this much, and given the frequency of binge drinking, they could fit in without being so obvious. But people who admitted to drinking a case of beer a week were very rare.

P_I_Staker 7y ago
5% is one out of twenty people. That's not very rare, when you consider these things tend to have a lopsided distribution. You have to be careful with statistics, because in our minds numbers like 5-17% are minuscule, but the reality is that's not uncommon. If you were to consider this drinking pattern a disease (we'll call it "borderline alcohol abuse"), it would be considered "very common", since there are over 3 million cases (16 million +) > Your binge frequency is 4 times higher than that of the CDC report I think you're exaggerating a bit. I present a wide range and you're focusing on the highest end of it. The low end would be much more reasonable, though not completely healthy. > But people who admitted to drinking a case of beer a week were very rare. That's kinda the point. People aren't admitting it or being realistic with how much they drink (I'd be willing to bet these statistics are low also). A guy in the UK started counting and was over 100 units (~30-50 beers). Nobody thought he was an alcoholic at all. It's just a bit of fun social drinking. Of course you're gonna go out with boys after your beer league hockey game (where you had 1-3 beers in the locker room), later in the week there's trivia, and you have to go to Mark's party. Oh, and you like to have a beer or two with the game (forgetting you frequently grab 3). After a stressful day of work you have a drink or two, so what? In my experience, this kind of behavior is totally normalized; I'm not the first person to notice.