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Do people really drink that much alcohol? It’s funny because in the article she quotes her friend saying they drink once a month or so. That’s just always been

by wincy 2y ago

Do people really drink that much alcohol? It’s funny because in the article she quotes her friend saying they drink once a month or so. That’s just always been my default. I hardly ever drink, but I don’t actively shun it. I guess when I’m hanging out with friends we’re playing board games or D&D or other things that require you to at least somewhat have your senses about you. Maybe I just have boring friends. The key to good habits is to just be a turbo nerd apparently.

cnity 2y ago
It's probably a side effect of the kinds of bubbles we build. I'm a moderate drinker: I drink a whisky every 3 days or so and then socially will drink a few pints, probably once a week or once every two weeks. The majority of people I spend time with are roughly the same, except my wife who hardly drinks at all. Internet commenters do love a binary though, and don't forget that most of what you read on the internet is written by insane people: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most...
- ryandrake 2y ago
  The bubbles also make it hard to compare and figure out if you have a problem. If all your friends drink two 6-packs every night, and you have 3 beers a night, you might think you're fine and dandy. On the other hand, if all your friends drink casually, maybe once a week during bowling night, and you drink that same 3 beers a night, you might think you're an alcoholic.
amunozo 2y ago
I don't know in other parts of the world, but in Europe people drink a lot.
- frabia 2y ago
  mmm not sure if it's fully true tbh. I'm from Italy and currently live in Germany (so maybe together with France would be the stereotypical drinking countries) and was always a bit horrified by the stories of people drinking in the US...
  - skrause 2y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_c... In the US the average adult drinks 9.6 liters of alcohol per year. Germany is at 12.2, the UK at 10.8 and Italy at 8.0. So some European countries drink more than the US and some drink less, but all in all the difference is not that big.
    - nottorp 2y ago
      I'd take a guess and say the US has more extremes: puritans who don't drink at all and heavy drinkers. Isn't it, for example, pretty common to have a glass of wine at lunch in France? If 50% of french do that, that average is already way more spread than in a country where 30% don't drink at all.
silverquiet 2y ago
Yeah, I was a "hope-to-die" alcoholic for around a decade and I don't think alcohol made up as much of my identity as it did/does for the author. Certainly I see some of the effects she noted, but I didn't actually lose any friends or anything like that when I quit drinking.
- dspillett 2y ago
  I wasn't a “hope-to-die” type, but for a time drinking was part of my pension plan: investing heavily in Smirnoff to increase the chance of not living long enough that not having a good pension plan is an issue! I don't drink much these days, I can't say I've lost any social life because of it. There are some I've lost contact with, but I've gained other friends in the active hobbies that I reduced my drinking to be better at.
Hamuko 2y ago
The weirdest part to me about this article is the "have you ever tried spending Christmas, birthdays, weddings, christenings or funerals with them, without alcohol?" question. Alcohol has never really been an issue if I go spend the holidays with my immediate family, even though I am the only one that doesn't drink. Just how much alcohol is your family going through on Christmas?
- dspillett 2y ago
  > Just how much alcohol is your family going through on Christmas? The “have you ever tried spending [time] with them, without alcohol?” isn't referring directly to the amount of alcohol the others are drinking, but dumbing yourself down with alcohol, so you aren't as bothered by their behaviour. Of course the behaviours that would bother you while more sober might be induced or exacerbated by excessive alcohol, but often I find people who are difficult to deal with after a few drinks are people I'd rather not interact with much when they are sober either.
- raddan 2y ago
  It can be a lot. Christmas, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving, etc, were for a long time excuses for my family to drink to excess. As a teenager who finally had their driver’s license, I remember being proud of finally being old enough to drive my drunk parents home. The problem is that it catches up with you. And it is easy to overlook when some people develop a serious drinking problem. My mother became a serious several-liters-of-vodka-a-day drunk. It was profoundly noticeable toward the tail end. It all stopped when the heavy vomiting (from the drinking) triggered a brain bleed and she had a stroke. She was, for months, in a coma, and then for many more months, unable to speak or move. To an outsider, she now appears normal, but to those who know her well, she is not. Her memories are usually confabulated. She cannot perform ordinary tasks (like cooking), and she is frail. Most importantly, the spark that made her funny and interesting is gone. Drinking destroyed it. Sadly, this is a pattern I saw repeated in numerous family members. But it never really impacted me until it was my own mother. I am not anti-drinking. But this experience removed almost all of the pleasure of drinking for me. The irony is that I really do miss those joyous, booze-fueled holidays. I have a lot of complicated emotions about it, but I wouldn’t go back.
- 2y ago
yamrzou 2y ago
> Do people really drink that much alcohol? We usually mistakenly believe so because of pluralistic ignorance. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance#Research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance#Research Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: some consequences of misperceiving the social norm (1993) — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8433272/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8433272/
- aaron695 2y ago
  [dead]
nottorp 2y ago
> Do people really drink that much alcohol? People who preach do - or were until they quit. Every article against drinking i've ran across assumed that if you touch one beer once you'll end up drinking 1 liter of vodka per day.
- astura 2y ago
  Yeah, and that if you don't feel like drinking for whatever reason you have to make it the main part of your personality.

by wincy 2y ago

cnity 2y ago

It's probably a side effect of the kinds of bubbles we build. I'm a moderate drinker: I drink a whisky every 3 days or so and then socially will drink a few pints, probably once a week or once every two weeks. The majority of people I spend time with are roughly the same, except my wife who hardly drinks at all. Internet commenters do love a binary though, and don't forget that most of what you read on the internet is written by insane people: https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most_of_what_you_read_on_the_internet_is_written/ https://www.reddit.com/r/slatestarcodex/comments/9rvroo/most...

ryandrake 2y ago
The bubbles also make it hard to compare and figure out if you have a problem. If all your friends drink two 6-packs every night, and you have 3 beers a night, you might think you're fine and dandy. On the other hand, if all your friends drink casually, maybe once a week during bowling night, and you drink that same 3 beers a night, you might think you're an alcoholic.

amunozo 2y ago

I don't know in other parts of the world, but in Europe people drink a lot.

frabia 2y ago
mmm not sure if it's fully true tbh. I'm from Italy and currently live in Germany (so maybe together with France would be the stereotypical drinking countries) and was always a bit horrified by the stories of people drinking in the US...
- skrause 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption_per_capita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_c... In the US the average adult drinks 9.6 liters of alcohol per year. Germany is at 12.2, the UK at 10.8 and Italy at 8.0. So some European countries drink more than the US and some drink less, but all in all the difference is not that big.
  - nottorp 2y ago
    I'd take a guess and say the US has more extremes: puritans who don't drink at all and heavy drinkers. Isn't it, for example, pretty common to have a glass of wine at lunch in France? If 50% of french do that, that average is already way more spread than in a country where 30% don't drink at all.

silverquiet 2y ago

Yeah, I was a "hope-to-die" alcoholic for around a decade and I don't think alcohol made up as much of my identity as it did/does for the author. Certainly I see some of the effects she noted, but I didn't actually lose any friends or anything like that when I quit drinking.

dspillett 2y ago
I wasn't a “hope-to-die” type, but for a time drinking was part of my pension plan: investing heavily in Smirnoff to increase the chance of not living long enough that not having a good pension plan is an issue! I don't drink much these days, I can't say I've lost any social life because of it. There are some I've lost contact with, but I've gained other friends in the active hobbies that I reduced my drinking to be better at.

Hamuko 2y ago

The weirdest part to me about this article is the "have you ever tried spending Christmas, birthdays, weddings, christenings or funerals with them, without alcohol?" question. Alcohol has never really been an issue if I go spend the holidays with my immediate family, even though I am the only one that doesn't drink. Just how much alcohol is your family going through on Christmas?

dspillett 2y ago
> Just how much alcohol is your family going through on Christmas? The “have you ever tried spending [time] with them, without alcohol?” isn't referring directly to the amount of alcohol the others are drinking, but dumbing yourself down with alcohol, so you aren't as bothered by their behaviour. Of course the behaviours that would bother you while more sober might be induced or exacerbated by excessive alcohol, but often I find people who are difficult to deal with after a few drinks are people I'd rather not interact with much when they are sober either.
raddan 2y ago
It can be a lot. Christmas, Christmas Eve, Thanksgiving, etc, were for a long time excuses for my family to drink to excess. As a teenager who finally had their driver’s license, I remember being proud of finally being old enough to drive my drunk parents home. The problem is that it catches up with you. And it is easy to overlook when some people develop a serious drinking problem. My mother became a serious several-liters-of-vodka-a-day drunk. It was profoundly noticeable toward the tail end. It all stopped when the heavy vomiting (from the drinking) triggered a brain bleed and she had a stroke. She was, for months, in a coma, and then for many more months, unable to speak or move. To an outsider, she now appears normal, but to those who know her well, she is not. Her memories are usually confabulated. She cannot perform ordinary tasks (like cooking), and she is frail. Most importantly, the spark that made her funny and interesting is gone. Drinking destroyed it. Sadly, this is a pattern I saw repeated in numerous family members. But it never really impacted me until it was my own mother. I am not anti-drinking. But this experience removed almost all of the pleasure of drinking for me. The irony is that I really do miss those joyous, booze-fueled holidays. I have a lot of complicated emotions about it, but I wouldn’t go back.
2y ago

yamrzou 2y ago

> Do people really drink that much alcohol? We usually mistakenly believe so because of pluralistic ignorance. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance#Research https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralistic_ignorance#Research Pluralistic ignorance and alcohol use on campus: some consequences of misperceiving the social norm (1993) — https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8433272/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8433272/

aaron695 2y ago
[dead]

nottorp 2y ago

> Do people really drink that much alcohol? People who preach do - or were until they quit. Every article against drinking i've ran across assumed that if you touch one beer once you'll end up drinking 1 liter of vodka per day.

astura 2y ago
Yeah, and that if you don't feel like drinking for whatever reason you have to make it the main part of your personality.