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Comment by meristohm | Hacker News Reader

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meristohm

What are we trying to escape?

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Our deeply unnatural existence staring into glowing rectangles 8+ hours per day.

We wake up and look at the small rectangle.

Go to work and stare at the medium rectangle.

Come home and watch the big rectangle.

> Come home and watch the big rectangle.

Come home and watch Black Mirror on our largest black mirror.

If that were the case you’d see lower alcohol consumption among manual labourers than among software engineers…

More likely loneliness, the article mentions solitary drinking long before we worked in cubicles.

Some of the more recent research on alcohol suggests that it isn't so much of an escape. Instead it creates a type of myopia for the mind, shifting focus from the long-term to the short-term.

For some people, it can really help live more in the moment, enjoy time with friends, and temporarily put aside all the stress and worries about the future.

Emptiness, in some cases. Imagine living a life of poverty, or being trapped in a situation you realize you don't have the tools or privilege to escape (having to care for many dependents, no time to go to school, or can't afford to pay for it because you're trying to scrape enough for rent).

Having no direction or hope for a better future (perceived or real) has driven people I've known to alcoholism.

Not an excuse. Just a perspective.

A lack of community. Or, eachother.

Take your pick!

The Wikipedia pages for most major religions provide a decent set of candidates for further investigation. Ditto a huge percentage of fiction that's considered "literature", if you're into that kind of thing.

Stress

Life.

The regulators and bureaucrats.

Apparently 15% of our countrymen believe the QAnon pedophilia hoax/theory [0]. That gives me a certain thirst.

[0] https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/05/31/qanon-poll-americ...

Of all the downvotes I have received on HN, these puzzle me the most.

While your comment gave me a chuckle, I find it's (perhaps unintentional) flame bait which will steer the discussion into an unproductive crapfest instead of staying on the topic, which is alcoholism in America. That's to say, it won't foster any intelligent discussion. I bet this is why some have expressed disagreement.

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