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Comment by maria2 | Hacker News Reader

Quitting alcohol seems to be in vogue these days. I'd like to offer a counterpoint: I love to drink. By the government definition, I'm a very heavy drinker. I have 1 - 3 glasses of wine a night to relax after putting my child to bed. Of course, I do go many days without drinking when life gets in the way. But I certainly enjoy my night time ritual.

But what I really love about drinking is socializing over drinks. No, I don't mean the physical effects of the alcohol. What I like about socializing over a drink or three is that you're almost entirely focused on your conversation partners. People aren't focused on a board game, activity, or food. A group out drinking has made a commitment to one another that they're going to socialize in raw form. I like that.

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It's in vogue because people are realizing they are actively consuming cancer juice...

Much like cigarette users had to realize they are actively inhaling cancer smoke...

You kind of act like people that don't drink can't go out, have non-alcoholic drinks, and still focus on eachother...

Not to defend alcohol, but by that logic, we should also be giving up on BBQ, cured meats, and stir fries, and yet I don't see very many people merrily throwing those away.

Those are carcinogenic every consumption?

I’m not sure, but they are inherently carcinogenic, so I don’t know why they wouldn’t be.

I am genuinely curious - what part of BBQ? We know red meat can lead to an increased risk of colon cancer, but you can still have it safely.

I was thinking of smoking meats in particular.

Not only smoked meats, any meat/fish/poultry cooked at high temperature (above 300 ºF) contains carcinogenic substances [1].

[1] https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/d...

Smoked meats have high levels of carcinogens. The carcinogens are created when food cooks at a high temp. For smoking, in particular, they are created when fat drips on to the heat source and then the resulting carcinogens end up in the meat [0].

Cured meats contain nitrates or nitrites, both of which have been associated with an increased risk of cancer.

0: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/is-smoked-meat-bad-for-yo...

Gave already up on meat because it fuels climate change

What is carcenogenic about stir fries?

A lot of people also like to signal virtue for fake internet points.

"On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog"

I hope that's not how I am coming across as

> I have 1 - 3 glasses of wine a night to relax after putting my child to bed.

I'm sorry but I have to acknowledge that 1-3 glasses a night by yourself is a lot of drinking. I was the same way with weed. It didn't have any major affects on my life until I quit smoking and I realized my life was way better without it.

I'm some random idiot on the internet so feel free to ignore my take, but finding ways to relax without alcohol will make your life so much better.

We are going slightly off topic here, but may I ask how your life turned better without weed?

When Corona made availability a bit harder I quit last year for several months. But to my surprise I wasn't more productive, wasn't more focused all I got was getting more moody and easier to distact.

I came to accept that weed is self medication against my ADD and depression that works better than I actually expected.

No worries, this really depends on the person and their smoking habits. I know for me I was smoking almost daily, using it to cope with founder stress in unhealthy ways, using it to run away from problems. For me personally, weed has the effect that it makes me super lazy, and that effect lingers for a couple of days, which made me more stressed.

Cutting weed definitely made me a ton more anxious for the first month, but after that I felt more motivated, more linguistically fluid.

As a sober alcoholic, coffee meets your requirements for a 1 on 1 convo. I like it for the same reasons! Your choice of days to meet is much more limited (people typically recuperate in a weekend morning, so each person really only has one day they can meet) but all it takes is one good 1 on 1 convo every few years to maintain a great friendship. In the same way that small amounts of alcohol act as a CNS stimulant, coffee boosts the convo too.

I am the same and as an introvert, drinking while in groups helps me socialize with less effort.

The only downside is the weight gain that comes with it.

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