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Comment by hunter-gatherer | Hacker News Reader

Every time plastic waste or PFAS comes up, it seems like straws are mentioned. Am I the onky one who never uses a straw? What do you all find you get from them that you wouldn't get from just drinking out of a cup?

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this is not a practical answer but it's an actual answer..

Straws are useful for drinking lemon water, and maybe other drinks which have the wrong kind of acidity that can damage tooth enamel.

The straw can help to prevent the liquid from making contact with the teeth as you're drinking.

So, there's 2 different untested theories there, I am careless spreading around without having tested either of them myself, because I have unusually strong teeth, which is an uncommon but not rare thing.

I use straws to drink diluted apple cider vinegar.

Interesting, maybe I should consider using my glass straws more, since I like drinking lemon water in summer.

I bought a pack of glass straws and a single thick plastic one that I walk with a couple years ago when they banned them in my country, one of my better "investments", it comes with a small cleaning brush but if you rinse them right after using you should be good for the most part. Especially if I buy a drink in public no way am I putting my lips on a carton or can.

Glass and stainless steel straws are really good. Only had one glass straw break in 3 years and that's because I dropped it. Especially the glass ones actually look better in your drink than any plastic or paper straw. Most importantly they don't melt if I drink slowly and don't leak anything in my drinks.

Well, if you’re drinking from a takeaway paper cup, then that too contains PFAS for similar water-resistant reasons that the straw has them for.

Source: https://mtpak.coffee/2023/05/takeaway-coffee-cupsforever-che...

Update: Actually most of these paper cups are lined with plastic: An ongoing HN post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37259619

I can't recall when I last used a straw. Years ago. I don't drink soda or sugary drinks often though and that seems to be where they're most popular. It's probably good to avoid both. Soda in moderation. I'm pretty sure that straws encourage consuming those drinks in much larger quantities than you would otherwise.

Somehow gone unmentioned but straws are independence-enabling devices for a decent swathe of the disabled population, especially those who struggle with swallowing, with fine motor control of their hands or lack muscle enough to hold a full container of liquid to their mouth.

Nobody in their right mind objects those uses of straws. Even if they might become less ubiquitous, carrying a few is probably easy to do.

A way to deal with N. American ice servings.

I used to demand no ice, and it worked ok in sit-down+waitress restaurants, but on GrubHub they will ignore that every time.

So what I do now is not even worry about the order, but when the drinks arrive I strain out all the ice, to stop the melting and dilution process. Unfortunately I still see an appalling amount of ice displacing the volume of beverage.

Also, I have a beard, and so a straw is the best thing to prevent milk or soda or whatever soaking into my facial hair.

Currently I have a vast stockpile of plastic straws, because I usually order two drinks but use one straw. Mostly, the only sustainable, crap straws are the ones I've purchased separately.

I usually ask for no ice. You get more beverage that way too.

yup, although with sugar drinks i eventually realized that getting them with ice meant i'd dilute the drink and consume less sugar. tough choices...

Also a colder drink burns more calories heating it up to body temp...

They got wise to that in my region. Drink dispensers are automated and you get the same quantity of drink with or without ice.

Maybe I use a straw once a year? It seemed reasonable to teach my daughter how to use a straw as part of her occupational therapy. Other than that and the rare (especially these past few years because of covid) restaurant outing, I don't use straws. There are some people for whom straws are the easiest way to drink, though, and there are many people who like using straws, so it makes sense to care about the health effects (from raw materials to disposal) of straws.

I mainly use them when I get an iced coffee. Makes it easier to drink with the ice and minimizes spillage risk (those sippy cup lids that stores use now always leak for me).

If I’m at a restaurant or home I rarely use one. Some cocktails at a bar also benefit similarly but others just a stirrer suffices for when it comes improperly mixed.

When bartending, they’re used to taste a drink if the bartender wants to ensure it tastes right before serving.

Don’t use metal straws, almost chipped a tooth!

So what about every other metal utensil you have in the kitchen and dining room?

Not usually trying to safely insert those into my face.

And don’t fall while walking with a metal straw. I remember reading somewhere about a horrible death from someone who tripped while sipping.

"Woman dies after being impaled by metal straw" - https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/woman-dies-m...

Also, "Boy Was Near Death After Metal Straw Pierced Throat, Brain Artery", https://www.today.com/health/health/metal-straw-punctures-th....

Young children to avoid spilling

I've got some flurosis on my front teeth, they've been sensitive to cold since I got my adult teeth. So for cold drinks it's far nicer to not be in pain by using a straw than it is to try to contort my lips over to protect them.

If I’m getting fast food then I’ll have a lid. If I’m at a sit down restaurant they will bring me one anyways. A few mixed drinks are preferable with a straw in my opinion and that’s usually the only time I grab one at home. I hate metal straws.

Try glass for home use.

Do your uber drivers actually let you drink In-n-Out milkshakes in the back seat? Is the an in-app feature I can select? As drinking strawless on I-880 would be like being a DUI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IBH0pcKzlY

The usual higher attention priority in a social setting like restaurants and driving are other people/vehicles and straws allow attention to be directed to them rather than making sure a drink is not over tilted and contents spilled and also are cheaper for single use than a more easily washable and secure sippy cup lid.

What?

Straws might be preferred for social convenience so you can focus more on the person sitting next to you than on drinking the drink in front of you. Straws can be less messy and avoid the risk of spilling a drink.

There are also accessibility reasons to need to use a straw. And some people prefer the taste of a drink with a straw.

>so you can focus more on the person sitting next to you than on drinking the drink

I never felt this was a big effort. Is this like people driving automatic transmission that assume it's dangerous to drive stick because it's "distracting"? It's not distracting once you get used to it.

Most of these things if you do them often enough will not require any mental energy.

Straws mechanically help drinking in many situations.

I'd argue you shouldn't be driving in those many situations (say, daily commute). But I'd rather a person's morning coffee be sucked than sipped behind the wheel.

(They don't obscure your vision. They help avoid spillage.)

My father taught me at a young age to never use a straw as it makes a guy look effeminate. I know it is the advice for everybody, but it stuck with me, and I guess I am healthier for it.

Useful to stir with, so I don't waste a spoon or a stirring stick.

Keeps my lips and areas around my mouth clean, so I don't waste a napkin.

Don't have to put my lips on the cup/glass, so more sanitary if eating/drinking out.

I don't waste a spoon or a stirring stick

but you waste a straw instead. i don't see any net benefit wrt this particular aspect

>so more sanitary if eating/drinking out

Wait have you ever gotten an illness that was attributed to a rim of a beverage glass that wasn’t also present in the rest of the beverage?

i suppose that it is theoretically possible that someone drinking from a glass/cup leaves something sticking to the rim that does not get cleaned off.

but if i would take this consideration seriously then my conclusion would be to not consume anything at this place rather than assuming that the rim of a glass is the only place that is less likely to be clean.

What's most likely is a poorly trained waiter/waitress uses an eagle claw grab to hold the glass as it's moved and served. That means their fingers, god knows where they've been, touch the rim of the glass I am about to sip from.

I've seen this happen everywhere from the cheapest joint to the poshest of posh establishments that I view it as simple inevitability so long as humans are involved in serving.

Frankly, to me it sounds a bit excessive to worry about such things. We live in a very sterile society to start with, so I see no reason to take any extra precautions. I wash my own hands and don't think what others are doing with theirs.

Not a huge straw person, but a lid.

Lids that can be directly sipped from are common for hot drinks - like a single use coffee cup. Increasingly more common for single use packaging of cold drinks due to the whole straw thing.

The single-use coated cups and lids are probably full of PFAS also.

Dry facial hair.

You must not have kids. Mine would murder for straws when they were between ages 2 and 17.

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