Hacker News Reader

Comment by jollyllama | Hacker News Reader

Is this a function of key demographics (i.e. millenials) aging? Is it possible that a decline in general health has resulted in people physically not processing alcohol as well compared to prior cohorts?

View on HN

From what I understand zoomers are more concerned about their health, at least more than previous generations. That's one of the good things that came out of "influencers": sport, nutrition, no smoking, &c.

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/email/genz/2024/01...

That, and alcohol is just so expensive.

Well, the subject of the thread being "alcohol-free booze", I don't think that's a reason. Around these parts, these kinds of drinks are quite expensive, comparable to the higher-end alcoholic equivalents.

Not smoking is a millennial thing. So expect smoking to come back as the children of millennials rebel against their parents.

I think increase in vaping might be more likely. Smoking controls start to be big in many countries. And there is lot less for vaping. So it has lot less sacrifices for similar effect.

Weed is legal in 2/3 the population states, unless a federal prosecutor doesn't like you and you have a squirrel hunting gun.

I drink because it's fairly well ingrained as a libation at this point as weed was highly illegal when I formed adult / adolescent habits.

The young ones will likely phase out alcohol simply because it no longer makes sense amongst their options for chemical relaxation.

I suspect it's not a decline in general health, it's more the fact that people not used to consuming large amounts of alcohol will have more trouble processing it...

There is, I recently read about the enormous quantities of alcohol that the average American drank in the 1800s. They didn't live as long (but not by that much, considering they didn't have modern medicine), but they were physically active, had healthier social ties, and weren't exposed to the myriad of other poisons most of us are nowadays.

Gen X here. Sometimes I don't want the calories. Sometimes I want to do things after having a beer, and the alcohol tends to make me feel lazy. Around here we tend towards pretty big beers, it's nearly impossible to get something with less than 5% ABV.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com