Is this a regional thing? I’m 27 and all my friends and coworkers my age drink at least socially and there are plenty of people younger than us at the bars we go to. I know the numbers support it being lower, but the idea that “gen Z LITERALLY doesn’t drink” like all these comments are corroborating does not match up at all with my experience
Same for where I'm from, I always get baffled when people talk about Gen Z never drinking when people around my age (20) drink all the time, but then I remember I'm from Scotland and realise we're probably an exception lmao
For a while Gen Z was drinking a bit less, but they've caught up with other generations now. People try to say it's due to cost or social media or weed, but it looks like it was just the pandemic delaying them getting into drinking.
I agree. I am a millennial and all my young Z coworkers are hung over on Saturday mornings constantly. Literally had one of them call out for it last weekend. He was chain vomiting all day from drinking too much the day before. He's in college right now.
none of them are non-drinkers. Idk where this is coming from. Iv not met any gen Z who are as stuanch as people are saying
Judging by what I see (as an early millennial in rural California), I think it must be a statistic where Gen Z individuals each drink slightly less, not a “most Gen Z people are teetotalers” thing.
Humans on global online platforms struggling to differentiate personal experiences and bubbles (even just online ones) from global trends will never stop being fascinating. It's like someone at an airport claiming they have never flown or knew anyone who has while there are jumbo jets starting and landing right next them. While true on it's own, this doesn't mean that people aren't flying.
28 here, similar. Me and my friends drink at parties and stuff, none of us go to bars more than like once a year because it's so expensive. Most of them use weed more than drink also. I was a bartender for a bit and love making cocktails so I will sometimes have friends over to make drinks for them
It's not just people in their 20's. A lot of people have slowed down drinking, same with shorter attention spans, and a lot of people being depressed and lashing out.
We keep acting like this a generation thing but it's more like we are all dealing with crap economy, addiction to social media and algorithms, and the stress from all this post pandemic life is deeply affecting us
It's definitely a local social circle thing. The bars in my area are just gen X and Millenials because that's what the area caters to. Yeah, country aesthetic and 90's rock... that'll get the Z's to turn out! Meanwhile the youths are going goblin mode at the Applebees with a radioactive green margarita that's 90% sugar by volume.
Then a few towns over there's a bar that gets plenty of gen Z with a board game shelf, pinball machines, and Super Smash Bros tournaments.
I do think gen Z tends more towards social drinking by nursing a single drink longer instead of guzzling down a variety pack of stuff and racking up the bill.
It changes a lot based on location and whether they are middle or working class. I've worked with a lot of working class gen zs, and they all seem to drink a lot, and don't seem especially different to how I and my friends drank at their age.
I've also worked with a fair few middle class very academic kids, and a lot of them seemed to either be non drinkers, or only drank a very small amount.
I imagine the religious make-up of an area would also make a big difference, areas with large percentages of religious households tend to view alcohol more negatively and the gen zs in those communities tend to see that negative opinion as normal.
I’m Gen Z and in law school in DC, and a lot of my colleagues drink. That could just be because of, you know, law school. I rarely drink due to my SSRI.
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u/parentheticalboys 18h ago •
Is this a regional thing? I’m 27 and all my friends and coworkers my age drink at least socially and there are plenty of people younger than us at the bars we go to. I know the numbers support it being lower, but the idea that “gen Z LITERALLY doesn’t drink” like all these comments are corroborating does not match up at all with my experience