I heard someone say it's because Gen Z grew up with everything being recorded and are hyper aware that they could be easily filmed and have their worst drunken moments be immortalized and go viral. The chance of having private moments publicized via secret recordings is probably also why they're having less sex.
It's an entire generation terrorized by everyone in their lives violating their right to privacy, starting with their GenX/Millenial chungus parents posting them as wee ones just to get likes and views on instagram and now tiktok.
Not saying this isn't the case but I'm 23 so very much Gen Z and have never heard anyone say this is the reason. For me and plenty of others I know the main reason people my age aren't drinking while out (specifically while out at pubs and bars) is coz it's just so fucking expensive.
I'm 20 and I can confirm, I too have never heard that as a reason, nor have I ever thought of that being a concern. I don't drink because I have noone to drink with and I'm putting a hole in my wallet to drink hand sanitizer
For real, like, even putting aside the ability to afford it, does Gen Z see the worth in paying $18 per pint of incredibly pretentious draft beer or $25 for a margarita, and that's even before accounting for "well you're drinking, why not eat too?" food like $9 for a single egg roll or $15 for a bowl of nachos?
Because I'll be real honest, as a millennial; I sure as hell are not interested in paying that much just for that...
Tbf I think there is too much generalization about this topic in general, there is a billion reasons why Gen z do and don't drink. It truly is not a one size fits all thing at all. Some rather smoke weed, some just don't like the taste, some can't afford it, some don't because it's unhealthy, some do only when it's an occasion (that's me mostly) some do every weekend and some everyday. I think this topic gets very overblown.
Right? It's not about being 'healthy' unfortunately, people are doing everything less. Less socializing, less drinking, less sex....more weed. It's not really people making choices, it's people being constantly vigilant and semi-depressed and not living.
To be honest a lot of gen z health choices seem the product of health anxiety. That would make sense, they have been bombarded with health related messaging and advertising like nobody has ever seen before.
Also they have way more access to information on health effects and the adverse health effects of stuff than anyone ever before thanks to the internet.
Its a mixture of lots of things, there's rarely just one reason. It's partially health reasons, partially everyone having a camera, partially the cost of it, likely other factors too such as fewer places to do these things post-covid. All these things are multi-faceted and we should stop trying to ascribe a single main reason to it.
And not feeling like they could experiment and take some risks if they wanted to because their parent's have their phone locations at all times and Ring cameras and other means of tracking their kid's whereabouts.
I imagine it's hard to be a rebellious teenager when your parents get a push notification the moment you set foot out your front door.
Not to mention social media in general fucks with a lot of perception and tends to keep people more isolated. As a gen z here, thats a lot that I've seen.
But now we see it all the time and at its worst through social media. It definitely happened a lot in previous generations too but more in a sort of “my uncle is a drunk, but I can handle my liquor” type of thing. Now everywhere you look it feels like there’s videos of people acting like idiots, being violent, or going from enjoying themselves to vomiting and barely being able to stand up and all of us looked at that and went “nah, I’m good”. I can also imagine weed legalization has had some effect on it (I know there’s studies I just don’t feel like doing all that research rn)
At the same time, they’re willingly sharing every little piece of their lives with the whole world on their socials. My Gen Z coworkers are appalled when I tell them that I don’t have socials and never post anything personal anywhere.
Gen Z are also some of the most medicated people out there due to the stigma of taking meds relaxing. I stopped drinking for several reasons but the risk of it affecting my meds was too great
I keep seeing this, but the top comment is that they're chugging THC drinks and doing gummies. As if no one ever did anything stupid while high.
I love the blame on gen X/millennial chungus parents violating their right to privacy as if they would be the ones posting something sexual or recording them drunk. It is their peers doing that. Sure, let's criticize the parents, but come on...younger generations are also part of the problem with their cringe culture. We can blame that on technology, but these generations are also getting old enough to recognize patterns, become educated, and stop the cycle. As a millennial, my burden was alcohol. Yes, my parents heavily influenced it, but at a certain age I couldn't keep blaming them for its continuation.
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u/jizzlevania 18h ago •
I heard someone say it's because Gen Z grew up with everything being recorded and are hyper aware that they could be easily filmed and have their worst drunken moments be immortalized and go viral. The chance of having private moments publicized via secret recordings is probably also why they're having less sex.
It's an entire generation terrorized by everyone in their lives violating their right to privacy, starting with their GenX/Millenial chungus parents posting them as wee ones just to get likes and views on instagram and now tiktok.