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Gen X is drinking more as younger Americans cut back on alcohol, study finds
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2026
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I think it takes fuck it to do anything and there's substances that a lot of people still engage with that take the fuck it attitude to attempt; I just think that people over time have seen what these things can lead to and make the informed decision not to.
We're talking about kids here. It's highly unlikely they're being deterred by possible health effects 40 years down the line.
If I had to guess, it's probably because they're smoking weed instead.
What I mean is, it's hard to want to consume alcohol when you've seen addiction growing up. When I was growing up I realized not everyone had a dad that drank like mine did, albeit my dad was still functional as an alcoholic, it's not like it didn't effect us when he seemingly hated us and our mom covering for him.
So kids see what it can do and what it does and some of them will most likely not want to drink or it'll go the other way around and they'll drink to drown their problems like they were shown when they were growing up.
Those are just the more common examples but the current generations growing up are also more informed about what it can do and given that younger millennials and Gen Z aren't drinking as much as Gen X and given that millennials and Gen Z are parents right now and aren't drinking as much, it could possibly go down the line with more positive effects.
Like the younger generations not seeing their parents drink and have no want to drink.
Yeahhhhhh, I mean weed has something to do with it but I think that it's more likely that alcohol is just not being generationally passed down as an in-home vice that people don't see and want to try.
Like when I was growing up I wanted to try black and milds, Marlboro reds and budweiser because that's what the cool people did and beer and cigarettes weren't really hidden so it's like I wanted to try it out because it was around and you wonder why it's around and why they do it, so you try it out when your older because it was like that one thing you never could.
Younger generations are more likely to try a vape of some sort and an overly caffinated beverage.
Idk, I grew up in a semi broken home with alcohol being a catalyst so I'm bias.
All I'm saying is that if you asked any given young person why they don't drink, the chances that the reason is "Because I don't want to be an alchololic" or "Because I don't want cancer when I turn 60" is most likely nil.