Lose My Inhibitions? No Thanks. NewsWire

NewsWire: 9/16/22

• When asked why they drink less than their parents did, U.K. young adults say they feel under pressure to always be their best selves. They also noted concern about their mental health, worries about the future, and the rising cost of drinks. (The Guardian)
• NH: Millennials drink less than previous generations of young adults, a fact that we’ve noted applies across many high-income countries. (See “Millennials Still Wary of Alcohol” and “Where the Wild Things Aren’t.”) A recent study in the British Journal of Sociology delved into the reasons why drinking has declined among British youth--and the reasons will sound familiar.
• The researchers surveyed 18- to 25-year-olds who consider themselves moderate or non-drinkers. Fully 70% said that they feel like they face more pressure than their parents did to do well in school and have a good career, which drives them to use their free time differently. Not mentioned--but undoubtedly related--is the fact that they have come of age at a time when institutions like school and work have increasingly circumscribed their lives with rules defining how they should behave. (See “Are Kids ‘Overruled’?”)
• A similar share (69%) said that they drink less because they have a greater choice of hobbies than their parents did. In an interview, one said that young people like her don’t “drink as much because we don’t have the time or it feels like time wasted.”
• Many said that their choice not to drink was related to concerns over the potential consequences of drinking, such as health issues (70%), vulnerability to crime (66%), or loss of control (13%). Others worried about hangovers, memory loss, or getting addicted.
• Another respondent stated that her generation “is hyper-aware of the world as it is” and feels “pressure…to be doing our best to be making the world a better place, rather than just like living for the moment and having fun.” For previous generations of youth, shedding their inhibitions was precisely what made drinking appealing. Now it's considered a liability.
  
• In response to this study, some psychologists linked the feelings that participants cited to the disproportionate rise in social anxiety among young people. Their determination to remain in control and to avoid mistakes has turned them into “Generation Sensible”--but it also means that their comfort zones have gotten smaller and smaller.