Yeah but these (usually flawed) studies that have wormed their way into the public consciousness were done long before gen z was drinking age. From up-to-date information it’s pretty clear that any amount of any kind of alcohol is quite bad for you. Obviously increasing with quantity.
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TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks agoIdk… a lot of gen Z people I know just don’t drink at all
porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
because they can’t afford it.
novibe@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
That might have something to do with it. But gen-z seems to have more a purity culture than millennials and gen-x had.
Many are very into exercise and fitness from a very young age. Control their diets. Sleep super early, get up early.
They are going less to clubs (and shitty dive bars). Doing less drugs. Having less sex.
You can say its all because of money. But broke teenagers and young adults of previous generations had their fun, went out, destroyed their bodies. You know, it can be REALLY cheap to get fucked up and well, get fucked or fuck.
TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
[deleted]novibe@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
You think people in their late teens and early 20s in the past fucked more cause they thought “ah if I have a kid it’s no issue, I can support them!”?..
Also come on… it is really cheap to get fucked up. There is really cheap booze. Really cheap weed. Really cheap drugs in general really.
And you know, you pre-game, go to a dive bar during live music night or some shit. Meet some new people, make mistakes, make memories you’ll only re-remember at the most inconvenient moments.
Go to a rave. They are really cheap and md has not become anymore expensive throughout the years.
Actually, this is something that the more I think about is true. Drugs are some of the few things that haven’t really increased in price at all.
Getting fucked up is one of the few things you can do as a young person that has DECREASED in comparative cost.
Camping with friends and taking lsd and shrooms, raving and taking md, going to a dive bar and smoking weed… its all CHEAPER now, comparatively.
tmyakal@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
OP is referring to the j-curve historically seen in studies about drinking. Because researchers didn’t control for people who stopped drinking after years of abuse or people who couldn’t drink because of other health issues, it looked like having 0 drinks per day led to worse health outcomes than 1-2 drinks per day. Because of that, many health organizations spent decades telling people that 1-2 drinks per day was better for you than 0 drinks per day.
Someone finally controlled for those variables a few years ago, and the j-curve vanished. Most health organizations now say they’re is no amount of alcohol that is safe to consume.
So it’s got nothing to do with Gen Z drinking habit specifically, and the science has been corrected since. But a lot of people still internalized and parrot the “1-2 drinks is healthy” thing.
jdr@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
No amount of alcohol is safe? Is that like saying no amount of driving is safe?
Dave@lemmy.nz 2 weeks ago
Sure. Any driving you do increases your risk of death. But it’s likely you need to drive for other reasons that reduce your risk of death (like buying food).
Drinking is different because no one needs to drink.
jdr@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Haha, ymmv but I find driving to be unnecessary
Valmond@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Yep.
Viceversa@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
alcohol is driving?
jdr@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Exactly!
I meant that plenty of people drink reasonable amounts alcohol all the time with no apparent issues.
gandalf_der_13te@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
i get what you’re saying, but what i’m wondering is, while alcohol is bad for your liver and damages your health in that way, it also leads to social occasions and less loneliness, i guess. so you might have psychological improvements; and was that also tested for?
tmyakal@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
Alcohol on its own does not cause social occasions or reduce loneliness. Plenty of people drink alone, and plenty of people gather socially without drinking.
That said, while the advice from a health standpoint is that no amount of alcohol is completely safe to drink, humans do risky shit all the time for fun or convenience. More people get hurt in car accidents than develop alcohol-related diseases, but no one is stopping driving. The difference in outcomes between people who have zero drinks per day versus 1-2 drinks per day is much less than the difference between 1-2 and 5+ drinks. So occasional/light drinking is still relatively low-risk. It’s just not actively good for you as previously thought.