Under-25s turning their backs on alcohol.

[Chippy_Tea]

My Lad doesn't like beer or wine that much and if going out with friends will have a couple of Rum and cokes and i have never seen him come home rolling drunk, many of his friends also don't drink to excess like i am sure most of us did back in the day so i guess the latest BBC article


Young people are turning their backs on alcohol, a new study has suggested.

Researchers looked at official health data from the last decade and found almost a third of 16 to 24-year-olds in 2015 said they didn't drink, compared with around one in five in 2005.

Non-drinking was found across a broad range of groups, suggesting it was becoming "more mainstream".

Binge drinking rates also decreased - from 27% in 2005 to 18% in 2015, based on Health Survey for England figures.

Almost 10,000 people were questioned, with the results demonstrating a clear decline in consumption of alcohol among young adults.

Read full article - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45807152

 

[Clint]

They can't afford it that's why. You can't really enjoy a pint at a fiver a pop and many don't like the cheaper pubs coz they're full of old blokes getting pissed and watching horses.

 

[AdeDunn]

They're turning to other drugs instead.... So it's not quite the wonderful news they'd have us think I reckon.

Instead of the drug of choice been booze, around here at least it's now the various types of marijuana. Young people literally walk down the street smoking it.

 

[Oneflewover]

Not being able to afford it wouldn't have stopped me in my day (and didn't!). We used to hang out as teenagers and get drunk on cheap sherry and cider, raid parents booze cabinets at parties, and slightly later brew wine from almost anything. Must be more to it than money alone.....

 

[BarnBrian]

Times have changed Chippy. As a teenager there were three TV channels, no computer games, no smart phones so the best form of entertainment was to go to the pub, socialise and drink as much as we could afford.

 

[BarnBrian]

They can't afford it that's why. You can't really enjoy a pint at a fiver a pop and many don't like the cheaper pubs coz they're full of old blokes getting pissed and watching horses.

You're probably right Clint. When I was an apprentice the top paid mechanics were earning £15 a week, at the time you could get 10 pints to the pound, therefore earning the equivalent of 150 pints a week. I've no idea what the average wage for a mechanic is now but assuming a pint is costing in excess of £4 then going by my theory wages would have to be £600 a week.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Times have changed Chippy

I am kind of glad in a way i don't think i could handle him coming home in the states i used to.

 

[GerritT]

Back when I was 16 a pint costed about... we could get drunk for £10. And if we were with enough blokes, we'd order a square yard of beer. Yay. But we went out, there were pubs and discos and other establishments for young people to have a drink, a *** and fun.

You can't have a drink or a *** online.

 

[BarnBrian]

I am kind of glad in a way i don't think i could handle him coming home in the states i used to.

You obviously weren't trying hard enough if you can actually remember coming home.

 

[GerritT]

I am kind of glad in a way i don't think i could handle him coming home in the states i used to.

Oh man... youth are boring nowadays.

 

[marshbrewer]

Is it a North / South thing? Round here, there are plenty of young lads and lasses getting 'merry'?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

You obviously weren't trying hard enough if you can actually remember coming home.

I rarely remembered getting home but my angry Mam filled in the gaps many times over the next morning.

 

[GerritT]

I rarely remembered getting home but my angry Mam filled in the gaps many times over the next morning.

The ritually selfchecking of the knuckles and the trousers to verify there had been no fights, or crossed ditches
Sometimes I wish my eldest would come home like that :/

 

[Leon103]

I don't think it's the cost

I went back to the town I grew up in recently. 10-15 years ago everywhere would be packed. From Wetherspoons, bars and nightclubs. Friday and Saturdays were busy but also Sunday's were full if 16-30 year olds. Apart from the rugby club pints were £2.50 plus. We went out when I went back and pints in spoons are still £1.85 With pubs and bars no more than 3.50.

So if you drink 10 pints you are only really spending £10 on a night out.

In our conclusion we thought social media had a big part to play. Back in the day if we wanted to meet a woman we would go out on a Saturday and chat to girls. Now it's all swipe left or swipe right.

Also if I wanted to catch up with mates it would be at the pub and during a night out, now I can see every minute of their life through Facebook etc.

 

[MyQul]

Times have changed Chippy. As a teenager there were three TV channels, no computer games, no smart phones so the best form of entertainment was to go to the pub, socialise and drink as much as we could afford.

True, times have changed. I read teenagers are risk averse nowadays. In part because they dont want to look a tit on social media (which never entirely disapears and may effect them later in life)

 

[Dutto]

I think a better headline would have been "Under 25's switch from alcohol to drugs!"

The ritually selfchecking of the knuckles and the trousers to verify there had been no fights, or crossed ditches
.........

My big fear was grass-stains on the knees of my trousers! It was disappointing to get lucky and not even remember the event or her name!

 

[IainM]

It's a way away yet, but I sure hope my lad doesn't roll in steaming twice a week like I used to!

Some good points above, but another aspect of social media is it's all about image. Firstly, and less importantly, everyone wants to look good for their instagram, which is why gym membership, cosmetic surgery and steroids are on the up. More importantly, I think, is that everyone basically has a camera/videocamera in their pocket. When I was a teenager if someone got completely smashed, throwing up, making a **** of themselves, whatever, then their 'mates' would have a laugh, maybe call their mum to pick them up or just let them sleep on the sofa while they draw dicks on their face. Nowadays, they would point a phone at them and put it on facebook live for the moment to be digitally immortalised, to their endless embarrassment. I remember well a party when someone did have an old school videocamera. I would have forgotten, but 15 years later we had a reunion and out it came, leaving more than a couple of people red faced. I'm not surprised teenagers nowadays are a bit more adverse to downing depth charges and pints of snakebite and just going with the consequences.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I think a better headline would have been "Under 25's switch from alcohol to drugs!

You say that as if drug taking by young men/women is a new thing, wizz was the go to drug in my day and all my mates used to take it every Friday and Saturday night I honestly do not believe more people are taking drugs to replace alcohol.

 

[Gunge]

Young uns giving up on booze.... what is all this nonsense? What they into, knitting and stamp collecting or summat? Want to bloody well sort themselves out.

 

[divrack]

I'm the first generation that thinks kids are too well behaved in this day and age.
They should be out hooliganising and setting fire to old people but instead they just sit about quietly.
Pathetic.
Way too tolerant for my liking too.