I noticed there was no mention of prices in the article. I would love to see what a festival Budweiser (generic, accessible beer, not a holy war argument) cost say 4 years ago vs today. Venue offerings have always been atrociously priced, and given the stiff rising prices on most consumer goods in the past few years, I could believe that many are choosing to abstain for simple economics.
I went to Austin City Limits in 2018 and 2022, and in that period I noticed one major change - there was a marked difference in the number of younger folks drinking Liquid Death as a social signifier that they were on something else (mushrooms, mdma, lsd, weed, etc).<p>In the past few years it's become much more socially acceptable to take alternative substances, and it's probably not a coincidence that a "cool" repackaging of water has taken off as one means of indicating that choice.<p>That's probably driving more of this trend than just kids not drinking but remaining sober. Alcohol has real competition now... but venues can't sell 2cb.
I love going to shows, and I love a drink, and yet I've never had any idea how normal people can drink at shows. Like, shows last for hours - I want to keep my energy up through the whole thing, which is not going to happen if I drink, and the last thing I want to do is need to go to some god-awful bathroom during a set. I'll gladly meet you at a bar to chat and have a drink, but if we're gonna rock or even catch some jazz, it's probably going to be sober for me.<p>(Edit: perhaps because shows used to be cheaper, people would just go see whoever and get trashed?)
So what, we smoke less as well. We've seen enough of harm already, single parents raising kids born out of such trysts, cancer riddled old people. Enough to educate the next generation & not so something just coz it's cool
Gen X here - pay Gen Z more and stop rinsing them on costs (OK, this happens to everyone, but affects you more if you have less already), and you can bet they would participate more in all this stuff.
I'm a millennial and even I notice that weed is quickly replacing alcohol in my social group.<p>It's not surprising. To me, weed is healthier on the body, can't kill you if you overdose, generally cheaper per session, won't make you do stupid stuff, and doesn't make people violent.
Concert tickets are also increasingly expensive as is merchandise and travel. Could it be that the least well off demographic doesn't want to pay a premium for drinks when it means more queuing and inevitably a bathroom break during the performance?
Why is this being framed as a bad thing? The article seems to be blaming young people for not drinking enough and people in the comments seem to be blaming high prices for them not drinking enough.<p>Alcohol is an extremely harmful poison and I'm happy that young people are using it less. They shouldn't be expected to keep imbibing poisons to help prop up an old business model. The market will have to adjust.
Yeah I mean I guess I’ve just stopped drinking entirely. What’s the point? I used to drink because I was anxious in pubs. Then I stopped. Then I stopped enjoying drunk people. I don’t push my views - but I’m not interested in it any more. I’m in the UK and our drinking culture is vile. I’ve never met a person I liked more drunk. It’s the aggression that gets me.
This has been a long term trend in Europe and Asia as well, going back into the millennial era. I remember getting into arguments with American left wingers and LGBTQ Americans saying that the lack of gay bars in Asia wasn't a sign of homophobia because gay bars were in decline in Europe as well (but in fact were on the rise in the US). A combination of being able to socialise on the internet and at mainstream establishments, combined with declines in drinking alcohol, has led to a decline in gay bars in the respective regions as well.