For decades, going out with friends, going to a bar, and drinking alcohol were almost synonymous. But much of Generation Z is changing the rules.
More and more young people born between 1997 and 2012 are reducing their consumption or choosing not to drink at all, influenced by greater concern for health, exercise, well-being, and also the cost of going out. The change is so evident that it is already forcing the alcohol industry to ask what its younger consumers really want.
But there is a less obvious factor behind this transformation: the way young people relate to one another.
“What is missing is not beer, but friends”.
That phrase sums up one of the reasons behind the change: social media, messaging, video games, and new forms of communication have reduced face-to-face encounters. If there are fewer parties, gatherings, and outings, there are also fewer occasions where alcohol takes center stage.
Health is another major reason. Madison Schmidt, from New York University, describes the phenomenon as a genuine “health craze”, in which Generation Z has increased its interest in exercise, well-being, sleep, and body care.
Jamie Parsons, from Hillsdale College, said that when she turned 21, she preferred to celebrate at home with a girls’ night and a frozen peanut butter pie rather than spend US$10 on a gin and tonic at a downtown bar.
The economy also matters. Rising housing costs, student debt, and difficulties becoming independent have made many young people more careful with their spending.
And it is not that they no longer want to go out or have fun: they are simply beginning to imagine social life differently.
Coffee, for example, is taking up some of the space that drinks once occupied: going out for something no longer necessarily means ordering a beer or a cocktail, but meeting at a coffee shop, trying a specialty coffee, or simply spending time talking.
More than a generation that stopped drinking, it seems to be one that is changing its relationship with alcohol and the place it occupies in its social life.