19% of British 16 to 24-year-olds do not drink at all. 66% say alcohol is not important to their social life, and just 3% say it’s an essential part of it. 66% think young people are drinking less because of alcohol’s health risks; 42% think the internet has given them better things to do with their time.
(Demos/The Independent)
Good for them! So much for demonizing the young! Now we can turn our sttention to getting them to watch where they are going while texting in the street ( just joking).
Yes, good for those young folk. In a not-joking way, though, those who jog across streets while reading their phones (much less while texting) or with ear buds that block ambient noise–they pose a real danger. An early morning drive to the local Giant is a slow-go in part because joggers and bikers more-often-than-not ignore traffic signals and walkers often do. I guess the good aspect is that everyone is moving slowly so physical encounters aren’t high impact.
As an 18-year old Brit, I think I can speak with some authority on this one. My friends who don’t drink mainly don’t do so because they don’t like the taste of alcohol. The ones who only drink occasionally do so partly because of the cost, and partly because they are too busy to go out. Although supermarkets have made alcohol cheaper, going out has become more expensive, and due to the internet and better home entertainment, going out is not a necessary part of a student’s daily or even weekly routine. Hardly anyone ever says that health is a reason why they don’t drink or drink less.
One more thing I must mention is that going out to a club or even a pub, is associated with a particular type of character in Britain- and not necessarily a nice one, For men, we have to put up with the rise of the ‘lad culture’- particularly loud, misogynistic and anti-social men who are extremely immature and dominating- which makes more introverted men such as myself feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. Nearly all of the nice women I know are also put off by the ‘lad culture,’ but there are also some women who act extremely irresponsibly when on a night out. This puts off the more sensible women who don’t want to be associated with those who they regard as below them. I’m not saying that this sort of behaviour hasn’t always existed- it has- but the modern world allows people to segregate themselves from those they don’t like more easily.