Dry January, Cali Sober, Soft Sober: Why Gen Z is Breaking Up With Booze

Offline with Jon Favreau

Crooked Media

Society & Culture, News

4.7 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 January 2024

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Maybe, your friend announced they’re not drinking anymore, or your sister’s now “California Sober,” or maybe your entire office is participating in Dry January. It’s not just you, going sober is the hot new thing, with 41% of Americans aged 18 to 35 saying they don’t drink at all. Today, we explore the changes in drinking culture, in how we think about wellness and health, in how we socialize and spend our free time, and yes, changes in technology, that are converging to make America sober. Max interviews three Crooked Media producers about their relationship with alcohol and then talks to Dr. Edward Slingerland, an expert on humanity’s relationship with alcohol, about why humans drink and what changed about alcohol and our world to make more people choose sobriety.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Alcohol is not cool at the moment and I suspect that part of this is just a trend thing.
0:06.4	Alcohol is what your uncool uncle drinks, you know, that's his drug of choice.
0:12.1	I think especially with cannabis being You know, that's his drug of choice.
0:12.8	I think especially with cannabis being legal now in Canada and many US states.
0:18.0	It's just a cooler, it's a cooler drug.
0:20.5	That's what young people do.
0:22.0	The idea of micro dosing
0:24.0	you know, Silesibin seems cool in a way that having a cocktail seems like
0:29.0	1950s madmen, you know, what your parents or grandparents did.
0:33.6	Something like this might have happened to you recently.
0:39.8	Something like this might have happened to you recently.
0:42.3	It's Christmas dinner and someone
0:43.7	at the table announces no wine for them they're not drinking anymore. They're not
0:48.6	nighier or anything, they just stopped. Then maybe your niece or nephew home from college chimes in that a
0:54.2	bunch of their friends at school quit alcohol too. Or it's the New Year's party and
0:59.3	there are way more people drinking seltors than they were in past years. Or you're back at work and
1:05.4	half the office seems to be doing dry January. It's not your imagination. Sobriety is
1:12.0	the hot new thing. Older Americans are drinking more these days, but everyone else is drinking
1:18.0	less. In the case of Gen Z, a lot less, with 41% of Americans aged 18 to 35 saying they do not drink at all.
1:27.0	Even the people who do still drink are having 20% fewer drinks on average.
1:32.0	I'm Max Fisher filling in for John Favreau. This week
1:36.0	we explore the changes in drinking culture and how we think about wellness and
	...

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