Today is the last day of Dry January, a yearly “holiday” celebrating temporary sobriety. In the past, this temporary experiment has paired nicely with New Year’s resolutions and renewed regularity at the gym, all to be quickly forgotten come February. But for an increasing number of millennials and Gen Z, going sober isn’t an annual health challenge.
Millennials like to go out, not burn out.
The Covid pandemic may have accelerated this trend, with its isolation fueling increasing rates of drinking, followed by a backlash. On Instagram, friends and influencers cheerfully evangelizing about their new sober lifestyles proliferate. This growing push for a truly inclusive nightlife scene is shifting us all toward a cultural sea change — and perhaps the beginning of the end of America’s all-or-nothing approach to alcohol. 2024 feels like an anti-tippling tipping point.
For an increasing number of millennials and Gen Z, going sober isn’t an annual health challenge.
I feel like my fellow Gen Xers did not exactly set a great example. At least anecdotally, I have watched many friends maintain their party-hearty heavy-drinking lifestyles until they were forced to quit completely, either for physical health reasons, family obligations or alcohol use disorder. My newly sober friends are now absent after dark. For my generation this seems normal, but I think we can all agree it’s not a great approach.
Luckily, younger generations are changing these patterns and drinking — or not drinking — more deliberately. Terms like “sober curious” and “mindful drinking” refer to increased awareness of the downsides of drinking and more conscious decision-making that doesn’t always have to do with traditional addiction.
Books like “We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life” and “This Naked Mind,” along with a plethora of podcasts, blogs and social media accounts extoll the benefits of the lifestyle in often positive terms, highlighting the…
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