Arts & Culture HEALTH
compared to the early 2000s, and Gen Z drinks roughly 20 percent less than Millennials, according to a 2022 study by Berenberg Research. San Diego’s youth is following suit. According to the city’s Binge and Underage Drinking Initiative, roughly 17 percent of 11th grade students in San Diego County were binge drinking in 2013. Come 2021, it was five percent. Even casual consumption is down dramatically. In the same study, 60 percent of the same age group reported they had consumed alcohol in their lifetime back in 2013. Now it’s closer to 30 percent. The Binge and Underage Drinking Initiative— facilitated by The Institute for Public Strategies (IPS)—has its finger on the pulse regarding local kids’ relationship to alcohol. IPS is contracted by San Diego County Health and Human Services to work on changing the messaging around alcohol and to shape policies that reduce underage consumption. We’ve moved beyond the Just Say No days of the D.A.R.E movement. Abstinence is encouraged, but IPS is more focused on providing alternatives for younger people regularly drinking or binging, says Michael Pesavento, a media advocacy specialist with IPS. “What we’re really trying to do is build spaces where not drinking is more acceptable and [create] the social norm that a house party doesn’t have to just be a place to go to get blackout drunk,” he says. “It can be a place where you can hang out with your friends and have a pool party and do normal things that people want to do, but without the pressure of getting drunk all the time.” But there’s also a big factor helping efforts outside of IPS’s control: Gen Z’s obsession with wellness. Research shows that those born between 1997 and 2013 are exploring wellness strategies and prioritizing their mental health more than any other generation before them. Let’s look at TikTok: #MentalHealth has 74 billion views at the time of publication. #SelfCare has 39.6 billion views. Meanwhile, #Sober is at around five billion views. There’s something to be said about these numbers. Pesavento says part of the self-care ideology is nudging people away from drinking, but sometimes, the movement pushes younger people more toward booze as a treat. There’s “More Permission to be Curious” Sobriety is a spectrum, meaning not everyone is going to have the same relationship with alcohol as high school student Makayla. Take Ellie*, a local university student. She’s 25 but has drunk hardly any alcohol throughout her life. She says her reasons for abstaining “aren’t that deep.” “I just don’t like the taste of beer nor the smell,” she says. “A lot of alcohol tries to be really bitter or sour, and I’m just not a fan of that.” She sometimes worries her friends won’t think she’s cool if she abstains but also says she’s aware it’s mostly in her head.
An increasing number of San Diego’s teens and young adults are reducing their alcohol consumption—or ditching it altogether The Kids Are Alright, They’re Just Sober Now
BY KATY STEGALL
A
lcohol was ruining Makayla’s* life—but it took a while for her to see it. She didn’t see it when she was roofied while drinking with friends at her high school.
Or when her grades plummeted. Or when she found a video of her sister and her blackout drunk, encouraging each other to self-harm. The 17-year-old realized the extent of its impact when she faced alcohol poisoning for the first time. She was “disgusted” when she fully took stock of where her life had gone in the three years she had been drinking. She was stealing alcohol, or hitting up strangers to buy for her, and waking up hungover alongside the flask she carried around everywhere. She realized she was going down the same path as her father, who struggles with alcoholism. “I was sick and tired of waking up sick,” she says. “I was sick and tired of needing to steal alcohol. I was sick and tired of the trouble it was getting me in and [of] not remembering what I was doing.” Makayla has since quit drinking and says she feels she finally has control over her life and body. And she’s not alone in this sentiment. Younger people are choosing sobriety more than older generations on a global scale. Studies show more people between 18 and 24 abstain from drinking
“I was sick and tired of waking up sick. I was sick and tired of needing to steal alcohol. I was sick and tired of the trouble it was getting me in and [of] not remembering what I was doing.”
34 MAY 2023
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