Are people REALLY drinking less these days or are they just saying that?

I’m sure that by now, everyone has heard terms such as “No-one drinks anymore” or “Gen Z is drinking less” or “Young people choose exercise over drink”. The weird thing to me is the fact that, despite all of these supposed claims and studies/surveys carried out, I have yet to see the proof of it…

I’m in my mid-forties now as of 2025, and when I walk down the street in my home city of Dublin late on a Friday or Saturday night, I just feel like a tourist in my previous youth… Teens and young adults still flock the pubs, falling in and out of them and all over the public street while rambunctiously shouting and/or starting fights, and massive bulky queues for late-night bars and nightclubs take up so much room on the footpath, that one needs to veer on to the main road whilst walking past them.

I also work with a lot of young people, and the vast majority of them tend to hit the booze every weekend.. Regularly going for drinks after working hours and coming into work the next day hungover, still half-drunk, or not coming into work at all!

The point I’m addressing here is that regardless of what is being spouted in the media, not much seems to have changed since I lived the same every-weekend ritual of perpetual drunkenness in my late teens, 20’s and early 30’s; At least not from my current perspective.

Now, there’s no denying that society in general is a lot more health conscious. We are all now being bombarded by videos on social media that push health and fitness, body image awareness, and overall well-being.. But my hot take on the whole situation is that it has become so “fashionable” to say that you choose health/fitness/beauty over drinking/substance abuse/partying etc , that it’s gotten to the stage that the majority of young people are doing just that.. SAYING it, but not actually putting any of it into effect (perhaps due to fear of seeming uncool).

Now, I could be wrong about all of this or maybe I’m only seeing things on the peripheral surface, but I’d be curious to know if other people have a similar view on this (or disagree entirely)…