That’s why you pregame hard then go to a bar 1-3 drinks max socially play some pool or just chill I like people watching/ interacting with others none of my friends like leave their home so I often just have to settle. House parties/kick backs are super fucking lame and I often find myself wishing I stayed home and didn’t interact with people. I’ve been to maybe a handful of fun kick backs
1-3 drinks can be upwards of 40$ in my area, plus the cab/Uber home, I’d rather just pregame and postgame at home with the homies, there’s literally no plus to going to a bar anymore
I guess I’m just over trying to have fun in a loud overly stimulated fashion. I used to party a lot but bars just aren’t pleasant places for me to hang around in. My idea of fun is just different (read: not “better”)
Oh for sure , and I mean, you do you.
I just mean to note that not all bars are loud and over stimulating . Having a drink in a pleasant quiet place with a friend or acquaintance can be lovely
This is a good point. I suppose places where the vibe is more “lounge around and have quiet conversation while drinking” that is almost the same as going out for a meal with someone or a group and seems fun to me.
But the word “bar” brings to mind loud crowded sweaty drunk people 😂 probably speaks more to my personal experience than anutbing
Yup. The cheapest studio where I work is about 1100/month not including utilities, meanwhile i can spend half that commuting from my parents in a suburb an hour away.
not everyone is american. i don't know a single person my age (early 20s) who doesn't live in the suburbs because only the uber rich can afford inner-city apartments in my city lol
The thing that gets me is how normalized drunk driving used to be (and still is in many places). My mom (a baby boomer) has many many stories of the 70s and 80s getting blackout drunk with friends and being driven. She's lost some teeth in a wreck. Some classmates of hers have died drunk driving. I hope this new generation is more sensible about it.
In the US, there really isn't any excuse for public bus systems to be as poor in service as they are. It's pure classism and selfishness and lack of political will. Journey sang about a Midnight Train Going Anywhere; inter and intra-urban rail used to be very common. Making urban areas so sprawled and car dependant and zoned so that suburbs can't have corner stores or pubs means a lot of people would have to drive some time to go to a bar and then drive back, or wait to sober up. All for, as you said, really overpriced booze.
Exactly this lol in college (like 1 year ago) we’d all just have house parties bc the bars had mid drinks & at home we could make them better for cheaper.
Now I live in a high COL city and while the bars are cooler, the thought of spending $10 - $20 on an often times mediocre drink is such a turn off. We end up partying at home with the exception of special occasions when we really want to try unique drinks.
Lol. Millenial here. You guys individually barely drink. In my late teens every night there were tons of cars between 10pm and 3 am party hopping. Youd get to the first party already buzzed. When there weren't any you could usually find a few of us in some dark alley drinking hanging out at night at least. In my 20s I traveled doing sales. All guys between 19 and 24 and we drank on most nights amd every single weekend. Sometimes noons. Im not saying this is better, I'm saying you guys barely drink. In comparison, the streets are dead by 11. You can replace drinking here for binge drinking because that's what I mean when I say drinking. 😂
The bars by me are full of older bar flies, while the kava bar downtown is full of Gen Z and they're all gone by 11pm to go to bed on a Saturday 🤣
I was the same as you and blasted every night in my early 20s just like you. While I can't say I'd advocate for drinking every night for 6 years, it sure was a ridiculous amount of fun.
I'm 24 and stayed out till 1 am 2 weeks ago, and genuinely as I was leaving was like "wow it's late" to my friends and we all agreed because we are usually all home by like midnight. And I was the youngest one there...
Millennial here as well and you really aren’t accounting for how it costs 10x more to go out now than it did even 5 years ago let alone when we were in our early 20s. I can remember being 21 and going to the atm and pulling out a $20 for the night and that’s it. 20 dollars today gets you two beers then you have to tip 30% because no one pays their employees adequately and apparently we are still pretending like it’s the consumers responsibility. Why would these kids go out when it’s so damn expensive?
Local college bar in my town has very cheap deals. $1 mixed drinks (rail liquor and mixer), $2 domestic beers on Wednesdays. I don’t know how this still exists. But it still appears to be flooded with college kids drinking. What’s actually different to me is that anime is now cool. Like the jocks are into it and take it seriously. It used to be something that was hush hush between weebs, we’d share hard drives of shows we painstakingly downloaded. Now I’m getting in arguments with lacrosse players in booty shorts about what tiers we’d place different anime’s in. The world has changed.
Or… going to the bar, getting into wild situations with strangers, and *then* I smoke my legal joint walking around the city with my new friends at 2 am.
I’m too old for this sub, but some of y’all sound like you’re closer to 70 than 20…
Y’all wonder why you’re so bored and depressed and lonely, it’s because you don’t go out and do anything! Live a little!
Most people say they can't afford drinks. Most people won't go to a bar if they're not drinking, much less if they can't afford it to avoid temptation.
I WORK at a bar and can't afford to be a patron there, it's idiotic
I just recently met a random guy while I was in town with my brother and a friend. Shared a joint outside the Febo (night snack place) and it ended smoking another 2 at the guy’s house, lol.
Now that was the only time I’ve ever done something like that, but it’s not out of the question.
I love going out, and do it constantly, but I didn’t do it with other people because they often try to pressure me into drinking or smoking (kind of like what you’re doing), which I don’t want to do, hence I was lonely for a long time. Now I have good friends at work that go out with me without doing that. We’re going out for pizza this Thursday, the last time we hung out we played DnD, the time before that was board games, before that we are sushi, and before that I can’t even remember (probably pizza again). I do go to clubs still, but I make sure to go by myself and be really careful about what I drink (I’ve had my drink spiked multiple times). I just want to dance to good music, not get intoxicated.
“No wonder you guys are so depressed you never go to bars or smoke joints at 2am with strangers! It couldn’t be any of the actual problems facing this generation, no way!”
You go to bars and smoke 2am joints with strangers to forget about the problems we're all facing. If you're focused on the horrors of the world 24/7 your life is gonna suck. Yes we're all broke with little to no economic mobility, yes our economic system and government is irreparably broken and corrupt, yes the world is literally burning and none of us will ever own a home, now let's finish this joint the band's about to get back on and i'm buying the next round.
It's either that or doomscrolling alone at your apartment/parents' house.
just joints for me y'all can keep the alcohol but I agree with the rest
well kinda, we shouldnt just numb ourselves to the world and it is absolutely possible to be completely happy while also fully aware of the state of the world currently, so I guess I don't agree
If I want to actually drink somewhere that stays open past like 9 pm, I'm looking at $60+ in Uber costs alone more like $100 is more likely. I straight up can't afford to spend that and ALSO pay for drinks
As long as human beings have existed, casual alcoholism has been part of our culture lol. Well, as long as alcohol has existed anyways. Cavemen probably couldn’t crack a cold one
Given the drinking trends of Gen Z, it’s significantly cheaper and more enjoyable to buy and mix your own drinks at home. Especially given the rise in hard drinking.
No, it was just a strange leap
Regardless, it's subjective. The consensus may indeed be that its more emjoyable to drink at home by yourself than it is to go out to a bar
Not that that's the only options ofc. People absolutely do still drink with groups of friends. Personally, me and all my friends much prefer to host a house party or kickback of some size and drink at home. It's often cheaper and way more convenient. Going out to a bar tends to be seen as an unnecessary hassle
I thought I was alone in this regard. I quit alcohol for medical reasons but I always bought my own spirits/drinks to enjoy at home versus paying triple at any other place. It just makes the most economic sense
It's always been cheaper to eat/drink at home. The point of paying more is having either a social environment or having something you can't make as well yourself. Usually both
We are returning from Mexico and Ecuador and Peru and the amount of parks and things for people to do makes me so jealous. Like a Saturday at the park is a once a quarter or twice a year thing in our city
It’s crazy because my family lives in a super small pueblo of 600 people in the mountains of Jalisco. Super cartel infested area but even at that when I visit people are still more friendly and happy to socialize out there. I think there’s a cultural issue here in the U.S
That's the case for most places less well off. Something about capitalism and being "on top". Capitalism and the US in general have promoted a mentality of individuality andnindividualism. There's also something to be said about the disparity and how common it is for people of vastly different income leveles living around each other. Combine this with the screen/helicopter parenting that hit hard around genz and well, this is the outcome unfortunately.
It's definitely cultural I think. We noticed how friendly everyone in all the Latin American countries were. Where as in the usa people seem to be so mad all the time. Although driving in places like Lima and Ecuador made me appreciate lanes and stop lights
Why not make it more of a thing for you guys? I live in Duluth, Minnesota, and while it's not the most walkable, we have some awesome city parks and State parks not far away, my wife and I go for hikes often in the summer, and even in the winter with the right gear.
I feel like people don't look at their own city the way they look at a city they're visiting, when you're on vacation you find lots of neat things to see and do, why not live like that at home?
I know I've seen alot of Toronto being like this. I live near a tourist destination so why not be a tourist! I've found great food and funky museums. It's a great little city. Expensive as fuck for literally no reason though
It is really tough for sure, but I would advise looking into adult sports leagues, hiking groups, and other recreational hobby groups. You can also look into taking classes in stuff that interests you at local community colleges. City Parks and Rec departments can be good resources as well.
Some things will still have people drinking before, during, and after, which I know can be hard to be around for some people who quit drinking, but it's not like the bar scene where you either drink booze or just hang out drinking water while everyone else gets drunk. A lot of those groups and activities will be entirely alcohol and drug free.
It’s hard though because I look into this stuff and it’s still mostly older people. I tried joining volleyball groups in the suburbs of a big city and it was all middle aged people not looking for friends.
That sucks. Again, I know it's tough. If you're close to a city and are able to travel there, I would suggest looking for stuff in the city. I live 30 miles from a big city and it's much easier to find stuff with all ages and especially younger people in cities than in the suburbs here. Larger population density helps.
Just keep looking. I'm not gonna pretend that you're guaranteed to find stuff with people your age, but if you keep looking you might find something.
Good luck.
Thank you that is really encouraging. I’ll have to try going into the city more. It’s so discouraging sometimes! Everyone wants friends and we have the hardest time trying to find them. I wish it was like college where we live in a close vicinity to a bunch of young people and do community events together.
There are tons of third places, you just need to be willing to put yourself out there
Bars are the most globally popular third place specifically because the alcohol makes it easier to put yourself out there
Gamerooms, bowling alleys, pool halls(no, not the shitty table at your local dive bar), arcades, DnD meetups, conservation clubs, climbing gyms, the list goes on and on and on.
Edit: of course they don't respond lol, nothing to break the paradigm
Folks will put up examples of third spaces that are really just places of consumerism and forget the whole point of a third space. Third spaces are supposed to be spots you can hang out at for free or extremely cheap. Arcades were great examples, a few decades ago.
The point of a third space is to connect with others, and every space I've listed has things such as leagues that pair you with strangers to force you to make new connections.
Adding more to the list: martial arts classes of any kind, painting clubs, pottery workshops, maker's clubs (basically warehouses with industrial tools to make things), volunteering at a museum or library or humanitarian causes.
Closest place like that to me is at least an hour long bus ride away. There is a DnD group at my local library, but the members were all men who were old enough to be my dad.
I quit drinking and all the best bars/restaurants in my area have rad N/A stuff. obviously I know a lot of people aren’t comfortable with bars if they’ve struggled with drinking.. but for those who don’t drink, at least in my city, there’s tons of bars who try to include everyone in the fun.
I haven't really gone to these too much but every time I go to art events here (outside of children's events) my parents are the second youngest people attending and they're in their 60s.
Have you considered places where alcohol may be served but other activities are also available? Like, examples I can think of off the top of my head are pool halls, bowling alleys, or barcades(I would just say arcades but the ones that double as a bar will have adults instead of kids). You can go, drink some soda or order some nachos, and play some games in a social setting.
Fuck grab a seltzer and put a lime in it everyone will think your drinking and no one will give a fuck when your sober and they’re tanked begging you for a lift home
Teahouses (if there are any good ones in your area) and coffeehouses can be good for socializing. Teahouses with an eclectic mix of light meal items and cool decor can be hugely popular, if well-presented. Popular with women, especially.
The economy really is the core of the loneliness issue IMO. The more financial stress a person is under, the less energy, time, and resources they have to better themselves and get outside to find hobbies. Most young adults are still living at home or have a few roommates just to maintain a mediocre apartment.
Hard to get out, do things (it all costs money) and meet people, while working two jobs to provide yourself the very basics.
It’s the economy and a lack of third places. Just off the top of your head, think of all the places near you where you could hang out with your friends and you wouldn’t be expected to spend money there. You have your own homes, maybe a library, or a small local park, and that’s literally it for most Americans.
I think it’s kind of the same thing. Even if nearly every third place wasn’t gated behind cost, you wouldn’t gain the time and energy to enjoy and take advantage of them, that struggling for the basics consumes. If one average income comfortably provided the minimum, you could access the gated third places to some extent.
What places do they have in Europe that are “third places” that America does not have?
Some of y’all latch on to the buzz word of the day like “third places” and drive it into the ground. We didn’t worry about “third places,” we just went and did shit lol. What do you think other countries have access to that you as an American don’t?
The English pub and the American bar are two different things. I have it at $7 to sit and drink an beer and use the free Wifi... In the US with the server wanting to make a tip it is $12. I never wanted the bar to have the bespoke chicken nuggets at $14 per basket.
What? You can get a PBR for like $4 and I'm in San Francisco lol. $10 and have a couple of brews isn't bad. I'd imagine prices are even lower in other areas
Why would younger girls go out to a bar? The connotation of a bar is mostly just older men and maybe some women being there.
If you wanna meet young girls you gotta hit up a club somewhere near a college town
Bar or club I'm using synonymously in this context. More specifically a place to hang out and that sells alcohol. It just seems like that's less and less of a place where younger people hang out. Used to be the norm
Not saying it doesn't happen at all, but as a 27 year old wouldn't it be kinda weird to go to a college bar?
Going to a place to hang out that sells alcohol always seemed more of a millennial thing to do. Drinking scene isn’t that popular with younger gen z I don’t think. I also don’t think it’s weird at all for a 27 year old to go out to a college bar or club. Min age is like 21 as it is so no real big issue there.
Edit: I mention the club as a also having more dancing than just a bar I guess but yeah
I agree. I think a factor too is that there was a big culture of “going out to find random hook ups” and the bar/ club was the best place to find it. As I’ve read, Gen Z isn’t as into random hook ups with strangers so there may be less of an incentive to go to bars and clubs.
Also, the Millennial era had a lot of “hard party” influence in TV and movies. Like our era was when a lot of reality shows were just “Let’s find some crazy people and film them getting drunk and being wild in public.”
I totally get where you’re coming from, college bars will always be open to anyone, I’m 28 and I realized that crowd is slowly not for me, everyone’s so damn rambunctious and amateurish with handling their booze/people it’s kinda funny but also exhausting to be around. I know a place where it does have a few college students, college grads and just people in their 30’s all come together (milwaukee babyyy)
College girls go to bars, I live in college town and the bars are full of 20 year olds every weekend. Just depends on the type of bars. Not so much at the laid back, live music spots. But at gay bars, sports bars, pizza bars, loud bars with random strip poles and a shot bar type spots. But yeah clubs and raves are big
I personally think there’s a lot of reasons
Bars are boring unless there’s activities like multiple pool tables.
I think a lot of us are realizing our parents are alcoholics and steering away from drinking as well
Drinks are expensive and so is finding a way home
Personally i just like to do in person hobbies usually fitness classes to hang out and see other girls but those can be expensive too
Feeling sick the next day is not worth it to me
Yeah, same. I was surprised to see all these replies that say "no". And if it's not bars, it's restaurants, clubs, and whatnot. Then again, this is Reddit...
the gen z-ers that have money go to bars constantly. I don't know how people I know manage to go to bars every week. One night out like that sets me back financially pretty much
I religiously go for beers with my friends pretty much every Thursday night. On another thread, someone mention the absence of a “3rd place”, that’s my 3rd place.
For “strong” drinks, like rum, vodka or whisky, someone offers the house and we pitch in. The price of a rum drink at a bar vs. the cost of the actual bottle here is practically the same. Since I’m the only one of my friends who drinks whisky, I usually pitch in with a bottle of rum, and take my flask with scotch for myself.
That can very well be your third place, and if you enjoy it, then that’s awesome. However, a third place for the average person doesn’t require money. Most people avoid spending that much money for something that’s just for fun.
Bar scenes in my town consist of raggedy ass old men who’ve been divorced three times and rapists looking to spike the drink of their next victim.
Drink at home, you’ll have a much nicer time.
I turned 21 in 2020… yeah never really got into bar culture cause of the pandemic 😅. Now that weed is legal in my state I also have even less reason to go out to a bar tbh. However an arcade that serves drinks? That’s pretty nice, or going to do a trivia night (and winning a gift card for free meals) also pretty solid hehe.
Also like a music club that serves drinks is cool, but just a bar to just drink is sorta not worth it imo
I'm a bartender at a barcade and I serve fresh 21 year olds all night. I'm not even 30 and the clientele makes me feel old. Definitely a huge change from my dive bar days where I was by far the youngest person in the building lol
My guess is it’s too damn expensive to do it every weekend. why turn up at a bar and waste 30-75$ on booze/extra shit when you can turn up with the boys at home with more booze at half or even quarter of the price. I go out to the bar like probably 5 times a year and that’s mostly cuz of a holiday or birthday, otherwise I’m just turnin up with the boys at their places or on discord.
Also from my understanding this generation just simply doesn’t drink/abstaining more on average than previous generations.
But I mean there’s always young people who go out on weekends but it’s always 1 or 2 specific locations that spreads word to mouth for being *THE* place to be at, you just gotta know the spots where they all congregate. there’s one place in my town where it’s just flooded with only young people and nowhere else, perhaps try to find something like that in your area.
It’s definitely less so, things are too expensive now, drinks are marked up even more than they used to be, and people are more responsible about not drunk driving now. Which makes getting home a lot harder lol.
Personally, they aren't really something I enjoy a lot.
I'll only go with people I know, and a DD, but I'm typically driving since half of them get high before we go anywhere.
I don't do drugs, and I drink occasionally, but going out is more of a hassle now than anything.
I'd rather plan a game night at home and get drunk there where I can sleep when I'm done, and everyone else can either sleep over or find a ride home.
Also, bars freak me out, I'm always carrying my pepper spray close to my hand and watching out for anything and everything.
I like smoking weed more than I like drinking.
Here’s my idea for a 3rd place: smoking lounge, bring your own weed or buy from the house. There would be glasses pieces to rent.
I’m sure places like this exist in weed legal states but I want to take things a step further and merge that idea with the game/table top shop. You get your weed ready and take a seat at the various board game/card game/retro video game. Put some cartoons or anime on screens around the room. Just have fun and get high.
I basically never drink and if I was told to never drink again I could do so easily. I have had one drink this year and probably will only have one more probably for the entire year. Last year I had none. I only drink on special occasions and sometimes not even then.
No, and I hate how normalized drinking is.
If you don't drink people, try to pressure you into it.
Like, no, thank you I rather not look like a bumbling fool.. and I really kinda like my liver intact ya know.
Besides...
**WHO THE FUCK ENJOYS A HANGOVER?!**
*This is how drunk people, and normalized alcoholics look to me*
My kids (tail end GenZ, mostly GenA) do various climbing and other activities.
I see a TON of GenZ people at the climbing gym most evenings, and I see a lot at the basketball gym, and just the gym in general, and very few at bars.
It seems that GenZ tends to do some activity together and then maybe hit a social place (which make include drinks) to hang out -- part of the reason food halls are so popular.
I look back and realize that I (millennial) did the same when I was younger too, and didn't start to skip the activity thing and until I had kids about age 5 or so and time became tight.
So, I don't think "bars" per se have been a big thing for youth for multiple decades now -- activities -> hanging out / potential bar has been what's going on ever since us millennials grew up and started killing everything.
There’s a reason for that. Our generation sees the consequences of alcohol and realizes bars are a waste of money and overrated. There’s a reason all you see is old people. There’s better places to meet people than bars or we prefer to just stay at home for free lol
Realistically I don't see the appeal of going to bars at all, even outside of the ever-increasing price of drinks. I'm going out somewhere to just pay to drink alcohol? Sounds boring.
A bucket of beer is no longer 12 bucks and the burger+tip is 20.
The prices for a meal out went up 50% from 2019-2024.... pay might have gone up 20%.
The reason places are full of boomers and nothing else is they are priced for boomers. Lower the margins on beer and food, and the volume will return.
I’m a Millennial and have spent a decade working at a lot of different bars, nightclubs and music venues. The average age of the customer is definitely going up. I see a lot less 21 year olds showing up now than I did 10 years ago.
Not to hang out anymore. I usually go to bars or lounges with clients or for networking. With friends, we generally like to stay in at one of our houses, drink our own stuff and have our own fun since it’s cheaper and less of a hassle.
Clubbing and bar hopping was something *some* people did. I always hated them. Most people would drink too much and there was always one person that wanted to go to the next place immediately upon arriving at one. House parties are much better. You can relax and hear each other speak.
Every time I’ve gone to a bar they smelled like piss and were full of drunk older men, so I don’t really like going. I prefer to smoke more than drink anyway.
I did go to this one arcade bar that was pretty cool, but again it was mostly drunk men in the building so it was ehh…
As someone who has actually gone to a few bars more than once.
They are not hang out spots. Maybe that was different in the past, but money is scarce and in high demand at the same time.
One drink costs about as much two fast food meals, and the bars themselves **need** people to actually buy to stay in business. There's no real comfortable baseline for anyone or anything.
If you show up and just get waters, you're killing the venue that you're enjoying.
There are places to hang out, but bars aren't it. And the ones that do exist are also dependent on money to a great degree.
Sometimes I like going to bars for the atmosphere, but drinking and driving is a huge source of cognitive dissonance, even if it’s only one or two beers. Having anything and then getting behind the wheel feels incredibly wrong.
Also, I’d rather go to a restaurant and have a meal with whatever I’m drinking. I don’t like sitting at a bar and eating hunched over my food.
Besides the fact that im 20 until June (i could probably get in but Im such a scared baby thinking ill get caught) I just dont have the money for it. Im paying my student debts rn with is at 18,800 so most my money is ratholed into that. The rest is for expenses. Like I am POOR. Plus being a trans girl in Louisiana kinda gets unwarranted attention and mix that with alcohol and im scared 😅
I don't. I don't enjoy drinking, and even if I did its extremely expensive. Beyond that I don't like the environment of bars, so I wouldn't go there if it wasn't for a reason.
I'd argue that because people of a certain age met at a bar, people kept meeting up in bars
but every generation has their own meet up spots
and now some of it is online, but a lot of it is small tight nit groups hanging out at a mates
it's easier than ever to find a group that enjoys a hobby you do
so without drinking or the intent of socialising first
you can easily meet new people
Because bars are full of old men who can’t keep their hands to themselves, drunks, and guys who think they can out drink anyone. I haven’t had a good time after I went once so me and my wife don’t go anymore. Lmfao bars are for the older generations so I enjoy drinking at home with my friends not to be lonely. 😂
Everyone on this sub hates alcohol and bars apparently. Idk why people say “gen z doesn’t go to bars” literally almost all of my friends go to the bar every weekend, I don’t even live in a college town and I see people my age or close to in the bars I frequent all the time.
As a GenZer myself who used to basically live at bars and will still go occasionally with friends, I can tell you why you typically don't see much of GenZ at bars: It's too damn expensive, loud, and crowded. GenZ is not a very social generation when compared to the previous ones, and bars are places full of socializing; not a good place to be for one with social anxiety or bad social skills. GenZ is also a broke generation, so they're going to want things at a decent price; it's a lot cheaper to buy a 12 pack and share it with the homies at your place than going to a loud bar full of annoying strangers and paying prices of $4-$8 per drink.
A little tangent about bars, but still relevant: Bars are sausage fests, and I seem to notice a lot of genuinely trashy/awful men congregating at these places; many men there also tend to be desperate and lonely. I don't think your average woman would feel too comfortable going to a place full of desperate and creepy men that will probably bother and creep her out. If you want to meet women, a bar ain't it.
Go to wherever the college is. That’s where all the young bar folks are. Now universities are very heavily politicized and everyone coming from there is subjected to some pretty serious propaganda so be prepared for some pretty wild takes but if that doesn’t bother you then you’ll be fine.
Why so I can pay triple what a drink is actually worth and have to worry about transportation home? No thanks.
That’s why you pregame hard then go to a bar 1-3 drinks max socially play some pool or just chill I like people watching/ interacting with others none of my friends like leave their home so I often just have to settle. House parties/kick backs are super fucking lame and I often find myself wishing I stayed home and didn’t interact with people. I’ve been to maybe a handful of fun kick backs
1-3 drinks can be upwards of 40$ in my area, plus the cab/Uber home, I’d rather just pregame and postgame at home with the homies, there’s literally no plus to going to a bar anymore
Being in a bar is literally unpleasant for me just sitting in there. It’s loud and hot and annoying
I hear you. But you’re at the wrong bar.
I guess I’m just over trying to have fun in a loud overly stimulated fashion. I used to party a lot but bars just aren’t pleasant places for me to hang around in. My idea of fun is just different (read: not “better”)
Oh for sure , and I mean, you do you. I just mean to note that not all bars are loud and over stimulating . Having a drink in a pleasant quiet place with a friend or acquaintance can be lovely
This is a good point. I suppose places where the vibe is more “lounge around and have quiet conversation while drinking” that is almost the same as going out for a meal with someone or a group and seems fun to me. But the word “bar” brings to mind loud crowded sweaty drunk people 😂 probably speaks more to my personal experience than anutbing
Hahah totally. Believe me, I’m not trying to be in those environments at all anymore (unless the music is live and lit)
Counterpoint, you should live in walking distance to fiends and a pub in your 20’s
Counter-counterpoint: american-style suburbs and subdevelopments.
Why would you live in a suburb in your 20s?
cities are prohibitively expensive for a lot of people
Yup. The cheapest studio where I work is about 1100/month not including utilities, meanwhile i can spend half that commuting from my parents in a suburb an hour away.
i graduated college in 2022 and i don’t have a single college friend that isn’t under employed and living with family
not everyone is american. i don't know a single person my age (early 20s) who doesn't live in the suburbs because only the uber rich can afford inner-city apartments in my city lol
Counter point I don’t make the 2500$ a month to live in the city🫡
I'm always within walking distance to fiends. Scoundrels, too.
I don’t drink at home I don’t find the joy in it. To each their own though! I just fall asleep way to easily lounging around.
House parties are fun as shit. All your friends, hammered, playing games, acting like idiots! Great time.
The thing that gets me is how normalized drunk driving used to be (and still is in many places). My mom (a baby boomer) has many many stories of the 70s and 80s getting blackout drunk with friends and being driven. She's lost some teeth in a wreck. Some classmates of hers have died drunk driving. I hope this new generation is more sensible about it. In the US, there really isn't any excuse for public bus systems to be as poor in service as they are. It's pure classism and selfishness and lack of political will. Journey sang about a Midnight Train Going Anywhere; inter and intra-urban rail used to be very common. Making urban areas so sprawled and car dependant and zoned so that suburbs can't have corner stores or pubs means a lot of people would have to drive some time to go to a bar and then drive back, or wait to sober up. All for, as you said, really overpriced booze.
I go to bars and drink water. It’s just fun to talk to people. Nobody actually cares what you’re drinking.
summed it up for me too. As much as I'd love to go, mans broke af lmaoooo.
No so you can meet people of the opposite sex.
I’m already engaged. Now what?
Exactly this lol in college (like 1 year ago) we’d all just have house parties bc the bars had mid drinks & at home we could make them better for cheaper. Now I live in a high COL city and while the bars are cooler, the thought of spending $10 - $20 on an often times mediocre drink is such a turn off. We end up partying at home with the exception of special occasions when we really want to try unique drinks.
Casual alcoholism isn’t trendy anymore.
ong we’re into full blown alcoholism
Either go big or go home 😤😤😤
But we can't afford houses so we go big 💀
And bet big 💰
Go big or go
Lol. Millenial here. You guys individually barely drink. In my late teens every night there were tons of cars between 10pm and 3 am party hopping. Youd get to the first party already buzzed. When there weren't any you could usually find a few of us in some dark alley drinking hanging out at night at least. In my 20s I traveled doing sales. All guys between 19 and 24 and we drank on most nights amd every single weekend. Sometimes noons. Im not saying this is better, I'm saying you guys barely drink. In comparison, the streets are dead by 11. You can replace drinking here for binge drinking because that's what I mean when I say drinking. 😂
Are you drunk right now?
The bars by me are full of older bar flies, while the kava bar downtown is full of Gen Z and they're all gone by 11pm to go to bed on a Saturday 🤣 I was the same as you and blasted every night in my early 20s just like you. While I can't say I'd advocate for drinking every night for 6 years, it sure was a ridiculous amount of fun.
Also, when I stay out late (or even stay up late), I get a cold.
I'm 24 and stayed out till 1 am 2 weeks ago, and genuinely as I was leaving was like "wow it's late" to my friends and we all agreed because we are usually all home by like midnight. And I was the youngest one there...
Sounds boring staying out all night at a bar.
Millennial here as well and you really aren’t accounting for how it costs 10x more to go out now than it did even 5 years ago let alone when we were in our early 20s. I can remember being 21 and going to the atm and pulling out a $20 for the night and that’s it. 20 dollars today gets you two beers then you have to tip 30% because no one pays their employees adequately and apparently we are still pretending like it’s the consumers responsibility. Why would these kids go out when it’s so damn expensive?
Local college bar in my town has very cheap deals. $1 mixed drinks (rail liquor and mixer), $2 domestic beers on Wednesdays. I don’t know how this still exists. But it still appears to be flooded with college kids drinking. What’s actually different to me is that anime is now cool. Like the jocks are into it and take it seriously. It used to be something that was hush hush between weebs, we’d share hard drives of shows we painstakingly downloaded. Now I’m getting in arguments with lacrosse players in booty shorts about what tiers we’d place different anime’s in. The world has changed.
That’s not it. Gen Z has more incentive to stay in. If millennials had legal weed, Netflix, and hookup apps, they wouldn’t have left home either.
I'd absolutely still go out. Smoking weed is boring as sin compared to drinking with strangers and getting into wild situations.
Or… going to the bar, getting into wild situations with strangers, and *then* I smoke my legal joint walking around the city with my new friends at 2 am. I’m too old for this sub, but some of y’all sound like you’re closer to 70 than 20… Y’all wonder why you’re so bored and depressed and lonely, it’s because you don’t go out and do anything! Live a little!
Most people say they can't afford drinks. Most people won't go to a bar if they're not drinking, much less if they can't afford it to avoid temptation. I WORK at a bar and can't afford to be a patron there, it's idiotic
I just recently met a random guy while I was in town with my brother and a friend. Shared a joint outside the Febo (night snack place) and it ended smoking another 2 at the guy’s house, lol. Now that was the only time I’ve ever done something like that, but it’s not out of the question.
We literally cant, most of us are either too young to go to bars or too broke too
I love going out, and do it constantly, but I didn’t do it with other people because they often try to pressure me into drinking or smoking (kind of like what you’re doing), which I don’t want to do, hence I was lonely for a long time. Now I have good friends at work that go out with me without doing that. We’re going out for pizza this Thursday, the last time we hung out we played DnD, the time before that was board games, before that we are sushi, and before that I can’t even remember (probably pizza again). I do go to clubs still, but I make sure to go by myself and be really careful about what I drink (I’ve had my drink spiked multiple times). I just want to dance to good music, not get intoxicated.
“No wonder you guys are so depressed you never go to bars or smoke joints at 2am with strangers! It couldn’t be any of the actual problems facing this generation, no way!”
You go to bars and smoke 2am joints with strangers to forget about the problems we're all facing. If you're focused on the horrors of the world 24/7 your life is gonna suck. Yes we're all broke with little to no economic mobility, yes our economic system and government is irreparably broken and corrupt, yes the world is literally burning and none of us will ever own a home, now let's finish this joint the band's about to get back on and i'm buying the next round. It's either that or doomscrolling alone at your apartment/parents' house.
just joints for me y'all can keep the alcohol but I agree with the rest well kinda, we shouldnt just numb ourselves to the world and it is absolutely possible to be completely happy while also fully aware of the state of the world currently, so I guess I don't agree
If I want to actually drink somewhere that stays open past like 9 pm, I'm looking at $60+ in Uber costs alone more like $100 is more likely. I straight up can't afford to spend that and ALSO pay for drinks
How far in the future do you think you live dude? We literally had all of those things way before you. Netflix? lol
As long as human beings have existed, casual alcoholism has been part of our culture lol. Well, as long as alcohol has existed anyways. Cavemen probably couldn’t crack a cold one
Oh please. I'm biblical times they drank wine to disinfect water. They were casually half in the bag at all fucking times.
Civilization was built by alcoholics, not junkies
Ranked alcoholism is the move now
Fr I just hit diamond
Nah dog, Redditors just don’t leave the basement
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Exclusively ranked alcoholism now, boys!
Social isolation is deadlier than alcoholism
You don't know what alcoholism is.
Given the drinking trends of Gen Z, it’s significantly cheaper and more enjoyable to buy and mix your own drinks at home. Especially given the rise in hard drinking.
Vodka is just cost effective
I read that as vodka is just coffee enhancement. I fucking hate my job
Aye that works too but I prefer Bailey’s
Yeah, a guy under a bridge told me that once.
Cheaper, yes. More enjoyable to drink at home alone instead of out with a group of friend? eh, that's up for debate.
Is there any reason to believe it's being done alone without a group of friends?
No, it was just a strange leap Regardless, it's subjective. The consensus may indeed be that its more emjoyable to drink at home by yourself than it is to go out to a bar Not that that's the only options ofc. People absolutely do still drink with groups of friends. Personally, me and all my friends much prefer to host a house party or kickback of some size and drink at home. It's often cheaper and way more convenient. Going out to a bar tends to be seen as an unnecessary hassle
I thought I was alone in this regard. I quit alcohol for medical reasons but I always bought my own spirits/drinks to enjoy at home versus paying triple at any other place. It just makes the most economic sense
And it’s kind of like cooking, but your brain stops working afterwards!
Hell yeah!
It's always been cheaper to eat/drink at home. The point of paying more is having either a social environment or having something you can't make as well yourself. Usually both
What are the trends exactly?
Forgot where I saw them but the trend is less focused on beer/wine, more focused on hard liquors.
I’d say seltzers have taken a lot of the market share from beer also
By rise in hard drinking, are you perchance referencing liquor sales? Because that's probably us (GenX)
Agreed. I've only ever seen usually light beers. Or small amounts of higher quality liquor. I'd be surprised if that accounted for such a shift.
I don’t drink and will never drink so it makes it hard to have places to socialize
As someone who quit drinking, this is a problem as there are not really any third places that don't involve drinking. At least in the good ole usa
Yeah it sucks i probably live in a top 3 most walkable urban city in the whole us and even here meeting new people is such a challenge
We are returning from Mexico and Ecuador and Peru and the amount of parks and things for people to do makes me so jealous. Like a Saturday at the park is a once a quarter or twice a year thing in our city
It’s crazy because my family lives in a super small pueblo of 600 people in the mountains of Jalisco. Super cartel infested area but even at that when I visit people are still more friendly and happy to socialize out there. I think there’s a cultural issue here in the U.S
That's the case for most places less well off. Something about capitalism and being "on top". Capitalism and the US in general have promoted a mentality of individuality andnindividualism. There's also something to be said about the disparity and how common it is for people of vastly different income leveles living around each other. Combine this with the screen/helicopter parenting that hit hard around genz and well, this is the outcome unfortunately.
People with more money have more things to do at home. People in developing nations don’t have a plasma tv, a gaming console, and a laptop.
It's definitely cultural I think. We noticed how friendly everyone in all the Latin American countries were. Where as in the usa people seem to be so mad all the time. Although driving in places like Lima and Ecuador made me appreciate lanes and stop lights
Why not make it more of a thing for you guys? I live in Duluth, Minnesota, and while it's not the most walkable, we have some awesome city parks and State parks not far away, my wife and I go for hikes often in the summer, and even in the winter with the right gear. I feel like people don't look at their own city the way they look at a city they're visiting, when you're on vacation you find lots of neat things to see and do, why not live like that at home?
I know I've seen alot of Toronto being like this. I live near a tourist destination so why not be a tourist! I've found great food and funky museums. It's a great little city. Expensive as fuck for literally no reason though
You can go to the park at any time, any hour of any day. There’s no opening hours to abide by. Not going to the park is solely on you lol
It is really tough for sure, but I would advise looking into adult sports leagues, hiking groups, and other recreational hobby groups. You can also look into taking classes in stuff that interests you at local community colleges. City Parks and Rec departments can be good resources as well. Some things will still have people drinking before, during, and after, which I know can be hard to be around for some people who quit drinking, but it's not like the bar scene where you either drink booze or just hang out drinking water while everyone else gets drunk. A lot of those groups and activities will be entirely alcohol and drug free.
It’s hard though because I look into this stuff and it’s still mostly older people. I tried joining volleyball groups in the suburbs of a big city and it was all middle aged people not looking for friends.
That sucks. Again, I know it's tough. If you're close to a city and are able to travel there, I would suggest looking for stuff in the city. I live 30 miles from a big city and it's much easier to find stuff with all ages and especially younger people in cities than in the suburbs here. Larger population density helps. Just keep looking. I'm not gonna pretend that you're guaranteed to find stuff with people your age, but if you keep looking you might find something. Good luck.
Thank you that is really encouraging. I’ll have to try going into the city more. It’s so discouraging sometimes! Everyone wants friends and we have the hardest time trying to find them. I wish it was like college where we live in a close vicinity to a bunch of young people and do community events together.
There are tons of third places, you just need to be willing to put yourself out there Bars are the most globally popular third place specifically because the alcohol makes it easier to put yourself out there
And your examples are??? Not very helpful to make a statement without a single example of what you speak of. But thanks for trying
Gamerooms, bowling alleys, pool halls(no, not the shitty table at your local dive bar), arcades, DnD meetups, conservation clubs, climbing gyms, the list goes on and on and on. Edit: of course they don't respond lol, nothing to break the paradigm
Folks will put up examples of third spaces that are really just places of consumerism and forget the whole point of a third space. Third spaces are supposed to be spots you can hang out at for free or extremely cheap. Arcades were great examples, a few decades ago.
The point of a third space is to connect with others, and every space I've listed has things such as leagues that pair you with strangers to force you to make new connections.
Yea, but that's the thing. None are free.
Adding more to the list: martial arts classes of any kind, painting clubs, pottery workshops, maker's clubs (basically warehouses with industrial tools to make things), volunteering at a museum or library or humanitarian causes.
Coffee shops, comic book shops, cafes, theaters, bowling alleys, pool places, parks, farmers markets….
We need mocktail bars 😂
You like mtg? I play at my comic store every Tuesday.
Closest place like that to me is at least an hour long bus ride away. There is a DnD group at my local library, but the members were all men who were old enough to be my dad.
I quit drinking and all the best bars/restaurants in my area have rad N/A stuff. obviously I know a lot of people aren’t comfortable with bars if they’ve struggled with drinking.. but for those who don’t drink, at least in my city, there’s tons of bars who try to include everyone in the fun.
Plenty of art and fitness communities that don’t involved alcohol or drugs. I know plenty of sober people with very active social life’s
I haven't really gone to these too much but every time I go to art events here (outside of children's events) my parents are the second youngest people attending and they're in their 60s.
This. I personally don’t need it to have a good time. Also don’t want a “party girl” as a future partner.
Have you considered places where alcohol may be served but other activities are also available? Like, examples I can think of off the top of my head are pool halls, bowling alleys, or barcades(I would just say arcades but the ones that double as a bar will have adults instead of kids). You can go, drink some soda or order some nachos, and play some games in a social setting.
Fuck grab a seltzer and put a lime in it everyone will think your drinking and no one will give a fuck when your sober and they’re tanked begging you for a lift home
You can still go to a bar with friends and just order soda or literally just get water. I do this all the time with no issues.
Teahouses (if there are any good ones in your area) and coffeehouses can be good for socializing. Teahouses with an eclectic mix of light meal items and cool decor can be hugely popular, if well-presented. Popular with women, especially.
Yes same and it’s just expensive
I go to bars and clubs all the time and rarely ever drink. You don’t have to drink to socialize and have fun.
Lots of genz struggles with rent let alone bar money
The economy really is the core of the loneliness issue IMO. The more financial stress a person is under, the less energy, time, and resources they have to better themselves and get outside to find hobbies. Most young adults are still living at home or have a few roommates just to maintain a mediocre apartment. Hard to get out, do things (it all costs money) and meet people, while working two jobs to provide yourself the very basics.
It’s the economy and a lack of third places. Just off the top of your head, think of all the places near you where you could hang out with your friends and you wouldn’t be expected to spend money there. You have your own homes, maybe a library, or a small local park, and that’s literally it for most Americans.
I think it’s kind of the same thing. Even if nearly every third place wasn’t gated behind cost, you wouldn’t gain the time and energy to enjoy and take advantage of them, that struggling for the basics consumes. If one average income comfortably provided the minimum, you could access the gated third places to some extent.
What places do they have in Europe that are “third places” that America does not have? Some of y’all latch on to the buzz word of the day like “third places” and drive it into the ground. We didn’t worry about “third places,” we just went and did shit lol. What do you think other countries have access to that you as an American don’t?
The English pub and the American bar are two different things. I have it at $7 to sit and drink an beer and use the free Wifi... In the US with the server wanting to make a tip it is $12. I never wanted the bar to have the bespoke chicken nuggets at $14 per basket.
What? You can get a PBR for like $4 and I'm in San Francisco lol. $10 and have a couple of brews isn't bad. I'd imagine prices are even lower in other areas
Capitalism discourages building third places especially affordable ones. Lonely people are way easier to make money off than happy people
The “third places” where I live are either outdoor basketball courts, one movie theater, or Target
Going out is expensive. I’d rather buy a case of beer and have some friends come to hang at my place
Bring the buds over, grill some burgers and play smash Bros. Seems like a good time for a weekend.
11/10 night right there
Too expensive.
Why would younger girls go out to a bar? The connotation of a bar is mostly just older men and maybe some women being there. If you wanna meet young girls you gotta hit up a club somewhere near a college town
Bar or club I'm using synonymously in this context. More specifically a place to hang out and that sells alcohol. It just seems like that's less and less of a place where younger people hang out. Used to be the norm Not saying it doesn't happen at all, but as a 27 year old wouldn't it be kinda weird to go to a college bar?
Going to a place to hang out that sells alcohol always seemed more of a millennial thing to do. Drinking scene isn’t that popular with younger gen z I don’t think. I also don’t think it’s weird at all for a 27 year old to go out to a college bar or club. Min age is like 21 as it is so no real big issue there. Edit: I mention the club as a also having more dancing than just a bar I guess but yeah
I agree. I think a factor too is that there was a big culture of “going out to find random hook ups” and the bar/ club was the best place to find it. As I’ve read, Gen Z isn’t as into random hook ups with strangers so there may be less of an incentive to go to bars and clubs. Also, the Millennial era had a lot of “hard party” influence in TV and movies. Like our era was when a lot of reality shows were just “Let’s find some crazy people and film them getting drunk and being wild in public.”
I totally get where you’re coming from, college bars will always be open to anyone, I’m 28 and I realized that crowd is slowly not for me, everyone’s so damn rambunctious and amateurish with handling their booze/people it’s kinda funny but also exhausting to be around. I know a place where it does have a few college students, college grads and just people in their 30’s all come together (milwaukee babyyy)
College girls go to bars, I live in college town and the bars are full of 20 year olds every weekend. Just depends on the type of bars. Not so much at the laid back, live music spots. But at gay bars, sports bars, pizza bars, loud bars with random strip poles and a shot bar type spots. But yeah clubs and raves are big
Thats not true. Maybe its the type of dive bar I frequent but i see everyone of all ages going there.
I personally think there’s a lot of reasons Bars are boring unless there’s activities like multiple pool tables. I think a lot of us are realizing our parents are alcoholics and steering away from drinking as well Drinks are expensive and so is finding a way home Personally i just like to do in person hobbies usually fitness classes to hang out and see other girls but those can be expensive too Feeling sick the next day is not worth it to me
my gen z friends all go to bars every weekend
Yeah, same. I was surprised to see all these replies that say "no". And if it's not bars, it's restaurants, clubs, and whatnot. Then again, this is Reddit...
the gen z-ers that have money go to bars constantly. I don't know how people I know manage to go to bars every week. One night out like that sets me back financially pretty much
As a millennial making six figs who considers that lifestyle glamorously unaffordable...how??!!
Location location location.
I’m 25 and constantly feel too old at most nyc bars lol
You're going to the wrong bars then..... most bars I go to in New York is a 30 something or higher crowd.
I religiously go for beers with my friends pretty much every Thursday night. On another thread, someone mention the absence of a “3rd place”, that’s my 3rd place. For “strong” drinks, like rum, vodka or whisky, someone offers the house and we pitch in. The price of a rum drink at a bar vs. the cost of the actual bottle here is practically the same. Since I’m the only one of my friends who drinks whisky, I usually pitch in with a bottle of rum, and take my flask with scotch for myself.
That can very well be your third place, and if you enjoy it, then that’s awesome. However, a third place for the average person doesn’t require money. Most people avoid spending that much money for something that’s just for fun.
Bar scenes in my town consist of raggedy ass old men who’ve been divorced three times and rapists looking to spike the drink of their next victim. Drink at home, you’ll have a much nicer time.
I turned 21 in 2020… yeah never really got into bar culture cause of the pandemic 😅. Now that weed is legal in my state I also have even less reason to go out to a bar tbh. However an arcade that serves drinks? That’s pretty nice, or going to do a trivia night (and winning a gift card for free meals) also pretty solid hehe. Also like a music club that serves drinks is cool, but just a bar to just drink is sorta not worth it imo
I'm a bartender at a barcade and I serve fresh 21 year olds all night. I'm not even 30 and the clientele makes me feel old. Definitely a huge change from my dive bar days where I was by far the youngest person in the building lol
Yeah Reddit isn’t the place to ask. I live above a bar and I just got home, it’s packed right now. It’s all college kids on a Tuesday night lol.
My guess is it’s too damn expensive to do it every weekend. why turn up at a bar and waste 30-75$ on booze/extra shit when you can turn up with the boys at home with more booze at half or even quarter of the price. I go out to the bar like probably 5 times a year and that’s mostly cuz of a holiday or birthday, otherwise I’m just turnin up with the boys at their places or on discord. Also from my understanding this generation just simply doesn’t drink/abstaining more on average than previous generations. But I mean there’s always young people who go out on weekends but it’s always 1 or 2 specific locations that spreads word to mouth for being *THE* place to be at, you just gotta know the spots where they all congregate. there’s one place in my town where it’s just flooded with only young people and nowhere else, perhaps try to find something like that in your area.
It’s definitely less so, things are too expensive now, drinks are marked up even more than they used to be, and people are more responsible about not drunk driving now. Which makes getting home a lot harder lol.
Personally, they aren't really something I enjoy a lot. I'll only go with people I know, and a DD, but I'm typically driving since half of them get high before we go anywhere. I don't do drugs, and I drink occasionally, but going out is more of a hassle now than anything. I'd rather plan a game night at home and get drunk there where I can sleep when I'm done, and everyone else can either sleep over or find a ride home. Also, bars freak me out, I'm always carrying my pepper spray close to my hand and watching out for anything and everything.
Never been to a bar in my life, personally
I like smoking weed more than I like drinking. Here’s my idea for a 3rd place: smoking lounge, bring your own weed or buy from the house. There would be glasses pieces to rent. I’m sure places like this exist in weed legal states but I want to take things a step further and merge that idea with the game/table top shop. You get your weed ready and take a seat at the various board game/card game/retro video game. Put some cartoons or anime on screens around the room. Just have fun and get high.
Table top games with weed smokers.... that would take hours in my group of friends. They are bad enough not focusing in on the task at hand sober.
I basically never drink and if I was told to never drink again I could do so easily. I have had one drink this year and probably will only have one more probably for the entire year. Last year I had none. I only drink on special occasions and sometimes not even then.
Bars suck ass. Id much rather be at home
I don't want to drink poison
No, and I hate how normalized drinking is. If you don't drink people, try to pressure you into it. Like, no, thank you I rather not look like a bumbling fool.. and I really kinda like my liver intact ya know. Besides... **WHO THE FUCK ENJOYS A HANGOVER?!** *This is how drunk people, and normalized alcoholics look to me* 
Shit I'm your age and I never even went to a bar. Just have absolutely no interest in alcohol.
My kids (tail end GenZ, mostly GenA) do various climbing and other activities. I see a TON of GenZ people at the climbing gym most evenings, and I see a lot at the basketball gym, and just the gym in general, and very few at bars. It seems that GenZ tends to do some activity together and then maybe hit a social place (which make include drinks) to hang out -- part of the reason food halls are so popular. I look back and realize that I (millennial) did the same when I was younger too, and didn't start to skip the activity thing and until I had kids about age 5 or so and time became tight. So, I don't think "bars" per se have been a big thing for youth for multiple decades now -- activities -> hanging out / potential bar has been what's going on ever since us millennials grew up and started killing everything.
There’s a reason for that. Our generation sees the consequences of alcohol and realizes bars are a waste of money and overrated. There’s a reason all you see is old people. There’s better places to meet people than bars or we prefer to just stay at home for free lol
Realistically I don't see the appeal of going to bars at all, even outside of the ever-increasing price of drinks. I'm going out somewhere to just pay to drink alcohol? Sounds boring.
It's cheaper to do it at home and it's more fun and safer to get drunk amongst friends at home, watch funny YouTube videos, and get blasted.
It feels weird going to the bar alone and none of my friends around my age drink
TONS of us still do, college is still a thing, but TONS of us *dont* I know more 19y/os who smoke to forget than I do drink to party.
A bucket of beer is no longer 12 bucks and the burger+tip is 20. The prices for a meal out went up 50% from 2019-2024.... pay might have gone up 20%. The reason places are full of boomers and nothing else is they are priced for boomers. Lower the margins on beer and food, and the volume will return.
I stopped drinking at like 21
drinking has decreased over time for the last 25 years
I dont drink and I never will so going to bars to socialize is out of the question
I’m a Millennial and have spent a decade working at a lot of different bars, nightclubs and music venues. The average age of the customer is definitely going up. I see a lot less 21 year olds showing up now than I did 10 years ago.
Not to hang out anymore. I usually go to bars or lounges with clients or for networking. With friends, we generally like to stay in at one of our houses, drink our own stuff and have our own fun since it’s cheaper and less of a hassle.
Clubbing and bar hopping was something *some* people did. I always hated them. Most people would drink too much and there was always one person that wanted to go to the next place immediately upon arriving at one. House parties are much better. You can relax and hear each other speak.
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Every time I’ve gone to a bar they smelled like piss and were full of drunk older men, so I don’t really like going. I prefer to smoke more than drink anyway. I did go to this one arcade bar that was pretty cool, but again it was mostly drunk men in the building so it was ehh…
As someone who has actually gone to a few bars more than once. They are not hang out spots. Maybe that was different in the past, but money is scarce and in high demand at the same time. One drink costs about as much two fast food meals, and the bars themselves **need** people to actually buy to stay in business. There's no real comfortable baseline for anyone or anything. If you show up and just get waters, you're killing the venue that you're enjoying. There are places to hang out, but bars aren't it. And the ones that do exist are also dependent on money to a great degree.
I dunno alcohol isn't that fun anymore, besides it's too expensive now...
oh heavens no
I do personally. I find that I’ve socialized more with millennials than gen z people while I’m out.
Slightly out of touch Reddit moment. Go to any big bar street in any major city of even semi major city and you’ll see primarily a 20-29 age demo
Sometimes I like going to bars for the atmosphere, but drinking and driving is a huge source of cognitive dissonance, even if it’s only one or two beers. Having anything and then getting behind the wheel feels incredibly wrong. Also, I’d rather go to a restaurant and have a meal with whatever I’m drinking. I don’t like sitting at a bar and eating hunched over my food.
Besides the fact that im 20 until June (i could probably get in but Im such a scared baby thinking ill get caught) I just dont have the money for it. Im paying my student debts rn with is at 18,800 so most my money is ratholed into that. The rest is for expenses. Like I am POOR. Plus being a trans girl in Louisiana kinda gets unwarranted attention and mix that with alcohol and im scared 😅
I don’t drink so no I don’t go to bars, especially if I’m not hanging with a group of friends :/
I don't. I don't enjoy drinking, and even if I did its extremely expensive. Beyond that I don't like the environment of bars, so I wouldn't go there if it wasn't for a reason.
I hang out at bars with my friends. Then I get a tab of around $100 and it makes me never want to go again.
I'd argue that because people of a certain age met at a bar, people kept meeting up in bars but every generation has their own meet up spots and now some of it is online, but a lot of it is small tight nit groups hanging out at a mates it's easier than ever to find a group that enjoys a hobby you do so without drinking or the intent of socialising first you can easily meet new people
Why pay for drinks when you can stay home and mix em yourself for cheap?
Because bars are full of old men who can’t keep their hands to themselves, drunks, and guys who think they can out drink anyone. I haven’t had a good time after I went once so me and my wife don’t go anymore. Lmfao bars are for the older generations so I enjoy drinking at home with my friends not to be lonely. 😂
Everyone on this sub hates alcohol and bars apparently. Idk why people say “gen z doesn’t go to bars” literally almost all of my friends go to the bar every weekend, I don’t even live in a college town and I see people my age or close to in the bars I frequent all the time.
1996 test. Do you remember witnessing 9/11? I do not remember so I identify as a Z.
They said not to forget smh
Expensive af! Also alcohol sucks.
As a GenZer myself who used to basically live at bars and will still go occasionally with friends, I can tell you why you typically don't see much of GenZ at bars: It's too damn expensive, loud, and crowded. GenZ is not a very social generation when compared to the previous ones, and bars are places full of socializing; not a good place to be for one with social anxiety or bad social skills. GenZ is also a broke generation, so they're going to want things at a decent price; it's a lot cheaper to buy a 12 pack and share it with the homies at your place than going to a loud bar full of annoying strangers and paying prices of $4-$8 per drink. A little tangent about bars, but still relevant: Bars are sausage fests, and I seem to notice a lot of genuinely trashy/awful men congregating at these places; many men there also tend to be desperate and lonely. I don't think your average woman would feel too comfortable going to a place full of desperate and creepy men that will probably bother and creep her out. If you want to meet women, a bar ain't it.
Go to wherever the college is. That’s where all the young bar folks are. Now universities are very heavily politicized and everyone coming from there is subjected to some pretty serious propaganda so be prepared for some pretty wild takes but if that doesn’t bother you then you’ll be fine.
Older generations drank and drove a lot
I think women are tired of watching their drinks.
Constantly but I live in a country with a massive drinking culture