The elderly are society’s new baddies

The gulf in understanding between the old and the young has widened with the news that the young are beginning to turn teetotal. If there was one thing that the old thought they knew about the young, it was that they drank too much. British youth led the world in its enthusiasm for alcohol. Our cities swarmed with loutish binge drinkers. Yet now, all of a sudden, we learn that abstinence is becoming fashionable. The number of people under 25 who don’t touch a drop has increased by 40 per cent in eight years. More than a quarter of people in this age group now don’t drink anything at all. What is going on?

The conditions for heavy drinking would seem to be perfect: there is economic hardship and a generally gloomy outlook on most fronts. It can seldom have been more tempting to seek oblivion in alcohol. Yet the financial crash of 2008 seems to have had the opposite effect. It is since then that the tide has turned. It is true that times are hard and drinking is much more expensive than it used to be, but cost has never deterred the determined drinker. Nor is it possible to believe that government health campaigns have had much effect; they have never impressed the young. It is true that Muslims and Sikhs tend not to drink, but there are still not enough of them in our midst to have much impact on the statistics. There must be different explanations.

It could be that other addictions have been replacing alcohol. There is little time for group bingeing if one is glued to one’s computer or smart phone, and the digital world has its own numbing effect. Could it be, on the contrary, that the young are imbued with a new energy, optimism and sense of purpose? It would be nice to think so, but this would be really surprising.