Ask Lemmy

Yes, in short, because I like them.

For better or worse, booze is a big part of British socialising culture, so it's unusual if someone my age (mid thirties millennial) has never drank, but a couple of my mates have gone tee total in recent years.

Why do I still do it? Beers with your mates whilst enjoying a beer garden or watching the footie is a pretty enjoyable way to pass the time. I'm also a bit of a nerd with it all so I love trying new beers, there's been a huge renaissance around beer variety over the past decade-ish, so there's always something new to try. I've gotten more into wine and cocktails in recent years too, and there's a rich well of variety in there to experience too.

Smoking tobacco I generally avoid now, it's nice to have the odd one with a beer but I'll probably only have a few a year now. I regularly smoked last in my 20s. I occasionally have ended up with a vape in my pocket after a big night out, but I don't really like them much flavour wise.

Weed is something I still enjoy, it helps me clear my head, relax, and kinda be more present with whatever activity I'm engaging in, if I'm smoking with mates it can often be a pretty hilarious time. However, it's easy for me to slip into habitual use with it especially though, I don't really seem to get much in the way of acute negative effects beyond tolerance, so I try to be mindful to keep it in check these days. I'll probably try and relegate it to a treat for when I visit somewhere like Amsterdam in the coming years given the downsides of smoking (I've got a vape, but I basically never choose it).

FWIW I've heard that Gen Z is differing their consumption habits significantly from previous generations. Less drinking alcohol in general, preferring non-smokeable forms of tobacco/weed.

There doesn't appear to be too many bad examples in here, so allow me.

I smoked cigarettes for a long time and, at 59, got to experience lung cancer. I'm currently 62 and still dealing with it. I'd probably be dead now if the mass in my lung hadn't adhered to the back of my chest cavity and eroded into one of my ribs causing a ridiculous amount of pain. Lung cancer usually goes undetected until it spreads to other places, like the brain, so I guess I got lucky. It did pop up on an adrenal gland, but we nuked that one too. I have another small mass in my other lung that will probably have to be radiated too. I'm also dealing with emphysema and a mouth half full of fucked up teeth. (So glamorous!)

Having no wind in my sails and trying to talk around and eat with both upper and lower partials just sucks all around. I'm only 62, but I feel like I'm 82, and I only have myself to blame.

I've never smoked and I don't ever plan to (it can lessen the effect of HRT) but I do drink alcohol occasionally. Meaning I drink maybe one cocktail or longdrink every two or three months.

No. I don't want cancer, so i don't smoke. I also was an alco, so I'm recovered now and don't want to go back to that. I'm sure my liver agrees with my decision.

Elder millennial. I think we were the last gen where cigarettes, booze, and drugs were seen as "cool". Younger people seemed to have figured it out early how much of a fucking waste of time and money all three are.

I drink beer cuz look around.

I'm the older end of Gen X, and have never smoked. The major factor in starting is peer pressure and I didn't have any peers around me at the critical time who did. My family didn't either.

I seldom drink alcohol and then I have only ever enjoyed cider - not beer, wine or spirits. This is just a matter of the taste for me. I simply don't like it.

As a kid, I had had grape juice and I had heard adults enthusing about wine as usual and I had a idea what it must taste like.

If you imagine a taste/mouthfeel spectrum with wine at one end and grape juice in the middle, what I imagined wine to taste like was pretty much at the opposite end of that spectrum to what it actually tastes like. I had one mouthful and had no desire for any more at all. I have obviously tried wine and the rest at various times since, but my opinion is basically the same.

With cider, I'll seldom have more that a pint or two a month these days.

I like to get a little intoxicated and find the different headspaces the drugs provides to be very relaxing and fun. That said, I get a really good calming buzz from a cup of coffee and some particular candy (vespebol) these days.

I used to drink a lot, mostly because it was fun and relaxing to start, then it became habitual. I drink way less now, I like the buzz and mindset I get from a few beers, but I no longer need the escape that drunkenness provides and I've grown to really dislike it. Stopped drinking for a little while, then eased back into it and experimented with it for a few years. I found that for me the cost of drinking increases exponentially per unit and the benefits flattens and become costs after a few units now.

I only have tobacco when someone has rolled a joint with it. Had my first while cigarette at 29, I got a really good nicotine shock from it, which I loved, but my lungs hurt for days afterwards so I'm staying away from tobacco, never tried snus either even though it's pretty huge around here.

Don't really smoke much weed either, but I'll have a puff if someone is offering. I like the buz and calmness it brings.

No. Paying money to ingest poison is extremely unappealing

I don't think this is unusual for your generation. GenZ seems risk adverse. It is surprising that you all drive before age 18. Many won't actually call somebody or someplace using your voice.

I started smoking and drinking at 12 because I thought it would make me look cool and developed a pretty bad drinking habit in high school and college. After college it got worse and there were some severe consequences. Finally got sober at 30. I’d been trying to quit smoking for years but would always light up when I’d had a few beers and since that was pretty much all the time, I wasn’t able to quit smoking until I quit drinking.

I haven’t touched either in almost 27 years and I’m so much better off for it.

Smoking no, never. I was a heavy drinker in my teens and 20s, gave that up because I was getting fat (I'm vain, deal with it!). At that time, I started taking MDMA and speed. It was the late 90s, so it was a pretty standard for the rave and alternative scenes at the time. Gave that up when I got Menieres disease in my early 40s. Now I have one drink once or twice a month, but mostly drink plain old water.

i drink cigs and smoke beer

Smoking: never, it smells awefull.

Drinking: yes, but not regularly and never alone. Most of the time in social situations and when partying.

Drugs: never.

Gambling: I play gacha games.

No and no, because I'm Muslim and because both are poison that will literally kill you.

I'm chronically ill so I can't smoke or drink. But I used to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol. At least at parties or sometimes a glass of wine with dinner. I sometimes miss it but not too much.

Friend of mine is basically like you. Never smoked, never drank except for half a glass of champagne on his 18th birthday. The closest he ever came to real drug use was when we were playing board games with friends in a closed room and three joints were constantly circling the table. At one point he remarked feeling a bit woozy.

But people mostly accept his choice. And even in our most egregious party phases he was constantly one of the last people to leave a party. So it didn't exclude him socially or so.

Not nearly as much as I once did. I quit dipping about 15 years ago and started drinking a lot less after getting diagnosed and medicated for ADHD.

I do enjoy a good cigar and a glass of Macallan occasionally but that's too expensive to be a regular habit.

You loose a lot of money and a lot of life expectancy for very little fun and you smell bad after.

Also, you annoy people around you and eventually poison them too

Not worth it.

No to both.

No to smoking because it stinks, it's expensive, and it deteriorates everything around you and inside you.

And no to drinking because it has ruined the lives of everyone around me, which in turn partially ruined mine as well.

Polish drinking culture is devastating, even among Gen Z. Lost too many of my friends to alcohol - somehow each and every one of them who started went into a downwards spiral and became a shell of their former self.

My home stopped giving me the feeling of safety as my parents' alcohol-induced fights stripped it away. Same thing happened to my university dorm, as 9 times out of 10 I'd come back to a room that had vomit everywhere and my drunk roommate laying unconscious on the floor.

I don't know if I'm a magnet for these kinds of people or what, but because of that I've been against alcohol ever since I first learned what the word meant.

No tobacco because ew and no alcohol because headaches

Quit self-medication years ago because it's lethal, killed my whole family, and right now we should all be hoarding money to keep it out of the hands of the oligarchs and tyrants trying to seize our land.

I smoke cigarettes. Because they're fucking addictive and it's hard af to quit.

I smoke weed because it stops me getting anxiety and also makes my thoughts slow down and become quieter so it's not like a crowded room full of people having different conversations talking over each other.

I have drank alcohol, and very rarely still do, but I don't like being drunk. Just like the taste of a white russian or margarita once in a blue moon.

I never smoked. No desire to do so. Too many adverse effects and too expensive compared to psychiatric drugs.

I used to drink a little bit, specifically liqueurs like Disaronno and RumChata. I just liked the taste, honest! Can't drink those anymore because of my meds 😕. Oh well.

Alcohol yes. Less the older I get.

I've got an appreciation for bourbon and wine, so tasting those is pretty enjoyable. I also like a cold beer every now and then if I'm running the grill and it's particularly hot, just not IPAs: I'm not that basic.

Tobacco no. I have tried it, but both my parents are smokers and I don't like the smell.

I'm a millennial.

Millennial here. Never smoked, never tempted to either. Don’t like the taste of alcohol unless it’s in deserts, so no temptation there. Tried weed once, also that is not for me. Heck, I even avoid caffeine most days so I don’t build up a tolerance for days when I actually need it.

Grew up in a house with 3 smokers. I breathed second hand smoke for more than 30 years. (Total, not consecutive)

I won't ever smoke cigarettes, smoke cigars occasionally, (been more than 4 years, but I still have a bunch in my humidor.

I will say that after I finally left that environment, it took about 6 months to realize what cigarettes actual smell like on clothes from the perspective of someone who isn't noseblind to the smell.

Good damn I didn't know how I just have smelled to other people, doing smoke around other people who don't want to be around it please, that caused me more problems than I ever knew

I used to be a social smoker (cigarettes, shisha and randomly a cigar). However, I quit years ago with it.

I once had a thought “we are like a lucifer lighter, isn’t it? We smoke, smoke and smoke. Get all burned up and then throw away our lives because of it”.

At that moment, I told myself; no more. Quit cold-turkey. I never drink alcohol (due to religion).

Both. Tobacco (now vape liquid) was a product of extremely misplaced curiosity. If you're young and reading this, fuck your curiosity, fuck what your friends are doing - don't fucking do it. Buy a stress ball if you have that "Well [x moron] smokes when they are stressed, maybe I should try it" thought. Putting aside the health effects (which are reason enough), shit is basically a money hole for idiots and addicts. I really need to try quitting again (just with a lot of prep for the early stage when I want to kill myself and everyone around me).

I like beer and spirits, but I find anything above 3 standard drinks is diminishing returns. I did the 'get dangerously drunk' thing in my teenaged years/very early adulthood. Very happy I grew out of that, shit was getting dark by the end. Have overindulged since and every time, woke up thinking "I should have stopped at 2".

2 beers is a nice, very lucid buzz for me - body relaxation and a bit chattier. 3 is when my motor skills start to soften in a perceivable (though still light) way. Experience has taught me this is a good place to switch to water/non-alc beer/tonic water for the rest of the night (if 'partying', supplemented with some weed.)

Now - a cup of coffee before heading out, 2-3 beers, and some weed? This is generally a good Friday or Saturday night.

Beer, Wine, Mead, Spirits a couple times a week on average. I am super interesting in alcohol and its production as it pertains to our culture, biology, technology, and frankly our existence today. Fermentation, in general, is truly a cornerstone of us as a species.

I'm a "Xennial" (born on the cusp in X and Millennial). I quit smoking cigarettes 14 years ago and haven't touched one since. I used to drink like a fish, but have cut way back just in the past 2 years or so. With all the articles coming out about how even more than 1 drink a day is bad for you, I suppose I should quit that as well, but alcohol makes fun times even more fun for me, and that's not something I'm ready to give up forever just yet. I'm healthy, go to the gym 3 times a week, excellent bloodwork, etc, so I don't feel the need to give it up 100%.

I have a friend that I smoke a cigarette with at parties (the last time was several years ago so not a common occurrence) and I also have never once bought a pack for myself. If I drink it's only at social occasions and only if they have anything I like (and if it's not too expensive). I smoked my selfgrown weed once the rest I gave to a friend and I'm probably gonna test this years harvest as well. And while we are at it I also took LSD once and I would want to try shrooms one day.

I smoke nicotine plants maybe once or twice a month ritualistically. It's genuinely nice in moderation (and something only a tiny, tiny minority typically pursue).

As for alcohol, it's GHB but toxic--GHB is better in every single way, no thanks.

Tobacco: no absolutely not, I hate the smell and just don't see the point.

Alcohol: extremely rarely, I have a well stocked bar at home, and used to drink alcohol a few times a month, but in the last few years two things happened.

1. I got a driving license and a car, I was 35 and got it late. I have a zero tolerance for alcohol and driving, no light beer, nothing, if I am going to drive I will simply not drink any alcohol. And since I got the driving license and car I want to be able to get in the car at any point in case of emergencies and not have to worry about having had alcohol.
2. I realized that alcohol was just simply annoying to me, I get hot, have trouble sleeping and the next day I am really tired and slow to get going, even after just having drunk a small ammonit. I apparently am a lightweight, and that it perfectly fine, alcohol doesn't mean much to me, so I don't feel like I am missing anything. I like the bottles of alcohol I have so I will save them for a bar shelf that looks cool. I do participate in toasts or celebrations when I know I won't drive, I even have four bottles of cheap champagne with customized ribbons for Trump, Putin, Musk and Orban to toast with when the world is spared their existance, but that is the extent of my alcohol consumption.

I hate everything about tobacco. Drink? Only specialish occasions.

I don't drink alcohol or use tobacco/nicotine in any forms. As to why, I simply don't enjoy the experience of either. When I was a teenager I was offered and tried a cigarette. I hated the tobacco smoke flavor, it made my lungs hurt, and I didn't like headrush feeling. For alcohol, I drank a few times as a young adult and even got drunk a couple of times. I didn't particularly enjoy that mental and physical experience either. Even after that I drank beer a few times socially, but realized I wasn't doing it because I liked it, but to "fit in" or impress other people.

While still in my early 20's, I realized that if the only way those people would like me or associate with me was because I would drink, I didn't need them in my life. I stopped drinking entirely, and I'll admit at the beginning I did get socially pressured, but when I didn't relent, no one ever got upset with me nor did I ever lose any friendships because I didn't want to drink. I made it clear then, as I do today, that I don't care if anyone else wants to drink, even if that drinking is around me. I have no judgment on them for what they choose to consume (as long as they aren't hurting others in doing so). I will even buy alcohol for people I know that drink as gifts, because I know it is something they enjoy and thats what gifts are for. I have a decent collection of unopened bourbon bottles that I've never even tasted. I can get some uncommon bottles now and then. I've never had someone complain about getting a nice bottle of bourbon.

I will say I don't really like hanging out with smokers in confined spaces, but that has nothing to do with a judgment about their personal choices. I just don't like my clothing and hair smelling like cigarette smoke after hanging out with them.

GenX BTW.

Late Gen X, practically Millennial here.

My parents expressly forbade me from smoking despite being heavy smokers themselves. They also got that same forbidding from their parents, but I guess it didn't stick with them.

As such, I'm not sure whether that had any influence, or whether it was a natural aversion to the stink and filth of it but I've never smoked. Cost would have also been a big factor that prevented me from getting into it. I never had any money as a kid, and also had no smoker friends, let alone generous smoker friends, so getting a hold of anything to smoke was pretty much impossible.

Stealing from my parents might have been an option, I suppose, but I would not have wanted to face their wrath had I done that.

Alcohol and I do not get along. Too many bad experiences have come about through the combination, and it took far too long for me to learn lessons from it.

Even if I was not on medication that came with the heavy suggestion to avoid alcohol, I would not drink.

I use nicotine to self Medicare ADHD..unflavored nicotine pouches.

I like beer, malt liquor, alcopops, bourbon, and gin, too. why? uh.... monkey brain?

Fellow older Gen Z here. Atleast in europe to not drink or smoke is quite unusual. But i am the same. I just dont see any appeal in it. For me smoking is throwing health and money out of the window. And i dislike the taste of alcohole plus what it does to a human

I don't do tobacco, I just don't like it and the adverse health effects are well documented.

I do weed occasionally on weekends to relax, I'll mix things up between a dry flower vape (Pax) and edibles.

I also drink on weekends for the same reason, relaxation. I usually have a set amount in mind then stop for the evening and switch to tea. I only get stupid a few times a year with friends.

I drink since I'm 12, at least once a week (not quite till blackout ...) because, it's the only legal drug I can take.... Except for Weird stuff from pharmacies, but that's too expensive, and you only trip for 4 hours

No tobacco and no alcohol here. I used to binge drink in college but after a night of drinking ended up with a $6000 ER/ambulance bill (yes I am American how did you know?), I decided it was time to stop altogether because I can't control my intake when I drink.

I don't smoke tobacco, tried it once when I was younger, not my thing, didn't liked the feeling on my lungs at all, and I've seen how difficult it is to deal with the addiction from both my parents, so I never wanted to start. Weed smoke is a bit less coarse on my lungs, but still I strongly dislike the feeling (dry herb vaporizer is much better in that regard).

Alcohol I don't usually have. I might drink a beer or a whiskey in social situations, but haven't been drunk in the past 20 years.

I drink plenty of booze. My go to is Whiskey and diet coke.