Gen Z is ditching booze for NYC-centric malls: ‘Shocked people are here having fun without alcohol’

Zoomers want a wild night on the town that they won’t wake up regretting.

Gen Z is drinking far less alcohol than previous generations, a trend that has been consistent for the past four years, the data show.

Instead, young adults are getting their social fix at the friendly hangouts and alcohol-free bars that have sprouted up across the Big Apple in recent years to accommodate what some say is a sign of change. of the times.

“I think our generation is very aware, like a lot of us are activists, and I think awareness affects our drinking habits,” Aedin Weisenberg, 22, told The Post last week while painting a Brooklyn Game Knight figurine. in Industry City.

“You’d think we’d drink more with all the things we’re constantly hearing about the world! You’d think we’d want a distraction, but I think our phones are distracting enough, so we don’t need that much alcohol.”

Weisenberg, along with partner Cameron Cohen, 23, were among 15 people enjoying a Thursday night at the board game center — which doesn’t serve alcohol to its patrons, though it doesn’t mind if they bring drinks alcohol from other bars located in the City of Industry.

Owner Frank L. Szelwach, 47, notes that patrons range from their early twenties to early fifties, but has noticed that the younger crowd drinks far less than their older counterparts.

That’s not to say Gen Z gamers are completely sober — but they may have a healthier relationship with alcohol than older Americans.

“When people of the previous generation think about drinking, they think about drinking too much. They plan to go to a bar, knock back 12 drinks and get hammered the next day. They think about the idea of ​​opening a six-pack before they go to bed,” said Uriel Daluz, 26, who was one of the few sipping a cocktail at the Sunset Park gaming club.

“One thing I will say: Part of it is a different conceptualization of the drink. I’ll have a drink or two, but I don’t go out with the intention of drinking,” continued Daluz, who was serving as game master for a session of the Path Finder role-playing game.

The other six players agreed.

“I’m going to drink. When I do, I’m probably going to have a drink,” said Leigh Thompson, 23.

“I think people in my generation are more health conscious and don’t see drinking as a social obligation,” said Kathleen Saloma, 24, a social worker from Bay Ridge who was painting at a nearby table. Neither she nor her sister drink alcohol, she said.

Zoomers are drinking far less than previous generations — a trend that has held steady for four years, new data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse shows.

The shift is also affecting younger Gen Zers, with teens choosing to abstain from substance abuse in what NIDA called “unprecedented” groups.

Roughly 38% of adults under the age of 35 say they never drink — a 10% increase from two decades ago, according to a 2023 Gallup poll.

Younger adults are also less likely to have just one drink per week compared to other age groups.

On the other hand, drinking has increased among adults aged 55 and over, going from 49% to 59% over the 20-year period.

The researchers did not find a major cause for the decline in alcohol consumption, but noted that the decline appeared to increase during the pandemic.

Rachel Friend, 28, was one of many to give up alcohol during the pandemic after what she saw as excess.

“I was at home with nothing better to do. After COVID-19 dissipated, I stopped drinking,” Friend, an emergency medicine physician, told The Post Wednesday at High and Dry, a late-night coffee and kombucha bar in Bushwick that mimics the social aspect of bars, but minus the booze.

“This is where the coolest people come, doctors, lawyers, people in the entertainment industry and they all talk to each other… there’s no one who won’t engage,” Friend said.

Co-owner Garret Peterson, 42, opened the shop to offer people a sense of “functional euphoria” and a place to hang out late at night without the social pressures of alcohol.

“People come in and they’re shocked that people are here having fun without alcohol, and it makes me so happy to see that,” Peterson said.

“When I was 20 – st – if you didn’t drink, no one was trying to hang out with you.”

The store is packed on weekends and usually full of young people, noted Daniel Stettner, 33, another of High and Dry’s three co-owners.

Father Matt Jahnke, 29, who works as a teacher, said his interest in drinking has waned in recent years. He just doesn’t like hangovers, he told The Post.

“I definitely see Gen Z drinking less. And I think that’s great. They need as much energy and intelligence as they can get to find their way through this world and a place in the workforce,” said Breandan, 30, a co-owner of Here and Now NYC, a temporarily closed sober bar in East Village that served Kava, a natural drug that gave the same sensations as alcohol without the side effects.

“I think Gen Z discovered like a lot of people — but earlier in life — that alcohol just clouds your senses.”

At the adjacent Hekate Café & Elixir Lounge, dancer Tessa Russ was enjoying a mocktail called “Noisy Hell, a delicious herbal delight with a splash of hot spice.”

“I’ve been taking a second drink for the last three months,” Russ, 25, tells the Post, adding that she feels much better “physically and mentally” when she puts down the bottle.

“Exit from [college]”I feel like people try to make a difference in the adult world, maybe some people don’t know how to do it, but I feel like in your mid-twenties is when you come back to yourself and decide what’s important,” she continued.

Her friend Beckett Asselin, 24, never drinks and has been looking for non-alcoholic social alternatives.

“What can you do in the city that is outside of drinking? This is kind of hard. “I feel like a lot of times when you’re hanging out with friends, it’s surrounded by drinks and it’s not always what you want to do,” Asselin said.

Although she declined to share her reason for pursuing sobriety, Asselin noted, “I know a lot of people who take vacations for themselves, like they have mental health, and then that’s one of the first things they’ll give up alcohol, refocus.

“And I feel like people are more open to discussing their experiences with drinking these days and aren’t normalizing alcohol as much. And these conversations are definitely more prevalent now.”

An increase in sober curiosity may be linked to a boom in the gaming community, according to a group of young women enjoying a game of “Let’s Get Deep” at Park Slope’s Sip & Play. The Brooklyn location was the only one with availability on a chilly Thursday night.

Although 18, the group noted that they had no interest in trying alcohol.

“My family drinks a lot… but I feel like I have better priorities,” Mari Moody said.

“Board games are really fun. There are board games that use your imagination, there are strategy games, there are party games – you have a little something for everyone and what their strengths are. So I feel like the board game base is growing lately. And I think that’s a wonderful thing.”