There are many reasons why nonalcoholic sales are on the rise, as beer giants try to boost sales in areas such as many Middle Eastern countries where alcohol faces more legal and religious baggage. However, one of the major reasons why nonalcoholic beverages are on the rise is that millennials and Gen Z around the world are drinking less than older generations.
Again, this decline in drinking is tied to a number of factors. Younger generations are more concerned about health and more likely to favor marijuana over booze. But, according to market research firm Mintel, one reason for the decline in drinking is that younger people are seeking control in the face of constant social media surveillance.
Control has become a key watchword for today's younger drinkers," Jonny Forsyth, a global food and drink analyst at Mintel, said in 2017 .
"Unlike previous cohorts, their nights out are documented through photos, videos and posts across social media where it is likely to remain for the rest of their lives," Forsyth continued. "Over-drinking is therefore something many seek to avoid."
"Before social media, embarrassing behavior, while likely gossiped about, was visually undocumented. Therefore, the embarrassed person was unlikely to have to face up to their behavior in any meaningful way," Rutledge said.
"Social media increases accountability for one's actions," Rutledge continued. "People like to control their public image on social media since it is permanent rather than ephemeral. Embarrassing 'moments' are no longer moments, but posted in perpetuity for all to see without engaging in damage control."
In other words, millennial and Gen Z's decline in drinking is part of a wider cultural shift thanks to a culture of social media surveillance that younger people have accepted as normal.
"Having grown up with the Internet, we knew that the things we put online were potentially permanent and that, inevitably, someone was watching," Maya Kosoff recently wrote in the Washington Post. "We internalized its omnipresent logic of surveillance, crafting our behavior and our virtual selves in accordance with the knowledge that someone, somewhere might one day judge us."
And, these younger generations are correct in their assumptions that they are being watched on social media.
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