Journalists are failing the youth for a paycheck
Too many headlines are blaming kids for their drinking and consumption habits and not enough are pointing at the corporations destroying lives for profit.
When I first thought about quitting drinking, I was a mid-twenties somethings journalist in New York City whose career had barely started — but I knew just about every bartender between East Manhattan’s Canal Street and 14th Street.
The thing is, my wallet couldn’t really keep up with my drinking aspirations. And neither could my stomach or my conscience.
My base level of anxiety was steadily rising, and slowly, my hobbies shifted to the back burner. I didn’t realize it at the time, but my social life became centered around alcohol. Social events started to include drinks before, then after, and even during.
Things like girls' nights included personal bottles of wine. Park dates had mixers or seltzers.
But the marketing around me — the movies I watched, the TV shows I binged — all made this seem normal.
The truth is, those stars are drinking apple juice. I was drinking away my mental freedom.
I’ve been sober for three years now and have no plans to return to the bar stool.
As a journalist, I’ve noticed a narrative popping up across headlines more than ever lately — young people aren’t drinking, and that’s a problem.
Young people are killing the nightclub industry. Young people are lonely because they don’t go to bars.
A week later, I saw another headline: Maybe alcohol is the problem.
Today, the public narrative is shifting away from alcohol. People are dubbing themselves “sober-curious” or ditching the bottle altogether in the name of health and wellness.
Wellness is the new wealth. Health is the trend, and some journalists are clinging on to old ideas of what fun used to look like.
With how fast information spreads across social media, it's beautiful to see movements like sobriety or mental health take a larger hold.
We don’t have to make the same mistakes as our parents, and we don’t have to drink away feelings.
When journalists start reporting that the youth are killing the nightclub industry by choosing not to drink, then maybe it's time to get new journalists.
I came across another article by the Washington Post titled “How to eat and drink fewer microplastics.”
While not alcohol-related, I was immediately shocked at this and had to wonder if other people were thinking the same thing I was: “Did WaPo just victim-blame the consumer for companies poisoning the public with microplastics?”
Sure enough, the comments on their Instagram post were pretty on-brand for Bezos.
Because the problem was never what the kids were doing. The problem has never been what nightclubs we’re going to or if we are drinking out of glass bottles or using plasticware.
The problem has always been how easily corporations feed the kids poison. How easily marketing sells us false ideas of health.
Only now, kids aren’t falling for it.
And journalists need to do a better job of reporting that instead of blaming for a quick turnaround piece.