The rise of the “sober curious” generation

Utter the word “sober” at a social event and you can almost guarantee head-turning, questioning looks. And who’s to blame them? Drinking whenever the opportunity presents itself is so normalised that to decline an alcoholic beverage seems somewhat suspect. Waving away the bottle has traditionally signalled you were either recovering from an alcohol problem or (pregnancy and religion aside) just a virtue-signalling health freak who doesn’t know how to have a good time. “Not drinking? Why? Do you not want to have fun?!”

But sobriety is no longer a discussion confined to discreet meetings in dank community buildings. A new generation of sort-of, temporary teetotal crusaders has emerged, whose attitude towards the sauce is somewhere between temperance leader Wayne Wheeler and rap-starturned- rum-ambassador Lil Wayne. To them, sobriety is something to road-test in the name of health or mindfulness, like hot flow yoga, intermittent fasting or any other lifestyle trend having its moment on Instagram (#soberissexy, #partysober). This brand of sobriety is meant to be celebrated, hashtagged