A survey shows that 16-25 year olds are far more sensible than their parents. Caomhan Keane gets a handle on Generation Zero.
Generation Y — that’s those of us who check the 25 and over box, partied through the boom on a perpetual drink fest, imbibing a record 14.3 litres of alcohol in 2001.
But studies conducted both at home and abroad suggest the number of young people who binge drink has started to fall. So has the number of recreational drug users. While the one figure that is rising is the number of those who’ve abstained from alcohol all together.
‘Generation Zero’ have seemingly found the antacid to settle the dark, liquid underbelly of the Celtic Tiger.
True, there have been a handful of deaths directly connected to the NekNominate craze. ‘Killer’ ecstasy is headline news and the Internet collectively rolled its eyes — and stomachs, as one young farmer poured beer into his welly, then drank it, all because a friend had dared him to.
But there’s been a 50% drop in young people smoking, no marked increase in marijuana smokers, while the number of people under the age of 18 seeking treatment for heroin addiction in Dublin has dropped from 200 in 1998 to just four in the present day, according to Dr Bobby Smyth, consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist, who is on the board of Alcohol Action Ireland.
Source: Caomhan Keane, Irish Examiner, 04/08/2014
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