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Or maybe everyone feeling like they are being watched all the time (while simultaneously staring at their phones) is part of why people are drinking less? It’s a vicious cycle.

and potentially recorded?

I think drinking is declining for the same reason as dancing... any situation involving relaxing in a social way has gone from "what do the people around me think of me?" to "how could someone make what I'm doing look stupid to get upvotes/likes on social media?"

edit: It deserves mentioning the level of drinking involved in socializing was never a good thing and I think everyone is more aware of the dangers now.

The hypothesis in the article is it's smartphones and people afraid of their dancing going viral on social media.

But it's interesting that you brought up declining drinking rates. I'm sure that's just as large a factor as well.

The article does not mention alcohol.