[abrouwers]

I mean, no offense, but your tone comes off as an "I told you so" anti-alcohol comment, so I'd be careful criticizing others for their decisions. As other comments have mentioned, there are often plenty of enjoyable, social side effects that come from drinking alcohol with others in a common setting. Obviously alcohol isn't required (though, obviously people enjoy it - the taste, the side effect, whatever), but that's the way a fairly huge industry is setup in many countries.

Also, to clarify, drinking alcohol does NOT equate to making one's life shorter - that's not at all what the article discusses. Moderate drinking may have no effect, or even a positive effect, on life span.

[feet]

Mu-opioid agonists have positive prosocial effects as do other GABAergics such as kava and alprazolam.

How about the prosocial effects of low doses of ketamine or other NMDA antagonists such as PCP and dextromethorphan?

Perhaps I'm anti alcohol because you can get the exact same effect from compounds with better risk profiles. Alcohol is a very old drug with a lot of risks compared to the benefit. It hammers so many different receptors, the off target effects are nuts and that's not even mentioning the risk from the toxic metabolite acetaldehyde.

There's no reason to use ethanol with so many better options for the same behavioral modifications.

[abrouwers]

Just speaking personally, but it's the social aspect. It's simply fun (subjectively, of course) to head to a brewery with some coworkers, after work, hang out in a cool environment, and sip beverages that taste good. If I lived in a bubble to maximize life expectancy, I expect I'd look back with some regrets.

[feet]

There are other hobbies and gathering places that don't revolve around consuming carcinogens such as restaurants, gyms, sports leagues, libraries, ice cream shops, opium dens (although I'm not sure how many exist nowadays) and likely more that I can't think of. Not to mention, there are many beverages that don't contain alcohol.

[abrouwers]

"That was a fun day of work, let's hit the library" is not the same as "Let's go have a beer," for many people, as you're probably aware :-) To each their own, though. Your argument is just that people should stop doing what they enjoy - again, I think most understand a potential risk, they've just decided it's worth it.

[feet]

Well nonalcoholic beer does exist, but I assume you aren't talking about that.

I personally find libraries incredibly relaxing, but I assume what you mean by "it's not the same" in that a library doesn't serve highly rewarding GABAergic drugs.

People enjoy drinking alcohol because it is rewarding and most have learned to like the taste through the association of that neurological reward. That's generally what enjoyment is, association of reward with an activity. There are many other activities and compounds that are just as rewarding or relaxing but society is conditioned to accept alcohol as the default it seems, at least in some communities.

As for your last point, that is absolutely not true from my experience. Whenever I discuss the risk of cancer that's associated with alcohol consumption the other person generally has no idea, that has been over 90% of my conversations on the topic.