[bsuvc]

I'm sure someone probably feels strongly about this, but I will ask anyway:

Do we as a society even need straws?

I never use a straw at home.

The only time I would consider wanting one would be for a milkshake maybe, due to its thickness making it hard to sip otherwise.

I am not anti-straw, just think it is sort of a weird thing for our society to use when I stop to think about it.

[paulproteus]

When people wear lipstick and are drinking something, a straw helps keep it on. If society's going to have lipstick and people go out, I think society sorta has to have straws! See e.g. https://stylecaster.com/beauty/makeup/468366/how-to-make-lip...

[aziaziazi]

I can’t help asking weather do we as a society need lipstick ?

[marvin]

Well, you could mandate that women aren't allowed to use particular types of beauty products to compete for more desirable partners, and hope that the follow-on effects of that lead to lower straw usage. But then you're totalitarian and convoluted.

[aziaziazi]

It’s not more totalitarian than most of the laws, you’re just not used to this one. Someone from another planet may be stunned by the fact you can’t drive your car at the speed you wish, some sexual practice are prohibited and many chemicals used for decades are now forbidden.

[woodruffw]

We have a lot of things that we don’t need. Abundance and option (rather than bare sustenance) are defining features and goals of a healthy society.

That’s a long way of saying that there are a lot of things we don’t need, but that eliminating them makes relatively little sense. We should instead develop compensating systems based on those needs (such as disincentivizing single-use straws, and normalizing reusable ones in the ways that reusable bottles and bags have been normalized.)

[dvdhnt]

> Abundance and option (rather than bare sustenance) are defining features and goals of a healthy society…

Do you have a source for this claim? It’s not something I’ve read or heard in 36 years.

[nathan_compton]

Out of curiosity, why do you say 36 years specifically?

[woodruffw]

I think that falls under conventional wisdom.

[aziaziazi]

You’re wrong, it falls under some minority belief. Even the president of France said last year “we’re living the end of abundance” and he’s a liberal productivist. Abundance is clearly at most a target of healthy minority within a non heathy society.

[tuhriel]

I see that there might be some cases where a straw can be helpful or necessary. But there are handed out so many straws wh ich aren't needed. I never understood why they put a straw into my whiskey cola or cuba libre. We should get there where we just hand out straws if people ask for them as it is with other extras.

[bsuvc]

Ah makes sense. I didn't think about that scenario.

[LeoPanthera]

When drinking particularly acid drinks, juice, soda, etc., a straw significantly reduces the amount of erosion of your teeth.

[sixstringtheory]

I question if it actually does make a difference, and in any case, we should kill two birds with one stone and just not drink unhealthy drinks.

“It’s so simple!” -Jim Gaffigan

“Stop it!” -Bob Newhart

[irrational]

Let’s just outlaw everything but tap water.

[sixstringtheory]

You don’t have to outlaw anything. Disincentivize it.

“But then only the rich will get to rot their teeth out!” Good, I guess? So what?

“Poor people will still spend money on sugar water! You’ll drive them deeper into poverty!” Then the price isn’t high enough yet. It needs to exceed the cost of the dental and medical work it will precipitate. Which by definition will price many poor people out of sugar water. Which it should.

[aziaziazi]

Nice approach, but IMHO outlawing would be easier and healthier for the society:

Easier: track down illegal sugary drinks is easier that track down at what price a drink is illegally sold.

Healthier: forbid those drinks and all the folks forking for that industry will now work for something more useful the the society instead of trying to find ways to convince people to drink their shitty fluid.

[sixstringtheory]

You don't have to know at what price the drinks are sold. All that matters as the government is that you know how much is being moved around. Then you charge each link in the chain appropriately. The rest works itself out in the market.

I disagree with the legislative approach, but just think of how much cheap/free labor the war on drugs supplies. A war on sugar would keep those numbers up! Good job boys, promotions all around!

In the more boring dystopia, the disincentivization would lead to poor quarterly financials and cause the same movement in the industry. Nobody is pumping out cola at a loss simply because it's their passion project.

[Havoc]

Any link/source? Not that I don’t believe you just curious as it seems plausible but never chances across support for it

[LeoPanthera]

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9785633/

[SoKamil]

Do we as a society even need acid drinks?

[LeoPanthera]

Do we as a society even need [alcohol|nicotine|cannabis|refined sugar|fat|salt]?

Maybe not. But I refuse to believe that you asked that question in good faith, because we're obviously going to have all of them. People should be free to live as healthily or as unhealthily as they choose.

[sixstringtheory]

People should be free to live as unhealthily as they choose as long as the problems they inevitably create don’t negatively affect other people.

Activities high in negative externalities should be prohibitively expensive to help pay for remediation, and the opposite should be positively reinforced, even subsidized. A stitch, in time, saves nine.

[Turing_Machine]

I'm pretty sure more people have been killed by governments with too much power than have ever been killed by drinking straws.

[rayiner]

> But I refuse to believe that you asked that question in good faith, because we're obviously going to have all of them. People should be free to live as healthily or as unhealthily as they choose.

Why? Especially in a country with government-subsidized healthcare?

[Jweb_Guru]

We don't need a lot of things. A better example than plastic straws is beef: we definitely don't need beef, it's already expensive, and it has an extremely large and disproportionately heavy impact on CO2 consumption due to the combination of required grain, methane release, and needing land for cows incentivizing cutting down rainforest. Most people here would be pretty up in arms about any proposal to ban beef, so why focus on comparatively harmless stuff like lipstick and soda?

[ricardobeat]

If you’re going down that path, all we need is water. Human needs go beyond the physical.

[newaccount74]

Do we need disposable straws?

Some people need straws (kids, disabled people), but in most cases it's better to bring your own reusable straw to fill that need rather than relying on whatever straws they have at the place you are going to.

My toddler for example will just chew up most types of straws (especially those disgusting paper straws). Bringing a stainless steel, a glass straw, or one of those cups with integrated straw is a much better alternative.

People with movement disorders will probably want something more flexible, so I guess a reusable silicone straw is probably best.

I don't think we need disposable straws.

[kwhitefoot]

Kids do not need straws.

[newaccount74]

Probably not. But they like them.

[newsclues]

Control flow liquid and avoid spills with moving the glass.

Very useful for children, old people and those with special needs.

But also useful for things like sensitive teeth, avoiding consuming heavy solids in a drink, or to spit balls of tissue at teachers.

Good for on the go consumption as they can move, and you can avoid hitting your mouth with a cup.

[hinkley]

In theory it can reduce tooth decay. In practice it only does so when drinking high sugar, high acid beverages, and if memory serves drinking a glass of water afterward is about as effective.

[kragen]

mostly they're important for people who are disabled with neurological issues or immune deficiency

[Swizec]

I need straws to deal with American ice servings. Almost impossible to drink without a straw.

Of course you don’t need straws at home unless you have special needs, because your glass is full of drink not ice with a splash of drink.

[irrational]

The only time I find it useful is when I’m driving while drinking a side I got at the fast food place I stopped at. It’s pretty easy to drive while drinking out of a straw.

[tuhriel]

Those cups in themselves are a pain. Why cant they just hand out PET bottles like you get everywhere else? (at least in europe) hand out a reusable sport cap aswell and you have a perfect bottle without the need of a) a straw b) a cup c) a lid

[xp84]

A bottle uses way more plastic than our flimsy plastic lids do. Paper cups are mostly paper which comes from trees which are grown just because there’s a need for paper (big carbon win).

It would be a massive step backward to use bottles instead of fountain drinks. Not to mention how much more expensive they are than a fountain drink. And there’s no way you could fill them efficiently from a fountain at the restaurant.

[guerrilla]

Yes, many disabled people need straws. Specifically soft ones, if they have movement disorders.

[bsuvc]

Great point.

Now that you mention it, I did work with a person who had a condition that extremely affected his ability to move and yes, straw usage was essential for him.

[konschubert]

I think they're fun, and kind of useful if drinking while the move.

[fortran77]

You'd feel differently if you had no arms.

[bsuvc]

Yes. Yes I would.

It is clear there are some use cases where straw usage is a necessity.

I do wonder if that should just be something people use when they need it.

The analogy would be, some people use mobility scooters at the grocery store, but not everyone uses one, only the people who choose to them (presumably because they need it, but the point stands either way, need or want)

[Shikadi]

The Starbucks lids are awesome, we should use them everywhere

[bilsbie]

They’re important when drinks have lids.

[jayd16]

Are they? Lids can have spouts.

[irrational]

While driving, trying to drink from a spout puts more of the cup into your field of vision. It’s not as safe as a straw.

The retort, of course, will be to not drink while driving. Sigh.

[spike021]

Most of the current lids on fast food togo cups these days don't work with my lip shape. It sounds funny but drinking from them especially while driving does not work, the drink just leaks out the corners of my mouth.

[wouldbecouldbe]

Get some kids.

[bsuvc]

Got one and sippy cup was the thing to use, but yeah straws were also helpful for a while after graduating from the sippy cup.

[wouldbecouldbe]

anywhere you go, friends, bars, they will get their drinks with straws. You can take it away, but it's not set up for it.