A trend that has recently been showing up in my Instagram Reels feed presents an almost comic contrast between two ways young people live. Today: two hours before work, a morning run, meditation, or a weightlifting session. In 1996: a party that refuses to end, a bottle passing from hand to hand, a reckless car ride, and uninhibited dancing on the floor. Dozens of creators place these two images side by side to show just how much has changed.

On the surface, this looks like progress: less recklessness, less drinking, less risk, more balance. Doesn’t it?

Professor Scott Galloway, in an interview on Real Time with Bill Maher, framed the question provocatively. In his view, one of the biggest problems facing young people today is the anti-alcohol movement. The danger of liver damage, he argues, is smaller than the danger of social isolation, which can lead to depression and anxiety. Human connection is one of the most important things in life, and it is hard to build. Alcohol, for better or worse, has long played a role in creating friendships, romantic relationships, and human bonds.

In his book Notes on Being a Man, Galloway clarifies that “drink and dance again” is not really a call to alcohol itself, but shorthand for something larger: reclaiming a human rhythm, a sense of community, and the physical spaces where people connect, fail, and grow. One does not have to take his prescription literally, and certainly should not turn alcohol into a solution. But behind the provocation lies a serious question: has our heightened awareness of health, and our drift toward balanced living, left us living less?

Connor Leahy, an AI researcher and........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)