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You may be onto something with the oral fixation aspect of this.
I don't remember in years past seeing so many people walking around streets sipping from large containers... tubs of soda & slurpees. The more recent development of trendy coffee based drinks from the omnipresent Starbucks & clones, around here those have supplemented & not replaced most of the older "cup of joe" places. The number of women at work who were downing Diet Cokes habitually was noticeable too in recent decades.
It's not just water, my previous observation here was more about the angle paying for water which was unheard of when I grew up or the healthier benefits of sipping H2O instead of Mountain Dew. But maybe the real issue is that these are all oral proxies for the cigarettes we have abandoned?
Thirty years ago many people still didn't wear seat belts, way more people smoked tobacco, consumed saturated fats and didn't prioritize keeping active.
I have a relevant anecdote. In the early 1990s, I worked briefly for a Chicago bank in the M&A department. I helped several of the bankers with what was then called 'desktop publishing' and would now appear as relatively pedestrian computer application skills. Anyhow, we produced white papers: detailed reports on a company or product in which the bank might want to invest.
In those early days of the PC, the specialized publishing software required a dedicated resource (me) to keep the work product flowing.
One of the white paper subjects was bottled water. Our report laid out how the individual-portion bottled water business was about to explode. Back then, in those days of Windows 3.x and widespread smoking (a large segment of people smoked both frequently and ubiquitously), bottled water meant two things:
1. The large, multi-gallon glass jugs that were delivered and placed upside down on a water cooler. Workers would take swigs with disposable paper cones, or
2. The one-quart glass bottles of fizzy water that were popular among European transplants and not common, except in fine dining restaurants.
People simply did not carry, nor did companies produce, individual water bottles. The introduction of plastic bottles was recent -- the 2-liter plastic soda container had been introduced only about 10-to-15 years earlier. You could find canned water products, largely for bar use (club soda, tonic water). But NOBODY carried water bottles with them. I knew a few outdoorsy types who had water containers (canteens or thermoses), but this was a small population subset.
Anyhow, I communicated my disbelief with the conclusions of our report to the lead M&A dude on this project. He said he agreed with me in theory -- why would people want to carry plain water around with them when it was available from any tap -- but that the data in our report didn't lie. Bottled water was about to get BIG.
I went to Europe for a few years for work, and when I got back in the mid-1990s, the change was complete. Bottled water was everywhere.
There were drinking fountains all over the place in stores back then.
I don't think people would want to drink from them now though.
Pretty much this. In the late 80s to early 90s the beverage industry convinced us bottled beverages were classier ways to drink, after decades of convincing consumers canned beverages were the best. When health food invaded in the 90s bottled water became the bottled beverage of choice. I don't think people drink more or less beverages than they used to but we've been convinced carrying our own beverages around is necessary and desirable.
This whole "controversy" is akin to my gripe about bringing a "whole refrigerator and living room set" to the beach. When I was married my ex would pack snacks and drinks, an umbrella*, chairs, blankets, towels, sunblock* and other accoutrements for a day at the beach. For me all this took the fun out of going. I would just shake my head at him and say, "Do you know what WE took to the beach when I was a kid? A towel."
Funny, my wife does the same thing...I'll pack a towel and maybe a cooler. But that's her personality. I've been fishing all my life and didn't know that I was supposed to wear "Fishing Shirts" when fishing (Columbia PFG Shirts) and not T-Shirts,
Quote:
Originally Posted by RosemaryT
These days, it seems like most younger folks are toting around water bottles and drinking water *all* the time. Is it really improving our health? I have my doubts.
In the early 1990s, I had a family member who carried a bottle of water everywhere and was always sipping on that water. He was also in the bathroom every 30 minutes (for obvious reasons). We thought it was pretty weird that this healthy 30-something guy was constantly drinking water.
Now it seems like the norm.
When did Americans decide that we must have bottled water with us at all times? Is it really improving our health and/or our longevity? It seems like a very curious habit to me (but then again, I'm old).
I agree that they're toting them around, not that they're drinking all the time.
There are a few things going on. One is a frugality thing; bringing it with you means you don't have to buy it from a vending machine. Often enough its Iced Tea or something else like Crystal light or Diet Coke. Also, its a fashion accessory; my wife has three or four "designer" water bottles (not expensive items, but still.) Of course, she doesn't actually drink enough water...The bottle is nearly full at the end of the day. To the point her doctor prescribed 32 OZ a day to improve her bloodwork (it worked.)
Also, not at all a young person thing. Two of my Grandparents (different sides) did the same thing; they did it with a massive thermos/cup starting with coffee and refilling with water or diet coke later on.
Pretty much this. In the late 80s to early 90s the beverage industry convinced us bottled beverages were classier ways to drink, after decades of convincing consumers canned beverages were the best. When health food invaded in the 90s bottled water became the bottled beverage of choice. I don't think people drink more or less beverages than they used to but we've been convinced carrying our own beverages around is necessary and desirable.
We switched to La Croix canned flavored seltzer water because cans are far easier to recycle for us. We take them to the recycler ourselves. And we no longer get the 8 crappy flavor bottles, like we did with Crystal Geyser. Lots of upside, no down.
We drink flavored seltzer instead of soda. We figured out what we really liked about soda was the bubbles.
I don't remember in years past seeing so many people walking around streets sipping from large containers... tubs of soda & slurpees.
30 years ago my sister was buying the 7-11 Super Tanker size of soda every day, sipping on it all day long as she drove around town and feeding her kids Pepsi and Twinkies for breakfast. An ex-boyfriend did the same thing: bought his kids big sodas for breakfast.
You might not have seen them on the streets because they were keeping the enormous sodas in their cars.
Is this to be expected once you retire to complain about what 'young' people are doing these days?
Apparently. You won't have to wait long for the next thread on "young" people stupidly spending money on:
The latest iPhone
Starbucks coffee
Trendy foods like avocado toast
Car payments when they could have just as easily gotten a 2005 Pontiac Aztek for cash
Eating out with friends
Credit card interest
Bar hopping
$150 sneakers
Gym memberships
Cable
Some things are as predictable as sunrise.
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Solly says — Be nice!
