It’s pretty easy to tell you are in a room of people having fun and enjoying themselves. The last time I enjoyed going to a bar was in March of 2020. It is nothing like it was before. Prices are sky high, and the average bar is still relatively empty, in comparison dead, and the energy level is pretty non existent. The age mix skews much older than before.

For busy, packed bars that have lineup in the streets, the age is much lower, prices are even higher. After waiting in line, which feels absurd since there are so many empty bars even across the street, everyone seems most concerned with updating their social media allegedly having a good time. The DJ is there, music is loud, but the patrons aren’t.
So have a couple drinks, spend 100 bucks, and wake up with a headache. Yeah, it’s shit.

We are also in a pure surveillance state, everything we do is recorded so it is risky. What used to be a gaffe could be a career ending viral moment today.

Conversations with strangers is now the worst, complaining about rent, prices of everything, Trump, late stage capitalism, immigration , woke is destroying the world, libtards, investing in gold, or actually more enjoyable - an inebriated 60 year old with intentions, that constantly repeating themselves like an llm with 2 messages of context history. Until they finally make their move you see coming like a train wreck in slow motion.

And finally, the alcohol companies have lost control of the narrative, like tobacco, they spent heavily on funding studies that found alcohol has health benefits (in some amount) and rained legal threats on anyone saying what has been known for decades:

Alcohol consumption causes cancer.

This is in addition to what everyone has known forever, even moderate consumption often results in injury from falling or assault, get in a car - death (of other people), and while men don’t usually think about it, sexual assault.

It’s all a buzz kill.