I would think that one of the markers dividing the modern "adult world" and college would be the lack of peer pressure to drink alcohol. I'd think that only a jerk would give you "disdainful stares" for politely declining.
That's what I thought, but it hasn't been the case in the circles I'm running in. Both at my job, and at a random party I just went to. (Although in the case of the party, it didn't become relevant until the very end and the person questioning me was visibly intoxicated, so I might be generalizing too much from one example)
I understand it varies from country to country quite a bit. But if you're recently out of college and you're in a professional-type industry in America, I'd bet that long term, you'd be far better off erring on the side not drinking rather than drinking more than you're comfortable with. Not everybody straight out of college adjusts to the demands of maturity well. Two years from now, nobody will remember if you chose not to drink at a party today. But if you get drunk and do something stupid at the office Holiday party . . .
It's been over a year since I graduated from college, but only recently have I felt like I'm officially entering the "adult world." Navigating the social arenas of the adult world requires the same basic skillsets as the college world, but a lot of the rules are different and I'm struggling to learn them. Among them is how to drink socially.
As a general rule, I don't drink. I don't like the taste of alcohol. I don't like paying the exorbinant prices that alcohol costs. I don't like the feeling of my brain slowing down and making it harder to string sentences together. I don't mind the physical disorientation - that part's pretty fun. But that part also seems to be slightly frowned upon in an "adult" setting. I'm not opposed to it for any particular moral reasons.
When I do drink, I prefer to get it over with as fast as possible, whether I'm officially drinking a "shot" or not. In college that at least had a sort of "daring" quality that was respected. But it's pretty obviously taboo at classy cocktail parties and even somewhat taboo at "casual adult" parties.
So there's a few separate questions I have:
1) Are there any good, cached buzzword phrases I can use that'll make it socially acceptable to not drink? "I just don't like it" seems to draw disdainful stares, and while I haven't tried it I get the sense that saying I'm morally opposed to it would make me look even more like a stick in the mud. Saying "it's ridiculously expensive" makes me look like a cheapskate.
2) If I must drink socially, is there a breakdown of the general social conventions I should be aware of so I don't need to have them pointed out to me over the course of the next few years?
3) Is there any particularly interesting analysis of *why* drinking is so important to social interaction? Knowing the underlying causes might at least give me some better appreciation for why I have to learn this other than "because!"