America has a drinking problem
Article mirrors my experience. For context I'm German, my wife's French and we've got family in Croatia who own a vineyard so I'm used to being around alcohol and people drinking. My first impression when I spent time was in the US was indeed how bipolar drinking is compared to Europe.<p>We probably drink a hell of a lot more in raw terms than the average American does.Two glasses of wine for dinner, another one in the evening, maybe some cognac to wind down, and so on. But it's for the most part not about getting drunk or coping with stress. I've got no illusions about the physical effects but speaking about addiction or being dysfunctional I've seen very little of it despite some people I know drinking enough to stun a mule probably.<p>The things that I noted were different in the US is how solitary everyone is, overworked and how little time people take for preparing food and just sitting at a table having a drink over conversation. People seem to drink to cope more, use it as a medicine rather than for pleasure or to enhance meals, and I think that turns very badly very quick.<p>That said I don't think solitary drinking is necessarily as bad as the article makes it out to be all the time, but it takes a certain personality. When you take drugs alone, not just alcohol, you need to be more mindful about why you do it.