For Gen Z, Dry January has become something much bigger

For young people across the United States, “Dry January” is no longer a novelty. For some, it has become a year-round way of life.

Members of Gen Z — those born between 1997 and 2012 — are drinking less alcohol than any generation in decades, part of a broader shift that is reshaping social life, public health and even the alcohol industry itself.

But whether Americans are truly drinking less — or simply drinking differently — depends largely on how the data is measured, and what researchers believe the decline represents.