I met some colleagues from a previous job for drinks the other day. It got me thinking about the social convention of socializing with your friends. I am referring to the process of setting up a meeting, then getting together, chatting, sharing experiences, ideas and generally catching up.
What occurred to me is how this process is regularly coupled with drinking alcohol. I wonder what would happen if alcohol had never been discovered.
Of course I regularly interact with others without the need for alcohol, as do many people I know. That being said the convention of meeting in a social context is often accompanied accompanied by drinking (usually alcohol, although some stick to non alcoholic beverages) and sometimes snacking.
Why drinking?
I think there are two drivers to the use of alcohol (and perhaps eating) in a social setting. It actually acts as a signal, drinking is understood to be a recreational activity (and some do eat for recreation) and this makes the meeting less formal and more clearly a time to just sit back and enjoy.
In the Japanese culture co-workers regularly gather for a drink after work. This was almost a ritual for male white collar workers and represented a chance to release the tensions of the day and under the influence of alcohol perhaps tell your co-workers, and even your boss, what you really thought. Japanese society is changing and this practice is now a little less common and less mandatory than it once was.
Getting Older
I really enjoy getting together with buddies to “shoot the shit” as they say but age has changed my tolerance for alcohol and I find myself drinking less alcohol. I become inebriated faster and this cause some reduction in the speed and clarity of my thinking which for some reason is not as enjoyable as it was at a younger age. Now, for me the drinking is more for the taste then the reduction in inhibitions.
I really get setting the context of the social engagement and drinking is certainly both an effective and socially acceptable way to do this.