How Covid-19, Celebrities, and Algorithms Fuelled a Rise in Risky Drinking
The Covid-19 pandemic wasn't just a physical health crisis; it was a mental health catastrophe. In my practice, I’ve seen this play out over the course of years, and I can tell you for a fact that the psychological effects of the pandemic are not only still with us, but they will be with us for some time to come.
My clients deal with a whole array of psychological impacts. Trouble sleeping, difficulties with eating, excessive worry, persistent stress, and even suicidal ideation. A Kaiser Family Foundation study found the same thing I’m seeing.
While the fear surrounding the virus was bad enough, these problems were made worse by the lockdown. It severed vital social connections and triggered a surge in loneliness, social anhedonia (the loss of pleasure in social activities), and feelings of alienation.. Many people have yet to recover from the intense stress caused by this highly unusual situation.
It seems to me that there should be more said about this in the mainstream media. Without that open discussion of the lingering effects of the pandemic, people who are still suffering often feel like they are the only ones who still are. If you fall into that category, I can assure you that many, many people feel the same way you do.
Recovery does not come easily. Many of us didn’t just snap back from this isolation. Many patients tell me that they desperately want to be with people when they are alone, but when they are with people, they want to get away from them.
We are social creatures, and the pandemic deeply disrupted our natural social abilities, leaving many people feeling painfully lonely. The situation is much worse for people who have always lacked confidence in their social skills. So, after being forced into isolation by the lockdown — something that has never happened before in anyone’s lifetime — people crave company but can’t make healthy, regular connections.
Rather than acknowledge this widespread problem, mainstream media makes the situation far worse by suggesting that all social interactions can be improved with a single maladaptive coping mechanism: alcohol.
A Recipe for Disaster: Loneliness, Isolation, and Alcohol
Alcohol consumption skyrocketed during the pandemic. According to the NIH, there was a 25% increase in risky drinking, with hard liquor sales experiencing the most dramatic jump.
This rise can be attributed to several factors. The government’s lockdown policies were utterly illogical in some ways, which often made the situation worse. Social spaces like parks — why would you shut down a park when the outdoors is probably the safest place for people to associate without spreading contagions? — gyms, and places of worship, and community centers were all closed.
But liquor stores remained open. I remember once during the pandemic when my local liquor store closed for a single day — and the next morning, there was a line outside. So, while healthy places that are essential to a normal social life had to be closed down, keeping the booze flowing was seen as essential and worth the risk of spreading the virus.
This sent a profoundly disturbing message. Turning to alcohol became a seemingly sanctioned way to cope with the profound social isolation and loneliness brought on by the pandemic. And that’s exactly what people did.
Glamorizing the Escape: Celebrities and Algorithms
Social media and celebrity culture made it worse — and continue to make it worse — by celebrating alcohol. The rise of "mixology parties" and the portrayal of alcohol consumption as a glamorous escape on social media platforms normalized heavy drinking. Drinking became a path to acceptance and, according to the photos and videos, a great way to laugh and have fun with others.
Since the social media platforms presenting these images are run by algorithms designed to addict viewers and make money through advertising, their algorithms added fuel to this fire. All the algorithm can do is read the word “alcohol” or see images of drinking in a post that a user likes, and so it feeds the user ads about alcohol.
As part of my research for this piece, for example, I read an article about alcohol’s effect on the nervous system. What do I see right next to it? An ad for vodka.
Imagine if a person looking for information about how to moderate their alcohol use had the same experience. Rather than reinforce their healthy inquiry, the algorithm encourages them to continue their destructive behaviors. It doesn’t matter if this is intentional or not – the impact can be devastating, potentially derailing someone seeking help.
The Psychological and Familial Toll
Heavy drinking disrupts sleep patterns. It intensifies feelings of depression. It makes anxiety much worse. It hinders cognitive function. And when one is in a depreciated state of consciousness, using a drug to ramp back up seems like a good idea. So when people need it least, they are inclined to drink again, creating a vicious cycle that usually spirals downward dangerously.
It’s a negative feedback loop that leads people to drink more to cope with the very issues alcohol creates.
Children suffer the most. When adults drink to solve their psychological problems, it has a devastating impact on families. Increased conflict, domestic violence, and parental neglect are all common consequences of a primary caregiver struggling with alcohol misuse or abuse.
Children exposed to such an environment are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems, substance use issues, and behavioral difficulties of their own. I’ve seen this through the child’s eyes in recent months. Perhaps the most tragic aspect of their confusion is that they will defend their parent’s destructive to me, parroting what their parents say about it. This will cause them to internalize destructive tendencies and may ultimately lead to debilitating post-traumatic stress.
A Sobering Reality
When alcohol is offered as a solution to psychological problems, especially those brought on by the social isolation caused by the pandemic, people get trapped. The social pressures to drink and to believe that drinking makes them happy overwhelm their sense of themselves.
I have patients who tell me that they know they need to stop, but who can’t bear the idea of rejecting a friendly offer to meet for a drink – in person or virtually. One really strange aspect of this is how often these invitations come for day drinking parties, even during work hours, when drinking is also portrayed as a rebellion against conformity, as ironic as that is.
They are responding to the very real psychological traumas caused by the pandemic. These traumas don’t arise from “weakness” or an “inability to cope.” They are legitimate responses to the traumatic experience of being under lockdown for two years. They are legitimate responses to the radical way that the workplace has changed since the pandemic.
They are also legitimate responses to the often radical ways that one’s relationship with alcohol changed.
Coping with pandemic-induced traumas is hard enough; that the pandemic caused an increase in alcohol consumption makes it even more difficult. The solution is not alcohol. The solution begins with acknowledging that these traumas are real, legitimate, and nothing to be ashamed of. Then, people can find healthy, holistic, and long-term paths leading past trauma and towards vibrancy.
Photo by Misunderstood Whiskey on Unsplash
