Dealing with the pandemic by drinking and swearing? Boffins say you're not alone
- Reference: 1623427333
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/11/pandemic_drinking_and_swearing_outbreak/
- Source link:
There's no denying that the pandemic has been tough, and the IT industry was far from immune. We've seen [1]numerous [2]events [3]cancelled , [4]supply [5]chain [6]issues and the joys of [7]looking terrible on camera – and those were all in the first three months.
How did we react? Well, we drank. And swore.
[8]
At least, that's the conclusion which can be drawn from studies undertaken, beginning with [9]a paper from researchers at Flinders University, who have directly tied the lockdowns in the UK and Australia to an increase in drinking – among middle-aged women, at least.
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[11]
"We found those that were struggling to get through the COVID-19 lockdowns in both Australia and the UK increased their drinking and those same negative feelings led people to buy more alcohol as well," said Dr. Emma Miller.
"Previous research of ours has also shown women shift their perception from long-term uncertainties, such as the dangers of alcohol, to refocus on the more pressing need to 'get through' the pandemic – deciding that what they perceive as short-term benefits, outweigh the long-term health risks."
[12]
A [13]separate poll carried out by the University of Michigan, meanwhile, found the pandemic had increased drinking in both men and women over the age of 50 with between a third and a half of those who admitted to routine drinking 'fessing up to having increased their intake in the first ten months of the pandemic.
"While not every older adult who drank more during the past year may have gone from non-risky to risky drinking, the overall level of drinking, and the potential for interaction with other substances, is very concerning," Dr. Anne Fernandez, a psychologist specialising in alcohol use, said of the responses. "As we all toast the end of the worst part of the pandemic in our country, it's important to address or prevent problematic drinking of all kinds."
[14]Microsoft 365 tries again at filtering swearing, bad behavior: Classifiers for seven languages offered
[15]Wireless screen in estate agent window just begging for someone to fill it with mischief
[16]British IT teacher gets three-year ban after boozing with students at strip club during school trip to Costa Rica
[17]MI5 wants to shed its cocktail-guzzling posho image – so it's opened an Instagram account
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) may have stumbled upon another way we're dealing with the stress of lockdown: swearing. In [18]a survey which looked at everything from, and we quote verbatim from the presentation deck, "the difference between strong language ('f**k', 'motherf**ker') and very strong language ('c**t')" to the use of bleep-censorship in broadcast media, the organisation discovered that a full third of respondents found themselves using more strong language than they did five years ago.
The study also indicated that six in ten use strong language daily, nearly half of Gen Z respondents use strong language daily compared with one in ten of apparently more mature respondents aged between 55 and 64, and that only 61 per cent bother to rein in their language in the presence of children.
One thing that almost certainly hasn't helped matters is social media, with researchers at York University and the University of British Columbia having reported that social media use is [19]one of four factors related to the spread of COVID-19 in the pandemic's early stages – thanks to its use for organising meet-ups where the virus could happily spread.
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"What we found was surprising, that the use of social media to organise off-line action tended to be associated with a higher spread rate of COVID-19," York University Assistant Professor Jude Kong explained. "This highlights the need to consider the dynamic role that social media plays in epidemics."
In short: you're not alone if you're drinking and swearing your way through the pandemic, but maybe take a break from the socials to do so. ®
Get our [21]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/25/what_mwcs_cancellation_means_for_smaller_firms/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/27/coronavirus_conference_cancellation/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/02/coronavirus_conference_concerns/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/03/gov_outlines_corona_plans/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/12/covid19_hits_technology_supply_chain/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/16/supply_demand_debt_covid19/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2020/03/12/remote_work_struggles/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YMPc-PAG4f7314u2zkNz7gAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.642950/abstract
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YMPc-PAG4f7314u2zkNz7gAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YMPc-PAG4f7314u2zkNz7gAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YMPc-PAG4f7314u2zkNz7gAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.healthyagingpoll.org/report/alcohol-use-among-older-adults
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/26/microsoft_365_harassment_profanities_classifiers/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/12/04/bork/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/23/uk_teacher_strip_club/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/04/22/mi5_instagram_cocktail_quaffing_poshos/
[18] https://www.bbfc.co.uk/about-us/news/use-of-strong-language-is-on-the-rise-and-parents-want-children-protected
[19] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0252373
[20] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YMPc-PAG4f7314u2zkNz7gAAAFM&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[21] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
The 5 rules of problematic drinking
1. You drink every day
2. Once a week, you feel a need to drink.
3. You don't mind drinking out of the wrong container. (Whiskey in a tea cup, straight out of the bottle, wine in a water glass, ...)
4. You drink more than 13 units of alcohol per week.
5. You can't go without drinking for at least one month per year.
If you got 3 or more out of 5, you're a problematic drinker.
If you've got 5 out if 5, you're an alcoholic .
P.S. Don't down-vote the messenger: change your behaviour instead.;P
P.P.S. I stopped drinking out of the wrong container when my doctor told me this, so I'm safe again! >:-)
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
Does drinking coffee out of the carafe satisfy #3? If so, I may be a problematic coffee drinker. The only one I don't hit there is #4.
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
A pot of coffee is "12 units" or that'd be my guess. I wonder what a quad cappuccino qualifies as? [my daily breakfast]
84 units of coffee a week - heh
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
4:
14 units is 6 pints of average strength beer.
That's absolute nonsense.
That every day might be considered potentially problematic, but every week? Come on now.
Re: rule nr. 4
a single glass of wine per day represents more than 14 'units' of alcohol per week.... yeah, that's bollocks.
Re: rule nr. 4
Depends on the size of your glass and the strength of your wine. Both of these have been trending upwards (in average) for many years, and are now about 50% higher than the average levels when I was a kid. (Which, compounded, means "a glass of wine" contains more than twice as much alcohol as it did.)
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
In the '80s and early '90s there were far fewer cirrhosis patients in extremis. Men in UK regularly drank 4pints in a night at pubs and hence exceeded the current 'maximum' - and had do e so for many years.
Something changed in the 90s. From observation, nutrition in 'drinkers' went downhill in quality; large volunes of cheap vodka (l1.5-2 LITRES per day mixed with 9% "cider" ("White Lightening") became the usual history.
Simple "units" is not the full story here. There's much more going on but "units/week" is an easy message to push
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
I got 1, 4 and 5 nailed down, but am still working on 2 and 3. Does it count as medicinal if it settles my digestion and makes tolerable the 'old age' symptoms?
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
Guinness bottles instruct you to "enjoy it straight from the bottle" Are they trying to turn us all into alcoholics?
These sneaky Irish...
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
No, that means the bottle is added to the list of "appropriate" containers - but only for Guinness.
Re: The 5 rules of problematic drinking
In the US in most bars if you order beer that comes in a bottle, they open the bottle and give it to you. No glass. You generally get a glass with your bottle of beer in a restaurant, I guess because it is considered rude to drink straight out of a bottle while eating with others?
In bars people overwhelmingly drink straight out of the bottle or can. Regardless of whether it is Guinness, Bud Light, an IPA, or whatever.
about swearing
So "motherfucker" is strong language but "cunt" is very strong language?
(only icon possible in this situation)
Re: about swearing
Didn't the BBC have a guide to swearing that ranked how bad they were, seem to recall it surfacing about a decade ago? C-word was top! Must be due a refresh, the kiddies must have lots of new words that would make no sense to someone like me..
Re: about swearing
As a non native speaker I always enjoy expanding my vocabulary...
Re: about swearing
That's a particularly interesting question for me as a non-native speaker. The one hint that comes to my mind regarding the issue is the fact that Karl Urban's frequent use of 'cunt' as Billy Butcher in The Boys did indeed come across (for me) as slightly stronger than if he had been using 'motherfucker' instead. Or did I get that wrong?
Re: about swearing
Sounds about right. "Motherfucker" has been diluted by extensive use in American pop culture. "Cunt" has yet to take off in that particular culture, so hasn't had the same exposure.
I need a f*cking drink.
rein in their language in the presence of children?
My 10 year old granddaughter swears much more often than I do.
Re: rein in their language in the presence of children?
Well, you can't regulate every influence on your kids, and much less so on grandkids. But you can set an example.
Re: rein in their language in the presence of children?
@Neil Barnes "My 10 year old granddaughter swears much more often than I do."
You should hang your head in shame.
No way would I let a bloody 10 year old out swear me. :)
A potted history if 14 units alcohol/week
In my previous life I worked in a large university hospital trust in the UK
Specifically in ITU.
We regularly had 'decompensated' alcoholics in for resus/post 'banding' (= sealing) bleeding oesophgeal varices (result of livee cirrhosis)
The 'Liver' team from Gastro were headed by a professor prominent in UK circles re matters in alcohol use.
At one of the 'Liver' team visits to review a post-banding patient during ITU ward round. ITU consultant asked where the '21 units came from.
Prof said that at a committe meeting of like specialists, they volunteered their weekly consumption - in essence 1 bottle of wine with wife at night and perhaps a short or two over the week. "comes to 42 units between 2 people and none of ua had cirrhosis so that was the safe level and then we looked for confirmatory evidence"
ITU consultant: "Er, OK then"
I would be interested to know what actually constitutes 'problematic drinking'.
As the government is only interested in patronising nonsense like "no safe level" and "14 units/week for both men and women", it's not as if they can be trusted. It feels like alcohol is getting the "five a day" / "10,000 steps" treatment - an aspirational target rather than a science based figure.