The young elite in Silicon Valley drinks less alcohol. Instead, the focus is on work and even more work.
Thus reports the English-language magazine Business Insider that young tech entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley largely replace alcohol and parties with extreme discipline and focus on work and health.
For many young entrepreneurs, it’s more exciting to work on the next idea or in the startup rather than to celebrate. People like Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg, or Elon Musk are often seen as role models, who themselves often refrain from alcohol.
Young people are increasingly abstaining from alcohol
Young people and founders see alcohol as an obstacle to their performance and strive for a healthier, success-oriented daily life, where the focus is on work and physical as well as mental health:
- Many of the founders surveyed by Business Insider reported that they drink only very rarely or even live completely sober to enable long working hours and sustained concentration.
- Topics like better sleep quality, fewer hangovers, more energy, and role models from the biohacking scene motivate the abstinence. Health is the priority.
- Alcohol abstention is often seen as a sign of discipline and dedication to the startup daily routine.
- Working 3-4 days in a row is no longer uncommon for many young startups.
Not all founders completely refrain from alcohol, but regular or excessive consumption has become rather unusual in these tech circles.
And the trend of abstaining from alcohol has been observed among young people for some time. As reported by the English-language Time magazine, for many from Gen Z, it’s not about a moral rejection of alcohol, but rather about self-protection, clarity, and control. For many, alcohol today has nothing to do with maturity or freedom, but rather with loss of control, insecurity, and health risks.
And the lower consumption is also reflected in the numbers, at least when looking at Germany: From 126 liters of beer in 2000 to 88 liters in 2025. This is reported, among others, by the magazine Deutschlandfunknova.de.
Generation Z is reaching for beer less frequently, and German breweries are feeling the impact. They must come up with new ideas to compensate for the reduced sales figures. And those who cannot transition to alternatives must close due to high costs: In Germany, breweries are panicking because Gen Z simply does not drink enough alcohol anymore
