It's said we are living in the age of New Puritanism. Clean living Millennials are now drinking and smoking far less than their Generation X parents according to surveys and attitudes are changing - recent data shows only one in ten Millennials view getting drunk as "cool". There is now a raft of books and manuals encouraging "mindful drinking" and espousing the benefits of sobriety. There's also a new crop of "sober clubbing" events - organisers claim you don't need mind-altering substances to have a great time on the dance floor. Young people are even reportedly having less sex. Ongoing research shows young adults today have fewer partners than the same age group did 30 years ago.
But until now you could always count on a hen or stag-do to provide some - admittedly formulaic - youthful wildness. No longer, it seems, with the arrival of the Zen Hen-do, where cocktails are swapped for herbal teas and nights on the town for yoga and glamping. There is no doubt that all this good living is better for your health - who can argue that taking care of your liver and your lungs can be a bad thing? Likewise having solid emotional boundaries in regard to sex is to be applauded.
But in a world so often bereft of joy let's make sure we don't take this too far. Letting go and having fun can also be good for the soul, an important way of celebrating our short time on earth.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here