Teenagers now drink and smoke a hell of a lot less than you did

Teenagers are drinking and smoking way,
way less than you were at their age.
According to a major NHS survey, this is
the most boring cleanest-living generation
of teens ever on record.


Experimentation with alcohol among
under-16s is down by two-thirds since
2003, and the number of teens trying out
cigarettes has fallen by three quarters.
Only 4% of kids aged eight to 15 have
even tried a cigarette, down from 19% in
2003 – and just 16% have had an
alcoholic drink, down from 45% 13 years
ago.This means that, while we were all little
p*ssheads at their age, teens today are far
more health-conscious – and are avoiding
picking up bad habits at an impressionable
age.
Public health leaders
put the improving
child health down to
a crackdown on
underage sales, as
well as suggesting
that social media is
to thank.
‘We should not underestimate the
importance of changes in the nature of
childhood,’ Gillian Prior from NatCen,
which collected the data for the NHS, told
The Times.
‘Changes in technology and society mean
that teenagers spend their time in a very
different way compared to 15 years ago.’
However, health experts warned that there
is still a way to go when it comes to
obesity and exercise. Around a third of
children are still too heavy, and only a fifth
are as active as they should be.
The study also
suggested there was
widespread denial
among parents about
their children’s
weight.
Some 91% of mothers
of overweight
children, and 80% of fathers, believed that
their kids were the right weight.
Even when the kids were medically obese,
48% of mothers and 43% of fathers
thought their children were an appropriate
size.