Nearly one in three people experience alcohol use disorder at some point during their lifetimes, and their unhealthy relationships with alcohol frequently begin in college. Drinking is so ingrained in the college experience that some people find it almost impossible to avoid – even if they have no particular interest in consuming alcohol.
There are plenty of reasons to be mindful in college about when you consume alcohol and how much you drink, and the potential for future alcoholism is only one of them. That’s why the sober-curious movement has been sweeping across New Jersey’s colleges and universities. If you’re questioning your relationship with alcohol, becoming sober curious might be the right choice for you as well. Here’s what you need to know about it.
What Does “Sober Curious” Mean?
Being sober curious means different things to different people, but it essentially comes down to adopting a more mindful approach to alcohol consumption. It might involve complete abstinence from alcohol, but it doesn’t have to. Being sober curious involves evaluating the reasons why you drink, considering the amount that you consume when you do drink and deciding whether your current drinking habits suit your goals. Some sober-curious people stop drinking entirely, and others simply choose the key moments when drinking will provide the most enjoyment.
Recognize the Reasons Why You Drink
Becoming sober curious begins with evaluating the reasons why you drink. In 2023, 1,278 university undergraduates took part in an alcohol use survey for the medical journal Psychiatry. The most commonly cited reasons for drinking were:
- Social connectedness
- Need to belong
- Social anxiety
- Sociability
- Liquid courage
- Sexuality
- Tension reduction
Once again, it’s important to emphasize that being sober curious isn’t necessarily about abstaining from alcohol use completely. It’s about understanding why you drink and what you actually get out of the experience. For some people, having a drink simply enhances social outings and allows them to loosen up a bit and approach new people more easily. For others, it’s about releasing the stress from a long week. If you consistently drink so much that you end up forgetting what you did during the weekend, though, that’s a potential sign of an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.
Understand the Risks of College Drinking
Another aspect of becoming sober curious is being more mindful about the amount of alcohol you consume when you drink. The biggest concern about alcohol overconsumption is that you’ll eventually develop alcohol use disorder and experience chronic health problems such as cardiovascular failure, neurological damage and irreversible liver disease.
You might not spend a lot of time thinking about the long-term effects of alcohol abuse as a college student, but overconsumption of alcohol can also have incredibly negative effects that are much more immediate. You could get in a car accident and kill or injure yourself or someone else. You could also simply miss an important lecture because you’re too ill to attend.
Being sober curious is all about knowing how much is too much and avoiding the situations that might cause you to overconsume. No amount of alcohol is completely safe, but overconsumption is always dangerous.
Alternative Drinks Can Be Just as Much Fun
Being sober curious doesn’t mean that you have to limit yourself to water and soda at social gatherings, although that’s certainly an option. If you do a bit of research, though, you’ll find that some of the best social beverages contain no alcohol at all. Just look for beverages infused with herbal extracts that produce similar sociable effects without the intoxication. Some beverage ingredients that can enhance social drinking without alcohol include hemp extracts, ashwagandha, L-theanine, kanna, kava, functional mushrooms, adaptogens and ginseng.
Supportive Friends Are Vital When You’re Sober Curious
If you want to explore the sober-curious lifestyle, you need to have friends who understand and support your goals. If your friends can’t have fun during the weekends without binge drinking and pressure you to do the same, that’s counterproductive and potentially dangerous. Choose friends who are interested in having fun in a variety of different ways and who understand that consuming alcohol isn’t necessary for a night out to be enjoyable.
Even with supportive friends, you’re going to experience situations when you might feel pressured to drink. It’ll be much easier for you if you know in advance how you’re going to navigate through those situations. What will you say if someone offers you a drink or tells you that “you need to loosen up a little?” Your response could be as simple as “I’m not drinking tonight.” You could also volunteer to be the designated driver for your group. If you already know what you’re going to say, you’ll answer confidently and won’t feel pressured to drink.
Recognize That You Aren’t Alone
If you sometimes feel that you’re the only person in your peer group interested in exploring a different type of relationship with alcohol, the good news is that you definitely aren’t. According to data collected in the 2023 New Jersey Student Health Survey – the most recent published survey as of July 2026 – students across the state are using alcohol at the lowest rates in years.
Over the past decade:
- The percentage of students who reported ever using alcohol dropped from 68 to 49 percent.
- The percentage of students who reported using alcohol currently dropped from 39 to 27 percent.
- The percentage of students who reported binge drinking dropped from 15 to 13 percent.
A Challenge for the Sober-Curious-Curious
If you’re curious about the sober-curious movement, you can explore it without making major changes or putting a new label on yourself to signify your commitment. Start by simply choosing a time period in which you won’t drink. You might start with a weekend, a two-week period or even a month. You could also just choose to attend a few gatherings or events where you know alcohol won’t be served.
The point of a sober-curious challenge is to experience what a social life with little or no alcohol looks and feels like. If you’re a heavy drinker, you’re likely to notice some changes right away. Note how your reduced alcohol consumption affects things like:
- The decisions that you make in social situations. You might find that you’re less likely to indulge in risky behavior.
- How you engage with the people you meet when socializing. You could discover that you don’t actually need to be intoxicated in order to say hello to someone who catches your interest. You may also find that you’re less likely to embarrass yourself.
- Your sleep quality. You’ll likely find that it’s easier to fall asleep if you’re not intoxicated, and you’ll probably wake up feeling more rested. Obviously, you also can’t get hangovers if you don’t drink excessively.
- Your performance in school. Have you ever missed a class because you were hung over? That’s a sign of unhealthy alcohol consumption; having a few drinks definitely isn’t worth ruining your education.
The New Jersey Digest is a new jersey magazine that has chronicled daily life in the Garden State for over 10 years.