Our Long, Slow Drift Towards Casual Sex and Drugs

The United States is drifting away from it’s aristocratic roots. We are exchanging the old, formal ways of life for newer, more casual ways of living. King George, III must be rolling over in his grave at Windsor Castle.

I’m a big fan of casual. But this drifting has blown us off course. The drift has normalized casual sex and drugs.

Friends With Benefits

Hook-up apps like Tinder pair up people for dates. They must fall within a specified age range and gender, as defined by each user. They must be within a certain distance of each other and interested in hanging out for the night. It’s an informal way to make new friends (some with benefits) with some of Tinder’s 66 million users. Those impromptu dates sometimes include casual sex.

A recent U.S. study found that 78.2% of adults aged 18-34 claimed to have had casual sex with someone they met online. But, don’t start picking out the China and Silver pattern just yet. Over 30% of Tinder users are already married. At least another 20% are lying.

That casual approach to sex thing has some long term consequences. Across the pond our former chaperones, the stuffy Brits, are reporting a new milestone. For the first time, the Office of National Statistics is reporting that 51.3% of babies were born to unmarried mothers.

Prior to 1978, the number of live births to unwed mothers never crossed 10%. This trend speaks as much to the declining marriage rate as it does to the more common, casual co-habitation taking place among younger couples.

This, despite the fact that the WSJ reports the net worth of young married couples is 9 times higher than young singles.

Male or Female or…..

I can recall when there were only two choices for gender: male or female. Today, gender is non-binary and fluid. The Tinder dating app offers 37 different options for gender identification. Options include Neutrois, Pangender, Transmasculine, Gender Variant, Two-Spirit and 32 other options. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Business Casual

With people trying to hook up more, you’d think they’d dress up a bit. But we’ve seen a similar drift towards more casual clothing.

It started back with the trend away from business attire in the late 1990’s. Back when panty hose and neck-ties were mandatory. Two unnecessary, ornamental clothing items left over from the bourgeoisie era. In our desire to create a less formal, more comfortable work space, we jettisoned all of the trappings of the aristocracy for the minimalism of the proletariat class. We were introduced to “business casual”. And, the people cheered with approval.

There’s a new business casual today, but it’s called Zoom casual. See, when I was a kid I wanted to be a newscaster. Mainly cause I thought they were nekkid under the desk. During Covid I mastered the art of dressing like a newscaster. I often wear a dress shirt over a t-shirt, with shorts hiding under the desk. Just out of the (Zoom) camera’s viewing lens. So far I have resisted the urge to go without my pants. Zoom casual is the new business casual.

Active Wear

There is an entirely new category of casual clothing called “active wear”. It is acceptable to dress as if you’ve just exited the Pilates studio and didn’t have time to change. Today it’s totally acceptable to wear yoga pants and active wear to nearly any function. Even if your gym membership expired during the Obama administration.

And, it’s not just those identifying as women. For men, the hoodie is the new sport coat. Flip flops are the new wing-tips.

Religious Services

Our religious services migrated away from the pomp & circumstance of old, too. Many of today’s largest church services are “casual” and include modern, catchy music. The electric guitar has replaced the organ. You can bring coffee. Our casual Pastor has a goatee and wears jeans and flip flops.

Ganja

In February of 2021, Oregon became the first state to legalize drugs. It has since decriminalized the use of Heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine. You can literally walk down the street in Seattle smoking meth. And, Marijuana is now legal in 30 states. In the other 20 states Marijuana products are widely available on the down-low.

According to a NIH Study, Marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached all-time high in 2021. 43% of young adults aged 19 to 30 years old report using Marijuana monthly. This is the highest levels ever recorded.

To be sure, casual Marijuana has increased across all ages. For example, a 46 year-old South Dakota choir teacher was arrested after his mom accidentally took his pot brownies to a senior center for Bingo night. All the seniors citizens got high. Weed is not legal in South Dakota.

Welcome to Springfield

Yes, we’ve migrated away from June & Ward Cleaver. But, we’ve landed on the couch somewhere in between Marge and Homer Simpson. It’s been a long, slow slide to Springfield-the fictional city where the ageless Simpson family resides. But, here we are.

So what’s causing this slide towards the moral abyss? Most people agree that it’s our declining moral values. But, Republicans and Democrats see that decline very differently. 36% of Democrats say the state of moral values is poor, while 72%, of Republicans believe that the state of our moral values are “poor”. In aggregate, 50% of Americans rate our moral values as “poor”. Those responding suggest that the biggest problem is our inability to simply be considerate of other people.

So what about you? Do you think we are sliding into the moral abyss of casual sex, drugs and yoga pants? Do you sense the overall decline of our moral values? If so, why? Leave me a comment below.

And, one more thing, can you do me a solid and share this story with a friend? I love meeting new people

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