Yes. It's pretty much a given that most adults equate "getting together" in the evening with drinking alcohol. If I just go by my coworkers when we go to happy hour, they all drink. They all drink very lightly.
I'm just about two years sober and here are my thoughts on the issue.
Most people drink but they drink very little. I see nothing wrong non-alcoholics enjoying a drink or two and from my two years worth of observations, the vast majority of people leave it at one or two. I've been to weddings where I see people stopping after two drinks. I'll never forget once, this was when I was super early in sobriety, I was with a friend at a wedding and she was drinking a beer. As it came time to sit down, she waved down a waiter and said "Would you take this for me?" She left it on the tray and didn't drink the rest of the evening. Again, this wedding was in very early sobriety so I was watching everyone very closely. I did not see anyone get drunk. My friends who I was with drank one or two beers over four hours.
Long story short, the vast majority of people I know drink a few drinks a week, if that. Very few actually keep it in their home. Sure, this is just my observations, but I've noticed that people drink a lot less than I thought they did when I was still drinking.
Do I wish alcoholic was nowhere to be seen? Sure. I'm not going to get into the chaos that alcohol does cause for certain people, which it does.
One thing that really grinds my gears is this new beer culture where people talk about the 4,000 different types of beers like they're a fine delicacy, all unique and brewed in different places. Annooooying.
When there was a part of me that still wanted to drink, I saw alcohol everywhere I looked. I reached a moment, a turning point, an awakening you could call it, where I did not want to drink alcohol anymore. I repeat, I did not want to drink alcohol anymore. At this point I stopped really noticing it at all.
I'm 33 and had 10 years of alcoholic drinking. I often wonder about the people who are around 22 right now and just starting the path that I took with alcohol. I wonder what would get through to them? I even took an alcohol training course once to be a waiter at a restaurant and watched videos of DUI's and heard about all the health problems it caused. I thought it was meant for other people. Definitely not me.
I think their should be MUCH more stringent DUI training in order to get a driver's license.