Young people’s drinking represents a nexus between time, temporalities and social practices. While drinking and intoxication have previously been considered a way to achieve a youthful sense of ‘time out’, young people’s drinking is declining in Australia and other high-income countries, suggesting alcohol’s centrality in young people’s leisure time has diminished. Drawing on interviews with light and non-drinker teenagers from Melbourne, Australia, we develop Adorno’s concept of ‘free time’ to show how young people’s time use practices – including how they incorporate alcohol into their lives – are more than ever shaped by social and economic pressures. We framed participants’ discussion of time and its relationship to drinking as a) using free time ‘productively’, b) being opportunistic around busy schedules, and c) the importance of using time for restoration. These framings suggest fragmented and pressure-filled patterns of free time may challenge drinking as a ‘time out’ practice for young people.

年轻人的饮酒代表了时间、时间和社会实践之间的联系。虽然饮酒和醉酒以前被认为是实现年轻人“超时”感的一种方式，但澳大利亚和其他高收入国家的年轻人饮酒量正在下降，这表明酒精在年轻人休闲时间中的中心地位已经减弱。通过对来自澳大利亚墨尔本的轻度和不饮酒青少年的采访，我们发展了阿多诺的“空闲时间”概念，以展示年轻人的时间使用实践——包括他们如何将酒精融入生活——比以往任何时候都更受社会和经济压力。我们将参与者关于时间及其与饮酒关系的讨论设计为 a) “有成效地”利用空闲时间，b) 在繁忙的日程中投机取巧，c) 利用时间进行恢复的重要性。这些框架表明，碎片化和充满压力的空闲时间模式可能会挑战饮酒作为年轻人的“超时”做法。