Drinking In Livingston: Town Ranks On List For Most Alcohol-Themed Social Media Posts

LIVINGSTON, NJ — Two years ago this month, New Jerseyans hunkered down to try to survive a global pandemic that began taking lives locally. People spent more time online, and, according to various sources, more time drinking.

In May 2020, Gov. Murphy signed legislation to allow hotels, motels, bars, and restaurants to sell and deliver alcohol, and people also began to experiment making their own craft cocktails.

The term ‘Quarantini’ entered the lexicon. In one study, New Jerseyans’ favorite homemade cocktail during the pandemic was found to be a piña colada.

National rehab directory, Rehabs.com, commissioned a study in which the 100 largest towns and cities in New Jersey were ranked for their number of alcohol-related Instagram posts over the course of the pandemic.

The researchers analyzed 5,000 Instagram posts starting from March 2020 — the unofficial start of lockdowns for most states — to identify how many were related to alcohol or being drunk. The results reveal which town/cities posted about it the most.

Rehabs.com determined that Bernardsville, which has a population of just 27,830, came in the number one spot with 392 alcohol-related Instagram posts (per 5,000 posts) during the pandemic. This represents 7.84 percent of all Instagram posts in that town during that period. Bernards is in Somerset County, which has the highest amount of excessive drinkers in the state at 21 percent, according to County Health Rankings.

This places it in the top 10th percentile of the country and is higher than the average excessive drinking rate in NJ of 16 percent.

Not far behind came Atlantic City with 377 alcohol/drinking-related posts (per 5,000 posts) during the pandemic for a rate of 7.54 percent, though it has a slightly larger population of 38,497.

Livingston wasn't near the top — it came out number 74 in terms of the highest rate of alcohol-themed posts, behind Bridgewater and Paramus, and just ahead of Elizabeth and Washington Township. See the top 100 here.

The Rehabs.com rankers say that 1.72 percent, or nearly 1 out of every 50, Livingston Instagram posts were in some way related to alcohol. There were 86 posts during the time period they analyzed.

Instagram, unlike Facebook and Twitter, focuses on photos and videos with a short summary and little back-and-forth, making it usually less political than the other sites and popular among businesses seeking to promote their wares — including restaurants.

Rehabs.com has listed some signs that are indicative of problematic relationship with alcohol:

• Difficulty controlling one’s level of alcohol consumption.
• Wanting to decrease or stop drinking alcohol but being unable to do so.
• Developing a higher tolerance for alcohol and needing more over time to reach the desired effects.
• Experiencing alcohol cravings when not drinking as well as withdrawal symptoms such as sweating, shaking and nausea.
• Facing personal problems at home, work, or school due to alcohol use.

Here is a link to the government's Substance and Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's national helpline and resources.

Here are the state of New Jersey's hotline numbers for various mental health, addiction and counseling services.

Here is a fact sheet about internet addition from a mental health nonprofit.

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