Are straws an unnecessary (but convenient) invention?

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨DragonWasabi@monyet.cc⁩ to ⁨nostupidquestions@lemmy.world⁩

People often talk about ditching plastic straws to help the ocean and the environment, but they also complain about paper straws falling apart easily. Other alternatives that are slightly more sturdy like straws made of straw don’t seem very common.

But do we even need straws? My first reaction was that any liquid can be drunk directly from the vessel it’s in, and straws just add another level of convenience. If we don’t want to use plastic straws and the alternatives mostly suck, why not just ditch straws entirely?

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Unsustainable@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Straws are necessary to some people with mobility issues. It’s important to rember that not everyone can do what you can do.

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- Ziggurat@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  But that’s a typical strawman argument. The straw ban laws have exception for medical equipement, and unfortunately some place found workaround like paper straw or pasta straw. But an able-bodied adult doesn’t really need a straw to drink, getting one with a drink is even an annoyance.
  
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  - Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    This is just a typical strawban argument.
    
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  - boothin@artemis.camp ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    That's not really relevant to the question being asked and the answer you're replying to though. OP said straws should just stop existing because it's only a convenience, and this counterpoint was that there are people who NEED straws, not as convenience but as necessity.
    
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  - scarabic@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Have you ever heard of children?
    
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Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Bendy straws were originally medical equipment and are still the only way for some people to be able to drink without spilling or having someone spill on them. For instance my husband’s a quad. Without a bendy straw, I have to tip the cup into his mouth without being able to see clearly either the level of the liquid or the angle of the cup to his mouth, especially the far side. He can’t tell me because drinking, nor move his head or hands to signal or correct me. A straight straw is almost impossible because he can’t tilt his head down to drink. With the bendy straws his face is straight and as long as the straw is between his lips he can drink at his own pace. But those rubbery straws are too thick, he can’t suck that hard. And we’ve never found a metal one that’s bent at the right angle. So we’re sticking to plastic, just have to make it up in other areas.

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Aidinthel@reddthat.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Many disabled people are unable to drink without straws.

npr.org/…/why-people-with-disabilities-want-bans-…

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- cactusupyourbutt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  for some readon I always love those dark answers to „what did people do before X?“
  
  Sometimes we actually help people, improve lifes
  
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  - Pandoras_Can_Opener@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Chronically ill person checking in to mention people with my autoimmune disorder died a slow painful death in the past or ate pig thyroid. And people with endometriosis just spent their days in intense agony (some/many still do because current medical treatment doesn’t work for them).
    
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DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Australia checking in…

I remember being taught in school to always use straws when you’re outside so you don’t swallow a bee or spider that’s fallen into your drink.

This is probably more of a baseless anxiety than an actual risk though I guess. I guess aluminium cans are problematic because you can’t see what’s in your drink. Bees do always stop to investigate sweet drinks so yeah I guess a sweet drink in a can might be an actual risk without a straw.

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- theKalash@feddit.ch ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I mean, the safest way to swallow a bee or spider would probably be after it drowned. So that just makes no sense at all.
  
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  - DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Hmm, insects don’t really down the same way mammals do. A layer of air gets trapped against their thorax, some spiders use this to hunt under water IIRC.
    
    Other commenters have replied with accounts of this happening.
    
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- marcos@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I know a person that have her mouth stung that way. I’m not from Australia, by the way, and it’s not common to teach this around here.
  
  Anyway, at the country areas around here it’s common to teach people to use straws with cans because when cans are stored badly, touching them with your mouth can transmit diseases.
  
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- Event_Horizon5@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  When I was a kid, a wasp went into my uncle’s beer can at a backyard BBQ. My uncle didn’t notice and when he took a drink he swallowed the wasp. It stung him 5 times on the inside of his throat and esophagus, and he had to be rushed to the hospital because his neck was swelling up. He wasn’t allergic or anything; I guess that can just happen if you are literally stung from the inside. He survived, but it was a very close call, according to the doctor.
  
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  - DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Holy shit. 5 times!?
    
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- SolOrion@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  A family friend was sent to the hospital because, when at a church yard sale, he left his can of Sprite unattended and a bee got into it. When he picked it back up and drank from it he drank the bee, too, and it stung him in the throat.
  
  So it’s probably not a common issue but I can confirm it’s happened at least once. I’m American, we don’t really have the spider problem in the same way. Thank god, I hate spiders.
  
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- brygphilomena@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I had a teacher in elementary school who swallowed a bee this way.
  
  We had snap on caps that would go over cans so we could close them when we weren’t drinking out of them.
  
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al4s@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
You have a disability that causes movement problems like shaking, or your edibles were too strong

Limited neck/shoulder/arm mobility or a swollen lip (The latter makes it hard to get a proper seal)

You wear lipstick or other makeup that could get washed away
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- jballs@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  
  Your edibles were too strong
  
  A mistake easily avoidable. This only happens if you say “these edibles ain’t shit” 45 minutes after taking them.
  
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ohlaph@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
For almost everyone, yes. But they have their purpose.

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alokir@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
The problem is not straws but the single use, non recyclable plastic ones. They’re a convenience and not a necessity. Same goes for cutlery, plates, cups, bags, wrappings etc.

There are alternatives like durable plastic ones that you can reuse, metal or paper if you want single use straws.

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Papanca@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
In the rare event i drink soda, i sometimes use a straw because it feels like it doesn’t affect all my teeth as much. Without a straw, it feels like the soda reaches all teeth and molars, while a straw directs it more locally. I once bought some stainless steel straws.

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- Woozy@dmv.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  I cringe in horror at the idea of children using stainless steal straws. There’s so much potential for horrible accidents.
  
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  - Papanca@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Good thing you mentioned this. I agree, i wouldn’t give these to children.
    
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- maus@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  This is actually something my dentist recommended as it helps reduce the amount of acid and sugar from the soda from saturating your teeth.
  
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  - Papanca@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Exactly what i meant! I don’t drink any sugary substances, but the acid is detrimental to one’s teeth.
    
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Luke_Fartnocker@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Some places have laws against drinking from a cup without a straw while driving because the cup can block the driver’s view.

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ristoril_zip@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Technically all inventions are “unnecessary but convenient.” Our ancestors got by just fine without fire or tools or clothes for much much longer than we’ve been inventing tools and using them.

Don’t get me wrong, today’s humans would almost certainly die out without our tools because we’ve adapted so heavily to having them (especially fire and clothing).

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- alias@artemis.camp ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  *For varying definitions of "just fine".
  
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- Dr_Cog@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  Our ancestors didn’t get by without fire, if you mean ancestors as in members of our species.
  
  We’re human because fire allowed us to grow our brains larger than typically possible. Protohumans discovered how to use fire long before we existed.
  
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- hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  We wouldn’t die without straws.
  
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Zippy@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
They work well in moving vehicles but beyond that we could ditch them entirely.

Straws are a strawman argument to begin. That plastic drink cup has about 50 times the plastic of your typical straw.

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- Lazylazycat@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  They stop your lipstick smudging, too.
  
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Pandoras_Can_Opener@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
In Germany plastic straws are forbidden these days. There’s straws made of metal or wood still. Can’t comment on the larger question tho. I’ve never used straws to begin with.

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- bob_wiley@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  [deleted]
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  - Pandoras_Can_Opener@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Huh, neat. I’ve heard of pasta straws in private use but an Italian restaurant, that’s cool. Yeah wooden and metal straws get cleaned. Tho wooden straws would eventually be burned I assume. And metal maybe remelted?
    
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nydas@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Way easier to drink a drive-thru drink from a straw while driving. And it’s a drive-thru, so kinda assumed you’ll be consuming it behind the wheel. My toddler also has a habit of not fully creating a seal between his bottom lip and the underside of the cup. So a straw in that case saves a lot of spillage.

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chrizbie@lemmy.nz ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I heard an american the other day talking about large noodles being used as straws, I don’t know if this was pasta or whatever but I thought that was insteresting

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AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I like a lot of ice in my drinks so I definitely prefer a straw. I’d rather replace the big plastic cup the drink is in…

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Duchess@yiffit.net ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
aside from the previously mentioned uses for people with disabilities, i’d also mention straws can be very helpful for young children first learning to become independent. boba would be pretty difficult to drink, too.

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Chocrates@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
As a facial hair have’r straws are nice to not get my beard covered in wet. That being said I rarely use straws.
There are likely some folks with disabilities that make drinking without a straw difficult but probably most of us don’t really need them. We could also think about redesigning glasses or something if that would help.

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Resol@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I’d like to have a metal collapsible straw that I can take with me anywhere and wash after a few uses. The metal it’s made of has to be odorless and flavorless too, because you don’t wanna feel like you’re drinking blood, don’t you?

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