How you can join the ranks of the part-time sober

It can take a lot of rules to be a successful member of the growing ranks of the part-time sober. “You kind of know how much alcohol you’re consuming," says Traficanti, now 50, who works in international development and lives in Queens, N.Y. “I told myself, ‘Patrick, if you say yes to this, you’ll end up drinking,’" said Martin, who works in digital advertising and video production in New York. Andersen, who co-founded an app to help people cut down or eventually quit drinking alcohol, also drinks a glass of water between beers, what’s known as Zebra striping on social media. “I don’t like crazy mocktails because I think it’s just weird to pay like, $15, for something without booze in it," says Goudie, a 56-year-old musician and podcast host in Austin, Texas.