Searches for flavored and sparkling water have grown at an average rate of 20% over the past year. New brands are also popping up everywhere, but what exactly is driving this rise in popularity? Why are young people drinking so much sparkling water more than ever before?

To answer that question, we must first understand the drinking habits of people today. More than ever, good hydration habits are touted as the key to health, beauty and mental clarity. There’s been some debate over what the recommended amount of water to drink a day is, but the consensus is that there can be no such thing as too much water. H2o = good health.

As a result, people aren’t just drinking water when they feel they need it. They are drinking water because they feel they have to. People are carrying around giant bottles of water with markers to tell them how much they need to drink, and there’s even various apps that remind and motivate you to drink water throughout your day.

Just a few decades ago, guzzling sugary drinks daily was considered the norm, with sodas even topping the list of America’s favorite beverages. As awareness of the health issues associated with excessive consumption of these drinks grew, people turned towards drinking more water instead. However, for the people used to consuming sweetened drinks, flavored and sparkling water became a great way to make drinking it more enjoyable.

The recent focus on health and wellness has also led to more young people today to reduce or completely abstain from alcohol consumption, which has led to the rise in the ‘sober curious’ movement. As a result, there has been increasing interest in flavored, sparkling and seltzer as alternatives instead, with companies offering a range of varieties, infusing them with herbs and nourishing botanicals.

This is indicative of a larger health trend where people aren’t just looking to reduce sugar consumption by drinking water, but also to drink water that’s fortified. Types of fortified water might include vitamins and minerals, electrolytes, amino acids, with the goal of improving overall health or targeting a particular issue. Coca Cola’s Smartwater has a line of water, named smartwater+, that infuses ingredients like ashwagandha, ginseng and green tea to promote mental wellness. While Pepsi’s Driftwell helps consumers unwind before bed with water infused with lavendar, 200 milligrams of L-theanine and 10% DV magnesium.

While drinking more water does seem like an all-round positive thing, it’s actually become a pretty divisive topic on social media platforms, especially TikTok. Flavored water has become so popular that its hashtag #WaterTok has over 780 million views. The origins of #WaterTok can be traced to bariatric patients who needed to make their water intake more interesting while on pre- and post-surgery liquid diets for a few days, but its since grown beyond their intended audience and taken on a life of its own.

Content creators post videos of themselves mixing colorful concoctions of water, ice and then various packets of powdered flavorings and syrup in tumblers to create flavored water like “birthday cake” and “green apple mermaid.” This ‘water’ is sometimes added with so many ingredients that viewers have joked that the creators have “just made juice.” While this might seem like it’s a good substitute to drinking soda, some people are concerned about the impact all these artificial sweeteners and additives might have on drinkers’ bodies, especially on gut health and tooth enamel.

Skeptics of WaterTok are also concerned that the trend-ification of reaching a “water goal” and the focus on being ‘sugar and calorie free’ lumps the idea of calorie restriction with a healthy lifestyle. Watching calories is most directly correlated with weight loss, but it’s not a representation of health as a whole. Therefore, experts worry that this mentality might promote dangerous eating habits, or even a disorder. 

While we never thought something as basic as water could be so divisive, it’s extremely interesting to note the changing drinking habits of different generations, and the evolution of the commodification of water consumption and how companies continue to keep up and cash in.