I’ve noticed this in my own home:
A generation consumed by Facebook and text-messaging, by Xbox Live and smart phones, no longer needs to climb into a car to connect with friends. And while many teens are still eager to drive, new laws make getting a license far more time-consuming, requiring as many as 60 supervised driving practice hours with an adult.
Kids no longer want to drive when they are eligible to drive, which turns me into a taxi service. Kids no longer play outside because they’re texting their friends and chatting with them online or playing video games. I think we’re raising a generation of out-of-shape digital addicts. I know I sound like some old curmudgeon, but I think it’s a legitimate problem.
I went until age 24 without a license and was as dialed in as any teen can be. I bummed rides off friends and took the bus here in Los Angeles, but I can’t imagine kids these days doing things that way. It was not easy and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
I’m 35 now and am still wired in as tight as can be, but I couldn’t live without my car. My graveyard job is easier to deal with while driving, though I could use public transit if necessary.
I was wondering about how this generation goes about dating without driving, but I suppose the kids these days do their romance digitally. Doesn’t bode well for their future prospects, though.
geez BooMan, I know it’s Saturday, but is this the best you’ve got? Yes you do sound like an old curmudgeon. Complaining about “these kids these days” is probably older than the ability to write down those complaints…
I’ve heard other parents talk about this too, so it’s obviously more common than it was when I was that age. But my own 17-yo niece was 100% obsessed with getting her license and a car as soon as she could. Of course she’s in suburban SoCal where that’s still normal.
speaking, again, of my own family, I see kids who love their computers and video games but are at risk from sports injuries not obesity. (My sister is NOT happy about her boys playing football, one broke his collarbone this fall. )
Boo:
Parents are bitching about it? And it’s partially parents fault. Most parents survived with the lessened practice hours. So why imposer draconian measures on kids? Do parents enjoy becoming more authoritarian? Sounds like it. I didn’t even get my license till the month I graduated HS. There is no way I’d have put up with the 60 hrs requirement. And I lived in a place where you needed a car to get around. I don’t know what else to say other then to tell parents to get a grip. Let kids act like kids. This nation has been too overcome by fear, in all sorts of manners. To say it another way, we’ve become a nation of chicken shits(I don’t know any other synonyms for the P word .. which I don’t want to use)
My 21 year old doesn’t drive, but it has nothing to do with Facebook. That’s a pretty lame conclusion, actually.
She doesn’t drive because she spent her teenage years in England, where it’s difficult to get a driver’s license, and since moving to college in the US she hasn’t needed to. But she has zero interest in driving, and I have zero interest in getting her a car.
Works for us.
Two of my kids don’t drive for the same reason. To get your license you have to show proof of insurance. Insurance for a new driver in NC starts at over $200 a month. Plus, they don’t have a car to drive. So why pay $200 bucks a month to drive your mom’s car once a week?
Which would be fine if we lived in a city with a fucking transit system. But we don’t. We live in suburban sprawl hell without any sidewalks, let alone an adequate bus system. Forget about light rail.
¡jezeus!, this is a ‘legitimate problem’!?…we should all be pushing our kids to become drivers so we can keep those petro-dollars flowing and if it saves you a bit of inconvenience, all the better?
quaint shit like inaction on climate change, an economy that’s in the tank, massive unemployment, unregulated financial markets and banksters paying themselves obscene amounts of money on the backs of the taxpayer and searching for the next bubble, 2 1/2 wars with no exit strategy, no meaningful hcr on the horizon, a dysfunctional government, etal, pale in significance…meh.
the hypnomedia [h/t to AG] at work.
Jeez, Boo — I hope they at least got off your lawn.
First I heard about driving as a form of exercise — do your people keep in shape by driving pedal-powered cars or something? Around here, cars are probably the number one reason that people don’t get any exercise.
When my nephew came of age some years ago he had zero interest in getting a license or driving. He, and his crowd, had no illusions about the “thrill of the open road” and all that crap. He did finally get a car for work needs, but still hates it and fantasizes about getting in a situation where he can dump the damn thing. Half the time I talk to him he’s going on about how great it is to be a few blocks from the elevated line. Which makes me proud. I can’t figure out what your problem is.
the driving and exercise parts are unrelated, I guess. It’s more a matter of sustained lack of independence combined with a lack of activity.
Making them take the bus/train/whatever would solve both issues nicely. The fares would be more than paid for by not adding them to the car insurance.
a bike gets some use, but there are no buses around here.
Um, the boy with the bike here rides it to the bus stop at the mall. Just sayin’.
Are you near any of the R5 stations? Sadly, even to get there I have to drive 15 minutes. I wish I could afford to live in the city.
I’m 21 and I don’t have my license or a car, nor do I plan on getting either of the two.
I need insurance for my license, and that’s another unneeded expense. My peers all drive and/or have cars, so if I really need a car I bum rides from them.
I see no reason for me to get a car, though, as the busing system around here works just fine. I don’t need to go to the bigger town, as all they have there that I don’t have here is a Wal Mart, and I refuse to shop there.
I take the bus to campus, I take the bus to go food shopping. Food shopping was a pain for a while, and then I stopped using grocery bags for two reasons:
a.) Environment
b.) Easier without them
So when I need food, I grab the bus with my duffel bag and my backpack, and go down to the Kroger. No need for plastic shopping bags, and my duffel bag can fit 3 weeks of groceries.
As far as dating, my last girlfriend would just pick me up in her car. Even if she didn’t have a car, the bus would have been sufficient, though.
I don’t need a car, I don’t want a car. It’s kind of funny because when I was 16 mom always said I was too immature for my license. Now she’s begging me to get it. Shoulda thought twice about that, as I wanted it when I was 16, mama 😛
Plus there’s the simple fact that the more people drive, the more money goes for roads and sprawl. The more people use buses and trains, the more constituency for buses and trains. The more people bike and walk, the more pressure for bike and walking infrastructure. Hassling your kid to drive is about a hundred votes for putting more resources into pavement. Not change I can believe in.
Truth. I think the only person who is more of a fan of SUPERTRAINS and public transport than I is Duncan Black.
fwiw, my 15 year old is a texting/FB queen, and she can’t wait to get behing the wheel. Yay, something else for me to worry about!
Speaking of kids, how is little Finn? We can haz more baby pix plz?
(he doesn’t really like them…)

aaaawwww……..he’s scrumptious! And I love that outfit — he looks like a Hershey’s kiss.
So cute! It almost makes me want to have another. Almost.
words fail me
when I finally got my license. Walked everywhere I needed to go until then. To school, to work, to friends’ houses.
Today, my car insurance would double with a newly minted driver on it…
I guess this is the new version of complaining about the ‘way these young kids drive like maniacs’? ‘These dang kids, they just won’t beg to drive the darn car at all like we used to.’
LOL! Kamakid wants to get her license soon. I’ve made it a condition that she has to do everything on her own to get such. That means, figure out what it takes, make any appointments, study for and take any exams, etc. I will not raise one finger. I am far too busy on the intertubes. ;>)
We live in a city with decent public transportation. The need isn’t all that great, even if it does mean I have to drive her to her volunteer job every Sunday (oh wait, she can’t be a volunteer because she’s too busy texting). Hehehehe.
also, I grew up in NYC, where some folks literally never learn to drive.
But I thought that you were an old curmudgeon.
I can see the difference between my two sons. Navy Son could hardly wait to get his license at 16. Gamer Son, six years younger, was totally ambivalent about it. We finally nagged him into going for his license last summer when he turned 18. He drives when he has somewhere to go, but he’s not the least bit interested in driving just for the sake of driving. He’d much rather crank up one of his games.
In Maryland you can get a learner’s permit when you’re 15-and-9-months. My niece had this figured out when it applied to her down to the DAY. She was planning to take the written test today. She can’t WAIT to drive…
Because texting is nice, but being with friends in person is better.
So yep, some teens are still really looking forward to driving.
…….said the out of shape digital addict geezer.
i say keep em off the roads as long as we can.
You forgot the subset of American children who don’t play outside – because it’s TOO DANGEROUS for them to be outside. So, while it used to be, yes, you were in the inner city, you weren’t overweight because of inactivity and food deserts. These children CAN’T play outside because their lives – literally – are at risk. Same reasons why the adults, who can’t afford a gym, can’t just ‘ go outside and do walking’. there are consequences for people becoming so isolated in their homes.
Damn right! I live in Oakland, California, ranked in the top 10 most dangerous cities. It will be a cold day in hell when I let my kid out at night and even during the day, it requires clear understanding of what she is doing and where. I am all about letting my kid grow up and learn to drive and learn the ways of the world, but in an urban environment, mindlessly letting your kids bike (or drive) all over is just dangerous.
good point.
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our family was prescribed vitamin D because apparently our whole society is deficient during winter months do to lack of sunshine and it contributes to a vulnerable immunity system that is bad for the baby.
Who buys these kids all their screen time? We are working harder and harder in order to pay to expose our families to excessive advertising and misinformation. It seems odd to hear parents complaining of too much media exposure, screen time, etc. There are obvious concrete steps to take if it really is ‘a problem’.
Which would be worse? The social pressure to conform to these activities or the harm from participating. Decide and act.
IMHO, as long as we take the time to teach kids how to think, we can relax a bit – we don’t know the world they will face.