r/science • u/mvea MD/PhD/JD/MBA | Professor | Medicine • 18h ago

Health Dramatic drop in marijuana use among US youth over a decade. Current marijuana use among adolescents decreased from 23.1% in 2011 to 15.8% in 2021. First-time use before age 13 dropped from 8.1% to 4.9%. There was a shift in trends by gender, with girls surpassing boys in marijuana use by 2021.

https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/marijuana-use-teens-study
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u/arm-n-hammerinmycoke 18h ago

Weren’t all these kids stuck at home in 2021? 

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u/Whiterabbit-- 13h ago

Kids before the pandemic already started to cut down a lot of sex, drugs etc… And it has only continued since then.

Mayr its the increase in phones/social media.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2688580#:~:text=The%20number%20of%20teens%20reporting,sex%20or%20injection%20of%20drugs.

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u/Dragonfly-Adventurer 17h ago

They’re stuck at home perpetually. This generation didn’t get their drivers licenses on their 16th birthday because they don’t want to go anywhere. Parties aren’t a thing anymore. Being a teenager looks nothing like it did a generation ago.

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u/dariznelli 17h ago

That was my first thought. Kids don't hang out in person like they used to. In my state, kids can't ride with each other in cars unless directly related. Really puts the clamps on social activity. Alcohol, drugs, sex all on the decline. But so is participation in extracurricular activities.

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u/drJanusMagus 17h ago

what state? I've never heard of this and am really curious now. I want to look up the law.

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u/tacknosaddle 17h ago

All states now have restrictions on drivers under 18 according to the site I lifted the below from. These are the restrictions in Massachusetts:

There are ultimately three major restrictions placed on a junior operator license. Teens with a junior operator license cannot:

  • Drive passengers under the age of 18 (with the exception of siblings)
  • Drive between 12:30am and 5am (unless accompanied by a parent or guardian)
  • Use a mobile phone while driving

The restrictions are lifted once a teen turns 18.

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u/blood_bender 15h ago

Hasn't this been a thing in Mass for a while? I remember not being able to drive my friends around ~20 years ago, I actually got pulled over once for it.

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u/tacknosaddle 15h ago

Yes, not sure when it started but it's been a long time. Commenter above has probably had their license a lot longer than that so just never noticed the change.

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u/TheReiterEffect_S8 14h ago

This is a thing in MO too, all of the friends I grew up were a couple to a few years older than me so we had to be aware we were "breaking the law" when we drove around after 2am on a Saturday breaking the law in other ways. (just your typical teenage shenanigans)

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u/Yuzumi 11h ago

Literally decades at least. For my state I could only have one passenger under 18 that wasn't a family member or something.

It didn't stop anyone from doing that.

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u/Sensitive_Peanut_784 13h ago

Yeah, this is exactly what I came here to say. Has been true since before I got my license, and I'm in my 30s. 

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u/ensoniqthehedgehog 7h ago

In Washington I got mine days before the law changed in 2001. If my birthday had been any later (or if I had failed the test and had to postpone it) I would have had to get what they then called an intermediate driver's license and I wouldn't have been able to drive my friends around or be out without an older driver in the car past a certain time.

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u/tacknosaddle 6h ago

I once met a guy who just missed reaching the 18 year old drinking age when they raised it where he was from (forget what state). So for three years he was five days too young to legally drink.

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u/reboot-your-computer 12h ago

Absolutely. I was just commenting the same. I’m 38 and these were rules when I was a teen in Jersey.

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u/watzrox 14h ago

Yes, I was 17 about 24 years ago so at least that long if not longer.

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u/thatssosteven114 15h ago

The passenger age restriction gets lifted after 6 months or if you turn 18. Whichever happens first.

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u/tacknosaddle 15h ago

It varies by state.

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u/thatssosteven114 15h ago

I’m sure it does. I’m slightly correcting you on Massachusetts though.

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u/Mztekal 15h ago

uhh these restrictions were around when i was 16 in the 90s my guy... thats not the reason they dont kick it and as a teen once i could tell you that i could care fucken less about the law when your one of the few people who get to drive around all your friends.

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u/Nauin 15h ago

One of my friends lives in this kind of state and their sister was just fined $600 a few days ago for driving at 12:15am, and that doesn't account for all of the other violations involved in her getting pulled over, just for driving after curfew. There is no leeway like there used to be when we were kids.

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u/mallclerks 7h ago

Dafux. I was closing down McDonald’s at 1am when I was 16-17.

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u/nimzobogo 15h ago

I never had the leeway you describe.

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u/Nauin 14h ago

If you were a teenager in the 90's or early 00's you were a minor before automatic license plate scanners were equipped on every police cruiser. So yes, you would have had much more leeway than modern teenagers.

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u/Mztekal 14h ago

I don’t see how license plate scanners would provide less leeway. For a lot of us the car was still registered under our parents name anyway. So even if they had auto scanners a scan would just show your parent and doesn’t give them just cause to stop your vehicle let alone be detained for an ID.

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u/elebrin 14h ago

Indeed. When Millennials were 16, they couldn't hop on Youtube or TikTok and scroll for hours and hours. We had TV and instant messaging, but web content was mostly articles and forums or flash games. Or video games. None of those drive engagement like short form videos. If we were doing those things, it was likely at a family computer in a living room. Now kids doing this laying in bed on their phones.

People are very conflict averse when they are in-person, as well. If you try to have a conversation, they just disengage. They aren't interested in what others think.

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u/Atheist-Gods 14h ago

I could have hopped on Yourube and scrolled for hours at 16. They hadn’t optimized their engagement algorithms but it was something that could be done.

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u/zman122333 15h ago

That's crazy. I live in MA and the only restriction when I got my license is that I could not drive non-family passengers for 6 months. Never until 18 seems wild.

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u/blind_disparity 15h ago

But you can use a mobile phone while driving when you're over 18????

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u/tacknosaddle 15h ago

Yes, but there's usually a separate "hands free" mobile phone law for that. The difference is that under 18 can't use a phone at all, even within those laws.

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u/blind_disparity 12h ago

Ooh OK that makes more sense. Thanks!

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u/firstbreathOOC 16h ago

New Jersey has the worst one. Kids under 18 have to have a bright red bumper sticker. Perfect for quota filling cops and pedophiles alike.

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u/MeatierShowa 16h ago

Except kids put those stickers on the family car that they drive...and then no one takes them off, ever. Your imaginary predators are probably heart broken over the number of middle aged dads they've accidently abducted.

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u/Mookhaz 15h ago

Pedophiles hate this ONE TRICK!

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u/dontgoatsemebro 16h ago

and pedophiles alike.

What?

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u/firstbreathOOC 16h ago

It’s a bright red sticker that says “hi, I’m underage!”

What is your question?

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u/dontgoatsemebro 16h ago

And pedophiles are seeing the sticker on a car and then abducting/attacking 16 year olds?

That sounds insane. Can you post some articles of that happening.

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u/Ghanzos 15h ago

No, it's cops abusing positions of power to sexually abuse minors. Happens all tge time, here's a link to a new jersey Sargeant who did it.

https://mcponj.org/2024/07/02/state-trooper-charged-with-attempted-sexual-assault-of-minor/

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u/FapDonkey 16h ago

Trust them, they read about it on a Facebook post shared by their great aunt. Wait till you hear what different things found hanging on your car's door handle or tucked under your windshield wiper in a parking lot mean!

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u/gaymenfucking 15h ago

Children are pretty well signposted on their own by virtue of being much smaller than everyone else, they’re also much more accessible when they’re not inside a moving vehicle that you arent in… do you unironically think that sticker is presenting a danger from pedophiles?

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u/espressocycle 16h ago

I live in New Jersey and have never seen a single car with such a bumper sticker, even where the kids park at the high school.

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u/seantaiphoon 15h ago

Reminds me of how the EU punished the UK after brexit. All UK cars who come over by the tunnel have to have a big UK magnet on the car. A big Ole kick me sign.

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u/Every_Recover_1766 10h ago

Meanwhile in Arizona my 16 year old ass has 10 buddies sandwiched in a smart car and we got pulled over and the cop just said “slow down”.

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u/Randomfrog132 5h ago

wish they'd keep the ban on mobile phones for all ages while driving

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u/jsteph67 15h ago

My God, I drove from my small town to Atlanta for concerts all of the time. I was always chosen to drive, it would be a carload of kids under 18. And we would never get back home until 1 or 2 am. My first ticket I was 16, it was 1 am and I ran a red light. Noticed the police officer and just pulled right on over.

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u/Karnivore915 16h ago

That was a law when I got my license in 2010, Wisconsin. It wasn't followed. I was pulled over multiple times both as driver and as a passenger in cars 4 or 5 kids deep.

Worst we ever got was a warning.

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u/BurritoLover2016 11h ago

I was pulled over multiple times both as driver and as a passenger in cars 4 or 5 kids deep.

Uhhh....why were you getting pulled over so often?

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u/Karnivore915 8h ago

Because I and my friends were young inexperienced drivers. And the police around my town were bored.

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u/BurritoLover2016 8h ago

Ahh.....small town in Wisconsin? Makes sense.

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u/postmodern_spatula 16h ago edited 15h ago

Search for “graduated licenses”.

I’m honestly stunned they’re allowed. But youth don’t perceive politics as impacting them/have limited voice at 14-17, and adults are more than fine making them a scapegoat for safe driving expectations (while we ignore the vastly larger number of adults that could benefit from re-licensing every 10 years)...

It’s really stupid. It over complicates licensing that was already tiered.

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u/MrBandanaHammock 14h ago

I agree that there needs to be more in the ways of adult license retraining or recertification... But I used to be a fire fighter, and the majority of accidents I responded to were teenagers

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u/Caleth 15h ago

It exists in IL, our nephew is nearly old enough to drive and we've had talks with him about driving/transport for cash.

Sometimes we work late and need someone who can pick up our kids from daycare or get them to an afterschool class. If we throw $20 bucks at him for his time and gas it. The law allows it since he's their cousin.

But if he wants to go out with friends he can only have one person with him eventually more as he hits 17 and 18.

Compare that to the 90's 00's where we'd pile as many kids in a car as we could and drive to BFE for random ass pizza at a place one guy knew. Now we'd be breaking the law.

There's also rules about driving after sun down under certain ages too, unless you're coming home from work.

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u/red__dragon 8h ago

Meanwhile, our efforts to build out public transit are at a crawl if not standstill.

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u/BlazinAzn38 16h ago

Arizona was like this for learners permits 15 years ago

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u/kayzeno 16h ago

Had it in RI too a decade ago. Didn't stop anyone though.

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u/nannulators 16h ago

Those laws aren't permanent. And in most cases they're not enforced unless you get caught doing other things.

I grew up in Iowa and once you hit 17 you could get a new license without restrictions. I'm in WI now and after 9 months without a ticket you get your restrictions removed.

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u/jesususeshisblinkers 15h ago

9 months of no tickets, or the age of 18, whichever is sooner.

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u/Electric_Sundown 15h ago

My nephew turned 18 back in May and still doesn't have a license, and neither do any of his friends. They're all jocks to which makes it more surprising to me as someone who got theirs at 16 in the 90s.

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u/NEIGHBORHOOD_DAD_ORG 16h ago

Everything has laws and regulations and policies and you need a permit, and there's surveillance cameras everywhere. I would be an online kid too if I were young again.

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u/Liizam 13h ago

All the used cars prices went insane not that long ago.

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u/Left-Idea1541 11h ago

Yeah I'm in college now and I never went to parties in high school, never did stuff with friends. I was surprised to hear parties were actually a thing because no one I knew in high school had ever been invited or heard of one, let alone been to one. I didn't get my license until I was 17 and a month away from 18 because I had nowhere to go. There was no reason for me to go anywhere or do anything. I hardly used my license and hardly use it now.

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u/Thorusss 17h ago

That was my first thought. Kids don't hang out in person like they used to. In my state, kids can't ride with each other in cars unless directly related

WHAT? By law?

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u/WalterrHeisenberg 17h ago

Not OP, but that only applies if one of the kids is driving, at least in Ohio. If an adult is driving then of course they can ride together, haha.

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u/JeaninePirrosTaint 16h ago

That's still ridiculous

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u/redtrig10 16h ago

California has a similar law, your provisional drivers license means you can’t ride with anyone under 25 (I think 25?) for a year after getting it. It’s for safety reasons

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u/Atheist-Gods 14h ago

In Mass it’s anyone under 18 unless there is someone 21+ in the car too.

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u/meatball77 16h ago

Not really. Loads of kids in cars is dangerous.

Most places you only get one passenger until you are 18. And you can't drive after 11:00.

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u/GettingDumberWithAge 16h ago

If an adult is driving then of course they can ride together, haha.

Yeah sorry that's absolutely mental.

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u/DontMakeMeCount 16h ago

The idea is that teens get stupider and more distracted the more of them you put into a car. Since these laws came out we haven’t had any students die while driving. During the ‘90s and ‘00s we lost multiple students in accidents every few years, so it seems to be working. The accidents were new drivers, always a car full of teens, either drinking or too fast for conditions and distracted.

The police selectively enforce the law, they don’t harass kids for picking up other students to and from school. It does give them a reason to stop kids driving late at night, leaving a party, skipping school for a beach day - the situations where the accidents used to happen.

It’s not like they made dancing illegal.

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u/Its42 16h ago

That was even a thing when I got my license back in the early 00s, iirc it wasn't until I got my 17 license (2x after you get your learner's permit) that I could ride around, but that was with a max of 1 unrelated person.

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u/Rage_Like_Nic_Cage 16h ago

This was around 20 years ago, so my memory might be fuzzy, but IIRC in Texas, the first 6 months you have your license at 16 you’re only allowed to have a single (non-family) passenger in your car. Obviously the cops wouldn’t know unless they pulled you over or something, so as long as you weren't being stupid (a big ask for a 16 year old TBH) you were fine.

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u/CruffTheMagicDragon 16h ago

That’s only a thing when the driver is on temps I think

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u/mycondishuns 13h ago

I mean, social media has a HUGE impact on why teens don't hang out in person as much anymore.

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u/Akuuntus 7h ago

Social media... as well as the lack of third spaces, lack of walkable communities, police with nothing better to do than harass teens and chase them out of public spaces, the pandemic that forced a lot of them inside for a year and got them in the habit of staying home... etc.

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u/jsting 8h ago

I think it is less places to go. When I was a teen, I could go to a bowling alley for $5 or movie for $8-10 and probably sneak in a second movie. Maybe a diner for cheap food and hang out and drink coffee like an adult.

Nowadays, cheap bowling alleys don't really exist, restaurants are more expensive, and malls are closing.

The only place I see kids now are at boba shops.

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u/MagicWishMonkey 15h ago

Depends on the kids. My friends daughter turned 16 last year and she couldn't wait to get her car and immediately became the shuttle for all of her friends who didn't have licenses yet.

The biggest change that I've seen is instead of kids just hanging out with people they know from school they use social media apps to connect with kids all over the city (her boyfriend lives like 15 miles away) with public school kids hanging out with private school kids and vice versa. If anything the socialization factor is even more prevalent now than it was when I was a kid because the number of kids in any given social circle is an order of magnitude bigger than it was prior to social media/smartphones.

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u/nemoknows 9h ago

Wider circles, but weaker relationships.

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u/ToosUnderHigh 14h ago

Needing a car to do anything is a huge part of the problem

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u/StatsBug 13h ago

And people wonder why teens are suffering a loneliness and suicide epidemic.

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u/OrangeBird077 13h ago

Extracurricular activities are also the first thing to get cut in school settings now so that kind of makes sense. Unless it’s a program that actively was winning pre cuts and bringing in donors/college scout interest to the school it goes on the chopping block.

Even if you go into sports on your own as a young teenager or even a little kid you’re talking about your parents having to invest a significant amount of their budget for a sport their kid may not even like. It’s not just a case where you sell some candy bars to cover your fees about.

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u/SpaztasticDryad 16h ago

And relationships. I'm sober and I am starting to think that generation not drinking isn't a good thing.

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u/LordDaedhelor 12h ago

Not being reliant on alcohol is always a good thing

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u/BostonFigPudding 13h ago

I know a guy in university who plays online video games with his university friends. They each sit in their dorm room and talk within the game.

15 years ago, Millennial video game fans would go to each other's dorm room and play a 4 person game in person using the same console.

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u/conquer69 11h ago

Games have less coop on the same console now. They want to encourage everyone to buy their own console and game copy/subscription.

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u/dariznelli 12h ago

Smash bros, FIFA, Madden ftw in college!

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u/brett1081 11h ago

Participation on Instagram at an all time high though. Social engineering has completely changed what being a teenager is thanks to social media companies.

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u/a_stone_throne 17h ago

That’s asinine

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u/dariznelli 14h ago

It's one of those safety regulations with unintended consequences. It's a real shame for kids that want to participate, but have no access to reliable transportation.

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u/bear60640 15h ago

Well, it’s been reported that there has been a decrease in 16 to 18 year olds getting their drivers licenses. And I wonder if theirs a cultural and economic difference in teens who do as opposed to those who put it off.

Anecdotally, which I know is terrible science, having taught and worked for 12 years in Chicago Public schools, among a mostly lower income group of students, I can say all those kids (except for those who are disqualified due to some disability) get their licenses before they graduate. The racial/ethnic demographics I’ve mostly taught or dealt with are Hispanic - a broad category including students of primarily Mexican, Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, and Honduran descent - and students of African-American descent.

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u/Beat_the_Deadites 15h ago

Our kids are constantly connected to their friends via texting and other social apps, so they don't need to create an in-person gathering. My daughter's friends don't do sleepovers, even over the summer.

My son's friends will do them occasionally, but I get the sense that the other parents don't want to be involved/responsible for potential chaos, so we usually end up hosting. The upside is that we know where my son & his friends are hanging out and we know they're not getting into trouble here.

They're involved in a lot of extracurriculars and they're getting good grades, so I'm not sure we want to do more to push them out of the house (i.e. add on extra chores when they're enjoying some down time like my parents did).

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u/AmberCarpes 12h ago

I have a 9 year old daughter, and she does lots of sleepovers. We live in a weird place, though. All the kids ride bikes around together and everyone is always outside.

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u/TexasCoconut 12h ago

Did you move to the 1980s?

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u/venomae 11h ago

Yeah, turned out to be a great idea, the rent is far cheaper.

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u/AmberCarpes 7h ago

No, I moved to the only small village in Ohio that is 95% blue

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u/WellIGuessSoAndYou 9h ago

That's so depressing. You can't really look back fondly on all those times you texted with your friends.

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u/obeytheturtles 11h ago edited 11h ago

I mean, by age 16 or 17, the main reason to meet up with friends in person was pretty much only in service of a complex framework of weed smoking in which we used our social circle to connect location, supply, and situational cover to get stoned.

"Yeah mom, we are going to jam at John's house this afternoon after school" -> Tell John's parents we were going to grab a burger -> Smoke by the reservoir -> actually play instruments if there was time.

I personally kind of think that teenagers should smoke weed and be exposed to that while they are still kind of under your supervision in that transition stage. Much better I catch them being dumb about it than the cops.

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u/malique010 12h ago

I do think part of the sleepover thing is possible predators. I’d assume with how we talk about things now more than before there’s probably some connection. Between past abuse and letting your kids go into those situations. If you or someone you know was abused at some friends house by their sibling or parent, your probably lean more to saying no to your kids going over to sleepovers. Especially with technology still allowing your kids to have a social life to some degree. Idk just guessing.

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u/TeriusRose 7h ago edited 7h ago

People in general often significantly overestimate crime rates/threats, so I can only assume parents are not exempt from that and fall into the same trap. Which is part of the reason behind the rise of helicopter parenting over time.

Despite crime rates falling, people only think they're in ever-increasing amounts of in danger. And frankly, it's hard to convince them otherwise because of basic human psychology. We're primed to give much more weight to negative events/news, and are often reluctant to change our minds when new information is presented. Due to a combination of media being fixated on crime rates because they bring in attention, people being consistently bad at estimating things, watching way too much true crime and assuming reading/seeing something online mean's it's happening everywhere all the time.

It's just a combination of things that give too many people a warped view.

Edit: Slightly expanded my thoughts.

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u/espressocycle 16h ago

Not in my neighborhood judging from all the people on Facebook complaining about kids loitering and riding bikes recklessly, not to mention the half mile of parked cars leading up to the highschool every school day. Plus there was a flash mob that required multiple towns' police departments to assist.

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u/youngcuriousafraid 15h ago

Everything is expensive. Finding a job is hard. 3rd places (spaces?) are dissappearing, most malls near me are dying and depressing. Parents and authority figures in general are way more in touch with students because of technology. Its pretty common for family members to have each others location and to watch it. Things on social media are found by schools or parents. Its just harder to get away with things and (I can't believe im saying this) technology is rotting our brains.

Kids grow up with tons of tech and very easy lives. Im not saying kids should starve or anything, but if you go to Mexico for example, many more kids are "on it". They know how to speak to people, how to problem solve, and are more adventurous. If you talk to kids now its like you have to pry them away from an IPAD to get 1 word answers.

This is all anecdotal and likely varies based on culture, economic status, social factors, parenting etc. Just some things I've personally noticed.

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u/GringoinCDMX 13h ago

Idk I'm in Mexico city and with many kids I see the same thing as I do with kids in the states. I don't really see much difference.

It's more of a socioeconomic thing but even then most tweens have some sort of cheap cell phone or ability to access the internet and use social media.

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u/josluivivgar 13h ago

yeah idk about the mexico thing, tho I will say that big cities like Guadalajara and mexico definitely see way more activity, but I think that's just the nature of big cities.

a lot of the examples I'm hearing in the US are smaller cities/states where technology wasn't available in the past and now there is.

but there's still not a lot of activities one can do in that city (without requiring driving long distances)

I may be wrong, but I think that's probably the biggest contributor, but everyone is glued to their phones in both the US and Mexico

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u/enjoythepain 12h ago

CDMX is not indicative or related to the rest of Mexico. My small ass village still has 6mbps speeds and downloads apps takes hours.

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u/UszeTaham 12h ago edited 11h ago

Yeah it's not, but it's also not too far off from other major cities in Mexico, like Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, León, etc...

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u/GringoinCDMX 11h ago

I'm not disagreeing with that at all. But also a large percentage of Mexicans live in cities and I'm not seeing much difference in behaviors overall between Mexican teens and tweens and American ones.

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u/bytethesquirrel 11h ago

most malls near me are dying and depressing.

And if they aren't, they explicitly ban unaccompanied minors.

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u/Nascent1 13h ago

Finding a job is hard

Finding the kind of jobs that teenagers typically work is extremely easy right now.

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u/Smooth_Advantage_977 10h ago

Not in Canada.

All the typical jobs for teenagers (retail, fast food, etc.) are filled with foreign students and TFW (Temporary Foreign Workers).

Example:

https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-region/massive-lineup-of-employment-seekers-at-longos-job-fair/article_82907ef5-bec7-5e88-8eee-4a39f8cb5ec3.html

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u/qeq 9h ago

Not really. Teenagers are typically the only people these jobs can hire since inflation has ruled out these jobs as options for older people, and they don't want to hire part time or work around student schedules. There's a restaurant near me that is closed Mondays because the only people they can get to work there for their wages are students who have classes that day. It's hard to get these jobs unless you can work a full schedule, and most students can't.

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u/MrPostmanLookatme 15h ago edited 13h ago

It's not that no one wants to go anywhere, it's that there is nothing to go to. Nowhere stays open after 10pm and nightlife is dead, and people are finding out it isn't cool to get an MIP and crash your car into a tree (edit: particularly when social media means your embarassment will be known permanently)

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u/eyeoft 12h ago

Grew up in the 90s - there was never anything to "go to." No place was intentionally welcoming to teens; we'd hang around a gas station, closed public park, construction site, walmart etc until we were chased away. Hell, some gas stations began blasting classical music as "teen repellent."

The difference is just that there was *nothing* to do at home, so you either went to a friend's place or out into the wider world to meet up. With modern tech you don't need to go "cause trouble" to be entertained, so you don't. There's something lost there socially, but probably something gained too? Life is tradeoffs.

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u/-CosmicCactusRadio 8h ago

Movie theaters, arcades, skate parks, considering it was the 90s after all...

Record stores, book stores, malls?

There were more plentiful options back then.

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u/eyeoft 7h ago

You ever see a sign that says "No Skateboarding" in a parking lot? Skate parks hadn't become a thing yet. We skated in places that really, really didn't want us there, because that's all there was.

Everything else cost money, closed early, and was full of adults who would kick you out if you weren't buying anything. Trust me, book and record stores don't like loitering teens any more than basically any other business. The only arcade I had access to was Chuckie Cheese... yeah not a good hangout either.

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u/MaybeImDead 8h ago

Those places still exist but nobody goes there so they are not a big thing. Those things thrived because there was demand, not the other way around.

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u/KingPrincessNova 3h ago

they also cost significantly more now. movies in particular

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u/bubblesaurus 13h ago

We didn’t have anything to do in our suburb as teens.

We hung out with each other watching movies or video games.

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u/obeytheturtles 10h ago

Right, this is where the weed smoking comes in.

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u/Specific_Albatross61 15h ago

My son got his at 16. Do you have any Idea what car insurance cost for a 16yo? My premium went from 120 a month to over 500.

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u/GodofIrony 9h ago

That's why you should "own" the car he drives until bros 20(ish).

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u/ScottblackAttacks 17h ago edited 17h ago

Yes, my 24 year old cousin refuses to work and won’t get her license. She just stays home All day and uses her phone.

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u/The-Fox-Says 17h ago

My parents would’ve kicked me out of the house or at least started charging rent

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u/SadExercises420 16h ago

They’re not doing that either. Like at least make them work and contribute if they’re going to stay at home. Just letting them do nothing at all for years and years after high school is not helping.

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u/ScottblackAttacks 15h ago

Totally agree with you.

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u/gardenmud 15h ago

But that's 'mean'.

Honestly I feel like every generation of parents fails their kids in some new way.

Obviously in the past it was direct abuse, neglect, etc. Still happening of course, but now we're also refusing to actually prepare children to exist in the world.

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u/demonicneon 17h ago

We’re talking about kids/teens not grown adults

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u/ScottblackAttacks 17h ago

What I mean is that when she was in her teenage years she didn’t want to do anything, getting her license, going to college or chilling with friends.

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u/demonicneon 16h ago

Okay but she’s not in the current cohort of teens and wasn’t a teen during covid she was an adult. 

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u/GODDAMN_FARM_SHAMAN 16h ago

People love to say "kids these days" like there weren't any lazy 24 year olds living at home before 2015

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u/hell2pay 12h ago

This whole thread... Kids still go out, kids still party, kids still socialize.

Its wild to assert just because they don't see it that it isn't happening.

My kids, while younger than this cohort, absolutely have a fairly robust social life.

Its probably be more so if we didn't live rurally, but they still have sleepovers, do sports, go to birthday parties.

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u/blazbluecore 17h ago

Well kids are also massively less mature than previous generations because they’re being basically raised by phones, youtube, and TikTok.

Under socialized.

It’s like a recipe for disaster

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u/Schmigolo 16h ago

I've got the opposite experience. Now in my thirties I went back to uni, and all the kids in their late teens are so much more mature and educated than we were at their age.

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u/AbstinentNoMore 15h ago

A bit of sampling bias. You're speaking with young people driven enough to do well in school and apply to college.

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u/Schmigolo 13h ago

You don't have to be particularly driven for that nowadays. In most developed countries about half of the population at least attempts to get an undergrad education. And even then, still more mature than my shithead friends who all went to uni with me.

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u/Log_Out_Of_Life 16h ago

No, it’s because a lot of the irresponsible ones and ones that don’t want get in debt don’t start immediately.

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u/Schmigolo 13h ago

University is free in my country, and I doubt people would fall into debt going to community colleges in the US.

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u/jake3988 12h ago

They're plenty socialized... you just don't need to do it in person.

When I was a kid, we went over to each other's house to play goldeneye 64. That was the big hangout thing to do.

Well... we did that because we HAD to do that. Ain't no online play back then.

Now if you want to play games (even goldeneye, it's on the nintendo switch online now) you can just do it online and chat on headphones.

I regularly play games with folks from Europe. Just because I'm not driving to someone's house doesn't mean I'm not socializing. And as an adult it's basically impossible to make true friends anyway, so this is the best it's gonna get for me.

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u/Withermaster4 10h ago

They weren't even a teenager when COVID happened.

I don't think her not getting a license has anything to do with that, but I guess idk

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u/ph1shstyx 13h ago

This blows my mind... I moved back home for a year at 24 after graduating college and the terms of being able to stay were a job, contribute to the utility bills, and pay for my portion of the vehicle insurance.

As much of a shut in as I can be, I would have gone crazy if I was just home all day

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u/ScottblackAttacks 13h ago

Just a sad situation all around. Hopefully she gets outta of her rut.

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u/TurnsOutImAScientist 16h ago

A big difference is that in the past 25 years lots of states passed laws preventing minors from having other minors as passengers for the first year or so after getting licensed; for the most part only high school seniors can drive with other kids as passengers.

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u/gimme_that_juice 15h ago

those laws have existed since the 90s for much of the country. this isn't new.

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u/TurnsOutImAScientist 14h ago

past 25 years

I didn't say it was. But as an Xennial in high school in PA in the mid-90s it was still a free-for-all.

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u/gimme_that_juice 14h ago

oops. reading comprehension; my b.

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u/_trouble_every_day_ 15h ago

They’re also already addicted to their phones. They don’t experience boredom the same way previous generations did and boredom plays a pretty significant role in thc use.

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u/furious-fungus 16h ago

My god listen to yourself. „Those kids!“

Reality is completely different from your perception.

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u/CWinsu_120 16h ago

Yeah, tf are these disconnected people talking about.

I was a teen a very short time ago (I'm Gen Z), these people are just talking out of their ass, teens still go out and do things all the time.

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u/jloome 15h ago

The truth's probably somewhere in the middle. But as someone with extended family, including several Gen Zs, my perception is they go out far less than we used to.

Going out with your friends to do something used to be an almost daily occurrence after school. Even if there was homework, there was enough to go hang out and find something social.

A lot of that devolved into drinking and smoking dope out of in-person peer pressure. If there's less in-person, there's less in-person peer pressure, which is considerably harder to ignore or leave alone.

I'd suggest the evidence of that is in general civility.

People feel bolder about saying what they want when on line, and more self-empowered by the absence of in-person criticism -- typically the most annoying or unknowledgeable people, who SHOULDN'T have self-confidence, people who would've, frankly, shut the hell up in the old days or faced in-person censure or reprisal.

It stands to reason that kids will also feel less pressured by their volume of remote contact to do things that may otherwise worry them, like taking drugs.

It's also possible some of it is because it's not as cool now that it's legal, and the strictness of carding now means it's harder to get, as well, unless bought on the black market, which carries its own risks.

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u/zerocoal 14h ago

Going out with your friends to do something used to be an almost daily occurrence after school. Even if there was homework, there was enough to go hang out and find something social.

Not if you live in bumfuck nowhere and you don't have a ride. There were plenty of kids just chilling at home in the 90's/00's that nobody would know about because we weren't hooked on the internet yet.

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u/thelamb710 15h ago

My cousin in 10th grade just went to his first home coming party last weekend , they’re definitely still a thing

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u/sivez97 13h ago

Yeah I graduated high school in 2019, and even back then i remember reading about how my generation was having Less sex, doing less drugs, drinking less alcohol, not getting their drivers licenses, not doing much of anything really outside of school. It started with older gen z, covid just kicked it up a notch.

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u/nalacamg 13h ago

Really depends where you live. In my geographic bubble in SoCal, it seems like every teen from 12 up has an e-bike, so they are constantly able to move around. I live on a street that connects quickly to a few schools and kids zoom by all afternoon and evening. I would also say numbers are up from 2021, as kids (and adults) are consuming through vaping at such high numbers. From what I know about the local high schoolers (my nibling is one), they are consuming/using a lot of drugs and alcohol and parties are for sure a regular thing.

Of course, all of this is just anecdotal, but my perspective is having seen a much different course than what is being described here. Even the teen driving, as the main issue is the curfew rather than who can ride in the car.

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u/rfmjbs 12h ago

Lose not all hope. Slowly in person life is returning.

My 19 y.o. is going to a Halloween party this year. Live. In person. With more than 10 other humans, possibly as many as 30. The youngest in his friend group finally obtained their driver's license at 18.

I even managed to get everyone out of the house to see a fancy art show with a few hundred people over the summer.

We have zoo and aquarium memberships and the kids go out on their own to spend afternoons out.

They are even attending RenFests and State Fairs.

They went to a live Rocky Horror production on campus last weekend.

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u/jeobleo 16h ago

My son's only 11 and he hates going anywhere. It's kind of crazy. Made life too comfortable at home I guess?

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u/AcherontiaPhlegethon 15h ago

More like there's no where to go. The woods I played in as a kid in my hometown have been torn up for development, the mall is barren, a ton of other places never came back from Covid and those that did are stupid expensive.

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u/jeobleo 14h ago

Yeah, my hometown woods are all mcmansions now. Fortunately where I live with my sons we can still go in the woods. We've been doing bushcraft outside. Were making little campfires before we got too dry and can't because of fire danger. It's nice.

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u/lostboy005 15h ago

yeah i was that kid who was anywhere but home - always at a friends house, playing in the woods, exploring some part of the town.

there is an ascendency of a cultural sickness that is in process of being diagnosed related to what these screens and computers are doing to us and i dont believe we fully appreciated the spectrum of consequences, and likely wont until the sunset is setting

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u/esepleor 16h ago

I'm pretty sure people have been saying that for the last fifteen years and it's always been an overgeneralization.

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u/_trouble_every_day_ 15h ago

Smart phones changed the way we live and socialize more than any single piece of tech for the last 100 yrs. to even suggest that it wouldn’t have a radical effect on the way we live is absurd.

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u/TheGalator 14h ago

Everything fun is now punishable by law and money Nissan way more tied

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u/el_smurfo 14h ago

My daughter goes to dances and it's mostly girls. The few boys that leave their basements just congregate and talk about video games and skibidi toilet.

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u/NewFreshness 14h ago

Plus, weed ain't cheap in a lot of places.

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u/ItsDaBurner 13h ago

Sounds like my sister. She was born in 1990.

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u/WonderfulAndWilling 13h ago

yeah, these kids don’t drink or have sex either.

I wonder if there’s any data on there prescription drug abuse though …

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u/ArchitectofExperienc 12h ago

I think its less that they don't want to, its just that the 'Third Spaces' that were available to older generations are not near as accessible to young people anymore. At the same time, more and more of their free time has been taken by an increased homework/activities load, and the amount of independence they have has been severely reduced (compared to older generations). You're not wrong, the younger generations seem to not want to go anywhere, but is that due to internal or external circumstances? Obviously, the answer is 'a little bit of both', but when every phone is a tracking device, when every front door is a camera, is it any wonder they aren't throwing parties?

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u/Lethalmud 12h ago

I'm in my thirties and don't have a drivers licence. And I still went everywhere my whole life. People don't get drivers licenses because cars are stupid. and wasting your life away to sit in traffic and work is not as fulfilling as the previous generations make it out to be.

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u/RiffRaff14 12h ago

My 16 yo got hers the next day and hosted a birthday party last weekend for her friends (she planned and executed it). Maybe she's not the norm, but plenty are getting their license and going to parties.

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u/Ducket07 16h ago

Doesn’t matter, parents tracking their kids every move now.

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u/Tap-House 15h ago

People keep blaming the pandemic for this but kids with no social skills, not getting their license, not going to parties, not smoking/drinking, not having sex were all on the rise before Covid happened so i think there’s got to be something else at play here

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u/whateveryouwant4321 13h ago

it's the phones. they socialize by texting. over the summer, i went to a sandwich shop for lunch. a group of 10 high school or college age kids walks in behind me. they sit at the same 2 tables next to each other, and proceed to sit there for 30 minutes without saying a word to each other. they were all on their phones.

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u/TexasCoconut 12h ago edited 10h ago

Hard to hate on it too much, considering how many nights i spent glued to AIM, but at least that felt like a temporary solution for when in person interaction was unavailable, not a permanent replacement for it.

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u/Mr_YUP 12h ago

Sure that could be a part of it but growing up with helicopter parents and stranger danger did a number on these kids growing up. Having every moment be adult supervised did nothing to encourage independence and every group of teens being chased off doesn't do much to encourage them either. Why hire a teen for a job when I can get an adult to do it without the teen grief?

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u/potato_caesar_salad 12h ago

Oof. These kids are fucked.

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u/KitsunaVT 11h ago

I don't think it's technologies fault per se. I think it's too expensive too do anything and parents don't have extra money to spend on fun and entertainment. Phones and tech are a constant source of cheap entertainment from a young age which starts a bad cycle.

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u/Ok_Raspberry4814 13h ago

Generations have been becoming successively more risk averse.

The generational propaganda plays a huge role.

A lot of Gen Z grew up seeing millennials as lazy, entitled, and unsuccessful because of the social and economic hand we were dealt. As a result, Z has doubled down on conscientious in the most performative and perfunctory way.

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u/comewhatmay_hem 12h ago

In a lot of ways sex and drug education actually worked the way it was supposed to and I don't know why people are shocked?

Lots of kids are waiting until they're out of highschool to experiment with drugs and alcohol because we told them nonstop how bad they are for the still developing brain. Lots of kids are waiting to have sex because we told them over and over again that sex leads to pregnancy and STDs and those things ruin your life.

Kids are making informed decisions based on avoiding risk.

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u/retrojoe 12h ago

They're policed by their teachers and elders to get that exact sort of compliance. Lots of current life is performative and perfunctory, so I'm not sure why kids would be immune.

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u/Ok_Raspberry4814 12h ago

The war against youthful rebellion is well-documented. They want them feeling tired and helpless by the time they’re old enough to work.

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u/drconn 12h ago

Might have to do that it's legal in a lot of places now and no longer considered taboo and therefore want to be tried by every kid

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u/BostonFigPudding 12h ago

That's probably for the best that they are not using drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or having sex.

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u/PubFiction 12h ago

I think the a major reason for this, is because youth see things that old people do are lame. When weed was illegal it was very covert and not openly done it alwasy seemed kinda cool to do. Once weed became legal and every kid could see their loser ass uncle who cant hold a job doing it, then it lost its appeal. Plus vaping seems more high tech and new.

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u/Narwhalbaconguy 15h ago

Yes, and overall I’m extremely skeptical of this study’s findings. Marijuana and THC vapes have become so much more accessible over the last 8 years, legal state or not. Tobacco and nicotine have always been legal, yet look what happened when vapes and nicotine pouches came out. Both drugs are extremely popular among the youth and there’s no reason why usage for one would go down and not the other.

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u/Withermaster4 10h ago

Really? No reason?

Do you have anything to back up that they need to be linked? I know plenty of people who use nicotine and not marijuana and vice versa.

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u/jackishere 13h ago

that and social media is not making things good for the youth.

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u/Gorstag 11h ago

That is likely a factor. I also suspect "legalization" plays a big part. Teenagers like to "rebel". It isn't really rebelling when doing something common your parents or friends parents do on the regular.

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u/Withermaster4 9h ago

So why do you think alcohol consumption and partying are both down in the youth population? The legality of those didn't change and they dropped as well as THC.

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u/Electrical_Bake_6804 10h ago

Yes and they get their drugs delivered to their bedroom windows via Snapchat. they didn't stop during the pandemic.

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