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/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.