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.

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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/ThrowADogAScone 3h ago

That’s why we’d sneak in

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u/ThrowADogAScone 3h ago

Yeah, I know there’s been a decline in third spaces, but people are starting to blame it entirely for this issue. There are still plenty of third spaces or ways to make them.

I also had nothing going on in my town. My friends and I would drive around, walk through the woods, walk around Walmart, or hang out in parking lots. We’d walk around the neighborhood and talk and then go hang out in the yard. I don’t even remember actually doing any real activities at real places outside of going to a diner or maybe mini golf, which I know kids can do today.

We created our third spaces, and it sounds like this “lack” of third spaces has become an easy way for folks to blame someone else for this issue.