[HN Gopher] The Death of Partying in the USA
___________________________________________________________________
The Death of Partying in the USA
Author : tysone
Score : 65 points
Date : 2025-07-09 20:43 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.derekthompson.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.derekthompson.org)
| eplatzek wrote:
| With COVID partying meant that someone could kill you with an
| illness. That's a pretty hard lesson to unlearn. They carries a
| lot of momentum.
|
| Like with World Wars there's been a generational impact that
| changed how people relate to one another. The tribal momentum, of
| one monkey teaching the next, gets lost.
| xeromal wrote:
| I'm sure COVID had something to do with it but I think partying
| is another casualty of social media.
|
| Similar to discord for gaming, talking to your random peers has
| completely fell off
| openbankerX wrote:
| prices too, partying is expensive and should be the first
| line item cut in hard times.
| parpfish wrote:
| Partying in the article also includes "dropping by a
| friends house", which is cheap/free
| carl_dr wrote:
| Except the graph shows this was happening way before COVID. The
| internet and how that has changed how people relate is much
| more likely the reason.
| api wrote:
| One of the first things I did with the net was to connect
| with people to go out and party with. Amazing how that
| morphed into zombie doom scrolling, something I would never
| have predicted.
| luckydata wrote:
| in my opinion the largest effect is how we build cities.
| Having to drive everywhere and the separation between
| commercial, residential and industrial areas of american
| cities is very clearly a driver of this isolation.
| southernplaces7 wrote:
| >With COVID partying meant that someone could kill you with an
| illness.
|
| Given the mortality rate for people typically in the partying
| age group (and especially those under 30), you were more likely
| to die in a traffic accident on your way to or back from the
| party, or from alcohol poisoning, than from a case of COVID
| acquired there. Let's not exaggerate.
|
| From the NIH: The median IFR for COVID based on age groups:
| 0.0003% at 0-19 years, 0.002% at 20-29 years, 0.011% at 30-39
| years.
|
| The 1918 Flu it was certainly not.
| sltkr wrote:
| To be pedantic, it's still possible for people to modify
| their behavior based on mistaken beliefs (in this case, that
| COVID is really dangerous, when it isn't for healthy young
| people). Though I don't think this explains the actual trend
| in this case.
| add-sub-mul-div wrote:
| Some people didn't want to get it even if they were
| guaranteed to survive, because they could pass it to others
| who were more vulnerable to it.
| patrickthebold wrote:
| Reminds me of the Jonathan Richman classic:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Pg9IGgQpY
| lr4444lr wrote:
| The parental part bears special mention.
|
| My spouse and I find that we are overwhelmingly the ones calling
| to organize playdates rather than vice versa. I'd like to think
| it's not that my kids are poorly socialized or misbehave -
| they've always received glowing reports at school. I give my kids
| business cards with my phone number to pass out to their friends
| to give to their parents, and there is also a class list where
| our phone numbers are listed (and where we find these other
| parents' contact info).
|
| Something happened with the culture of getting kids to play with
| each other outside of school hours, and I don't know what it was.
| COVID lockdowns definitely delayed it from starting for our kids,
| but I know these parents are mostly in my generation, and we
| certainly played more together.
|
| We live in the suburbs, so it's not a car creep problem - at
| least, no more than it was 60+ years ago when the numbers were
| better. When I ask the parents who stay, they tell me a vague mix
| of weekend junior sports leagues, visiting relatives, and just
| being really tired after working all week. They're lame excuses:
| spending time with kids constantly is _also_ really tiring.
|
| Kids having regular playdates would encourage more familiarity
| among the families and trust in letting kids play unsupervised
| with each other. Often I take them to the main playground, and
| it's virtually empty. I can't believe I'm the only one in the
| community who's unhappy enough about this to try and change it.
| lawlessone wrote:
| >I give my kids business cards with my phone number to pass out
| to their friends to give to their parents
|
| Yeah if i was a kid i'd be mortified at having to do this.
| luckydata wrote:
| it's the only way it works. It took me MONTHS to get a hold
| of the number of my son's best friend's parents so that now
| we can organize maybe an afternoon of play every 4-5 weeks.
| zoomablemind wrote:
| I thought a prime time for contacting the parents is right
| after school when picking up the kid. Everyone is there
| waiting, so it's just natural to chit chat, esp when the
| kids are friends.
| jamiek88 wrote:
| I physically cringed reading it. The intention is great but
| if I was his kid those cards would be staying in my backpack.
| Making a kid stand out like that is risky as fuck for social
| standing.
|
| But this is likely the worst forum in the world to talk about
| typical social skills.
| jppope wrote:
| An honest attempt from a social adult to develop a sense of
| community is far from cringe. Reasonably speaking, its
| actions like that which can actually make socialization
| happen. If the old way wasn't working, so try something
| else.
| wombatpm wrote:
| I would do this. Of course I'd have cards made up that say
| "Hoopy Frood who really knows where his towel is" as a screen
| for parents with similar sense of humor.
| tclancy wrote:
| Really? While I don't do it, the alternative is having a kid
| come home with a scrawled phone number that may or may not be
| right along with a vague recollection of the name of the
| parent I am supposed to be calling. Things are a little less
| akward in our life but it may be because we are closer to
| what OP describes as grandparents I suppose.
|
| I get the idea, but I would suggest the reaction to an
| attempt at lubricating social interaction as "cringe" is part
| of the issue OP is describing.
| 01100011 wrote:
| Parents just want to watch their Internet content and it's
| easier to just stick their kids in front of a video game or
| computer vs having an event that requires parenting.
|
| At least when parents are addicted to alcohol they can still be
| social and function as parents. Not so with Instagram/tiktok.
| meepmorp wrote:
| How old are your kids?
| 01100011 wrote:
| We've got a toddler. Currently bracing for the upcoming
| shit-show which will be the pre-school and beyond years.
| mtrovo wrote:
| Oh that rings true and it's so depressive. But I think it has
| more to do with this notion that everything you do socially
| is awkward in some degree and could be seeing as bad or
| hurtful, smartphones didn't help us there with the chance of
| becoming the next national meme just a tiktok away.
|
| Also social interactions nowadays have become so "one of a
| kind" and disconnected from a general contract that sometimes
| it's hard to not feel overwhelmed, I remember being 10 years
| old and just knocking on the door of my neighbourhood friends
| to check on them and kind of invite me in, depending on the
| time I would stay and grab dinner there and only come back
| home when it was getting too dark. Now as a parent I feel
| this serendipity is almost gone, you have to officially
| arrange play dates on parent groups, pick kids up, ask
| parents what kind of food should I offer, is it ok if I let
| them play videogames, is it ok to offer sugary drinks, list
| goes on and on.
|
| In that world consuming media is much easier, but I wouldn't
| say that's because it is addictive on itself, I think there's
| a big portion of people that just got tired of trying to
| navigate how to interact with others. My impression is that
| the proportion between lurkers to posters increased with time
| on different platforms including in real life.
| api wrote:
| It was already happening before COVID. All these trends were.
| That just made it worse.
|
| A major issue is the death of independent child play. In a lot
| of places if a kid -- and we are talking up to early teens --
| is unsupervised police will be called. It's entirely the result
| of daytime TV and true crime making people think there are
| pedophile nuts hiding in every bush when in reality abductions
| by strangers are incredibly rare. If a kid is abused or worse
| it's almost always someone they know.
|
| One of the things I love about where we live is that kids do
| still play outside. It's a safe Midwestern suburb. We moved
| from SoCal and there you would definitely have some busybody
| call the cops. Of course it was perhaps more dangerous -- not
| because of crime but cars. All the suburban streets have like
| 60mph speed limits in SoCal.
| firesteelrain wrote:
| During COVID, every kid in the neighborhood was at my house.
| School was short maybe 1-3 hours then it was play time. I
| didn't know all those kids lived in my neighborhood! Kids had
| no issue coming over.
|
| I don't know what the reason is for this phenomenon
| ryandrake wrote:
| Often the kids like to play together, but the parents are the
| ones that are just... weird and asocial. I hate to bring agism
| into this, but there definitely seems to be a generational gap
| with the adults.
|
| Some of my kid's friends are raised by their parents, and
| others are (apparently) raised primarily by grandparents.
|
| When my kid wants to get together with friends whose (50-60
| year old) grandparents bring them by, the grandparents come up
| to the door, socialize for a bit while the kid runs inside, and
| then we talk about when the playtime will be over and they can
| come over to pick the kid up. If it's an event where we both
| bring the kids, I find it easy to shoot the breeze with the
| grandparents, have small talk about how the week went, and so
| on.
|
| When the parents are, say, 25-35 year old range, it's a totally
| different vibe. They'll drive up, let the kid out of the car,
| and then race away without even getting out of their car. When
| playtime is at a local park or something, they sometimes hang
| around, but they go off into a corner, engrossed on their
| phone, totally ignoring the other parents (who, depending on
| their own ages are either chit chatting or locked into their
| Instagram).
|
| I remember when I was a kid in the 80s, and not only would we
| love to get together at someone's house, but the parents would
| also be happy to get together for a little socialization, maybe
| throw some steaks on the grill, put on some Sportsball, or
| whatever. This practice seems to be dead now that I'm a parent!
| lurking_swe wrote:
| context: i'm in my early 30's and i'm not a parent
|
| the behavior you described of the 25-35 year range is
| appalling. and those aren't my kids so that's saying
| something.
|
| Call it what it is, antisocial. Baffling to me...why are
| people so weird?
| antonymoose wrote:
| I'll endorse this heavily.
|
| We bought into a nice suburban community. Good schools, low
| crime, the dream.
|
| No one knows any neighbors. Kids rarely play with one another
| intra-neighborhood despite a very healthy blend of age
| ranges. In fact, I've loosely associate with exactly one
| neighbor in the three years. We went out of our way to try
| and meet neighbors our first month. Most treated us as if we
| head too many heads on our shoulders.
|
| Despite a heavy presence of children, no one here celebrate
| Halloween despite it being a beloved night growing up around
| here. Our first year we invested heavily in decorations and
| spent hundreds on the King size candy bars.
|
| Society feels... dead compared to me as an early 90s child.
| luckydata wrote:
| I see this SO MUCH, I wonder if you're also in California. I
| find this state particularly difficult to have a social life
| in. Everyone is "friendly" but nobody wants to be your friend,
| always chasing something else and never making time (exceptions
| apply). It's been exhausting to live here and I can't wait to
| go back to Europe where social life was not nearly as
| difficult.
| heavyset_go wrote:
| I wonder how much of this comes down to wage stagnation and the
| need for not only both parents to work, but to work more hours
| and sometimes multiple jobs, just to keep from drowning.
| Especially when childcare is so expensive, it's a situation
| that can compound and spiral.
| analog31 wrote:
| One factor may have to do with birth rates and construction. I
| grew up in a neighborhood that was all built up within the span
| of a few years, and populated by young families, in the early
| 60s. There were kids all over the place. Anybody who wanted to
| play would just go out and holler, and they'd have a few other
| kids almost instantly.
|
| Where my wife and I raised our kids, there was one neighbor
| with kids, and that's it.
|
| Also, kids are more occupied now. "Back in my day" elementary
| school kids didn't have homework, and it was pretty minimal
| even through high school. My kids had homework starting in
| first grade. Naturally you want it to get done early while the
| kids are still awake, but this cuts into the prime hours for
| play. We should simply have revolted against it. But that's
| hindsight.
| taeric wrote:
| What happened is that everything turned into playdates? When we
| were kids, the general direction was GTFO, and don't be late
| for dinner. Who did you go play with? Whoever was at the park.
| When you got older, you hopefully had access to the skating
| rink. Or maybe a bowling alley. Before that, kickball at the
| park. Pretty much every day. Maybe see if you can over shoot
| the swing again.
| jppope wrote:
| Totally valid observation, but things definitely changed.
| Neighbors don't know each other as well, so the grandma
| keeping an eye out the back window doesn't exist anymore. It
| was a village watching the kids before, its not that way now.
| taeric wrote:
| I suspect they didn't know each other that well back in the
| day, either. We just tell ourselves that they did. When
| we've lived in apartment complexes, as an easy example,
| there were a lot of people we didn't know. We just also got
| to know a few that we would see on a regular basis, as
| well.
| MontyCarloHall wrote:
| There's no way to say this without coming across as extremely
| rude, but...
|
| > I give my kids business cards with my phone number to pass
| out to their friends to give to their parents
|
| If this isn't the only thing you/your kids do that's well
| outside typical social norms, that's probably the reason nobody
| else is inviting them. This is almost on the level of parents
| accompanying their adult kids to job interviews and then
| wondering why their kid didn't get an offer.
| conception wrote:
| Some good answers but also American parents are stretched thin
| but also perhaps want to be a larger part of their kids lives?
|
| During the week I get maybe 10-30 minutes of quality time with
| them outside of the routine of weekly life. Maybe?
|
| So if I want to do something with my children and have a
| relationship with them, the weekends are all I have.
|
| Aaaand of course,quality of life in America is generally in
| decline and parents usually have no support structure (family
| etc) so no one has interest in the extra work of doing
| playdates.
| lc9er wrote:
| Kids used to just go outside, find one another, and play. I see
| that you are attempting to solve the problem with organizing
| playdates. However, I think that playdates and structured
| EVERYTHING for kids is a contributing factor to how we got
| here.
|
| I think at some point, we need to acknowledge media
| sensationalism (traditional and social media varieties) have
| not only poisoned politics and bolstered conspiracy theory
| popularity, but have vastly overstated the dangers of every day
| life, making childhood and parenting much worse than a
| generation or two ago.
| avhception wrote:
| When I was a kid, we would always hatch a plan on what to do
| with the rest of the day while we were still at school. As
| soon as the bell rang, we hurried home to catch something to
| eat and then it was off to the woods to build that fortress
| or whatever. If there was no school, we'd call the house
| phones of our friends until we had a plan cooked up. And
| every day without fail we didn't want to go home. So much
| stuff to do!
|
| Now, watching the kids my friends have - they won't even
| leave the house if their parents didn't plan a playdate and
| brought them there. Something is completely off.
| wffurr wrote:
| Same, it's really disappointing how few parents have reached
| out to play compared to how often I am trying to find one of my
| kids' friends who is around to play.
| lawlessone wrote:
| Partying is more expensive than watching TV or playing games.
| vrc wrote:
| I was going to disagree but then realized I now shell out at
| least $100 when two families and their kids show up for 3-4
| pizzas with toppings and chips and dip and some juices.
|
| And god forbid I try and provide fresh fruit and beverages on
| that budget...
| iLoveOncall wrote:
| This isn't a social effect at all, it's all a financial effect.
| Of course most of the HN population is isolated from those issues
| because we work in a high paying field, but nobody has any money
| to do anything anymore.
| burnt-resistor wrote:
| My grandma was the head of the local Air Force wives' club. Their
| house was always stocked like a full bar and at least several
| people stopped by for a visit just about every day. They knew at
| least 10 of their neighbors well, and some former neighbors too.
|
| Find me community like this anywhere in America these days.
| Immigrant communities perhaps? Most Americans these days won't
| interact with their neighbors unless it's to complain or they
| want something transactionally.
| kulahan wrote:
| That's it - immigrant communities are wonderful in this regard,
| as are communities with lots of old people (maybe because
| they're from a different time, maybe because they're lonely,
| who knows).
| ryandrake wrote:
| Yea, our community definitely skews "over 50" and it's a
| lively, social place. We have an informal rule: If your
| garage door is fully open, then it's an invitation for anyone
| to stop by to socialize or chit chat while they're out on
| their walk or whatever. I know there are people who live in
| the neighborhood who are under 40, but you almost _never_ see
| them, even outside of traditional working hours!
| helloooooooo wrote:
| I am going to assume your grandmother probably didn't work, and
| instead took made her and her husband's social life her full
| time job.
|
| It's much easier to entertain constantly when one half of the
| relationship has the availability to do it.
|
| If I'm mistaken, then holy heck how did your grandparents do it
| lmao.
| AnimalMuppet wrote:
| I bet that if the head of the local Air Force wives' club did
| exactly that today, they'd get the same results.
| 01100011 wrote:
| My Southern California neighborhood used to be like this. It
| was a diverse neighborhood of white, Filipino, Viet and
| Mexicans and it felt alive. Then covid hit and the demographics
| changed. Prices went up. Now the neighborhood is as quiet at
| night as where I lived in the bay area a few years ago. No open
| garages. No music.
|
| People are generally unfriendly now and keep to themselves
| more. Sad what we've lost. We're still an immigrant community
| but the immigrants are from different places. I'm sure they
| paid too much for their houses and feel the stress. There are
| also some obvious cultural differences with respect to
| socializing and partying.
| alexjplant wrote:
| > Americans these days won't interact with their neighbors
| unless it's to complain or they want something transactionally.
|
| It certainly depends. I had great neighbors when I lived on the
| river in a non-HOA community... many parties were had with
| sunset beer hangouts on the dock or beach. Military communities
| are also notably close-knit so what you say makes sense.
| ryao wrote:
| The chart labeled Percent Decline in Hours Spent Attending or
| Hosting Social Event by Age 2003 - 2024 seems to be a bad way of
| view thing the data since it assumes that there is an inherit
| difference on how people approach this based on arbitrary age
| groups. Having it be by birth year would be better, since it
| would reflect how the people in question's habits are changing
| over time.
|
| That said, party culture had been excessive in the past and it
| was impoverishing to many people. I and others my age more wisely
| do without, which leaves us with money for things that are more
| important than one offs.
| rawgabbit wrote:
| Can't throw a party if you're living in your parents basement.
| parpfish wrote:
| I wonder whether housing plays a factor.
|
| Young people aren't becoming homeowners at the same rate, so
| there's a sense of transience to their living situations that
| make forming neighbor communities seem like a waste of time.
| luckydata wrote:
| nah, we partied plenty when we rented and not knowing someone
| for long is not a reason not to hang out. What has been eroded
| is the habit of hanging out because there's no easily
| accessible third spaces. I'll give you an example: when I lived
| in Spain I would just walk in the corner bar for a quick beer
| or a coffee or something to eat, I would very likely run into a
| neighbor and would chat. The chat would lead to "hey let's do
| something". In the USA it's almost always the case that people
| need to make plan, the lack of spontaneity kills most plans.
| ryukoposting wrote:
| Seems like a no-brainer to me. This is an accurate
| characterization of my entire adult life. My wife and I are
| looking at buying a house, and we've concluded that we can't
| despite living in Wisconsin and making far, _far_ more than the
| median income around here. There 's no end in sight.
|
| Our social structure isn't built around neighbors. I could name
| 2 people I've shared an apartment building with in the last 5
| years. Incidentally, they were a couple in the same 3-flat as
| me, who were there for my entire time in that building. I think
| the lower density and shared spaces (in that case, a garage)
| made the difference.
| Apreche wrote:
| This article isn't wrong, but it neglects to mention real estate,
| transportation, and lodging. A party needs a venue, and it needs
| guests. And the guests need a way to get to and from the venue.
| If they stay a long time, they need a place to sleep.
|
| People these days don't own real estate. Wealthy people own it
| all. Normal people are renting apartments or portions of homes.
| It's kind of hard to throw a big party without a big home, a
| yard, a big kitchen, etc. Small apartments are for small get-
| togethers that probably don't register as parties.
|
| Likewise, the larger someone's home is, the more likely it is to
| be location in an area with low population density and little to
| no public transportation. Congrats, you can throw a party, but
| who are you inviting? All your friends are far away. How can they
| get there? How long can they stay? Can you accommodate them
| sleeping there? You aren't friends with your neighbors who can
| party easily. You are friends with people on the Internet who are
| strewn about the world.
|
| And of course, if you live in a major city with lots of friends,
| small apartment strikes again.
|
| This is part of the reason we have seen the rise of more public
| events like conventions. There's a hotel involved. It's a multi-
| day event worth traveling to. A lot of people you know will be
| there. It costs everyone some money, but it's not out of the
| realm to go a few times a year. Best part, nobody's home gets
| trashed!
| amgutier wrote:
| In my younger days I threw 100 person parties in a San
| Francisco apartment - it's standing room only for sure, but so
| is going to a crowded bar. And I've cooked for 15 without a
| dining table - you eat on the floor wherever you can find
| space.
|
| Now I don't disagree with your point; I'm not 22 anymore and
| live in the burbs and have a less full social calendar, largely
| due to the logistical overhead of finding my way into the city
| or getting friends from the city out here. But I do want to say
| you can have a lot of fun with a lot of friends in a small
| space with the right attitude :)
| 1oooqooq wrote:
| more importantly imo: maids and housewives.
|
| good riddance btw. but we need to adjust because partying is
| nice. we are still working ad if we have a free employee taking
| care of half our lives.
|
| welp, it's always a class issue.
| sokoloff wrote:
| > Normal people are renting apartments or portions of homes.
|
| About 2/3 of households in the US own the home they live in.
| Renting is the minority, not the majority.
| Retric wrote:
| Owning an apartment isn't materially different than renting
| an apartment here. It's sometimes better as many apartments
| have free or rentable spaces available for parties as a
| selling point, but rarely can you use that space late in the
| evening.
|
| Owning a home in an HOA area can drastically cut down on what
| kinds of parties you can host.
| roadside_picnic wrote:
| Thank you for mentioning this! There's this weird, persistent
| meme that large corporations are buying up all the housing
| and nobody owns homes anymore, which is fundamentally not
| supported by the data.
|
| There are shifting trends in generational home ownership
| rates, but these are still just initial trends we're seeing.
| If you look at the data [0] owner occupied has gone down from
| the 2000s housing bubble, but in the grand scheme of things
| is not even particularly low.
|
| People also have this mistaken belief that investors like
| Black Rock are buying up huge swaths of property, when in
| reality most "investment" properties are bought by families
| and individuals, consider anyone who know who owns an AirBNB
| rental or other rental property, they would be considered
| "investors".
|
| Most Americans still live in a house, and own that house (or
| at least, some member of their household owns it).
|
| 0. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N
| DidYaWipe wrote:
| It's not going to get any better, either, as states let
| corporations buy up entire neighborhoods. When you combine that
| scourge with HOAs, you have the end of home ownership in the
| USA.
| carabiner wrote:
| Spending all of your time studying in high school and college is
| your best hope at landing in the vanishing middle class. With
| decreasing job security as well as hyperinflation, continuing
| that work ethic into your 20s and 30s is quite reasonable.
| Everyone is too exhausted to party.
| searine wrote:
| It's cause were poor.
| LeanderK wrote:
| Purely anecdotal, but I was recently reflecting at the current
| trend of people posting really extensive morning routines. Waking
| up, meditation, yoga, gym, shower, eating breakfast, meal-
| prepping,....having a whole day before your day starts. While
| they should impress you with their healthiness and discipline, I
| just thought how utterly lonely and sterile most of them look
| like. And you're completely done after work if this is your
| morning, you can just go to bed and repeat the same the next day.
| I found it quite sad, actually.
| jongjong wrote:
| People don't party if their life is bad.
| avhception wrote:
| I broadly agree with the article.
|
| I'm also wondering if the rising political polarization is at
| least in part caused by the "antisocial" phenomenon. If you're
| not exposed to a spectrum of political worldviews through being
| involved with all these people you randomly met back in the day,
| it becomes easier to dehumanize the people you disagree with. You
| also never have to listen to their talking points, because you
| can just block them out online.
| generalenvelope wrote:
| It feels ridiculous not to mention car dependence and the things
| that enabled it: restrictive zoning, parking minimums, the car
| lobby.
|
| In the last 50 years, the US has bulldozed dense, mixed used
| housing that enabled community and tight knit neighborhoods. More
| economically/socially viable housing (read: an apartment on top
| of a business) has literally been banned in much of the US.
| Ensuring that there's a large plot of asphalt to house personal
| vehicles that are ever increasing in size is baked into zoning
| laws (though some cities have finally banned parking minimums).
| Suburbia sprawls, literally requiring most of the country to own
| a car.
|
| I would love to see some data on this, but my intuition is that
| everyone is physically farther away as a result, which both
| weakens their general connection and likelihood to party
| together, but makes it harder for them to party in the first
| place.
| bravesoul2 wrote:
| Is 1 in 25 bad? I am more 1 in Inf... I mean I don't know what
| counts but I am happier to do things that are not a party.
| Examples: go to events in the city, restaurants, sunday lunch at
| relatives, work socials, school parent socials.
|
| Even in my 20s I went to... the pub! Mayhe a nightclub. To me
| parties are more school age/university thing and are a great way
| to have a good time on a budget. Just some drinks and a speaker
| required.
| thisisauserid wrote:
| "The typical female pet owner spends more time actively engaged
| with her pet than she spends in face-to-face contact with friends
| of her own species."
|
| Spurious. This has likely always been true unless you live with
| said friends.
| SimianSci wrote:
| If I were to try and pinpoint one of the leading causes of this
| issue myself, I would personally say that Americans have an
| outdated and ineffective model regarding its use of addictive
| substances or what I like to now call "Brain Hacking" systems as
| they are not necessarily just physical substances anymore.
|
| Recreational drugs cause unbelievable havok within communities
| where they are unleashed. Its well known that such drugs have
| chemical compounds capable of "hacking" our physiology and
| causing a whole host of negative effects while ensuring the user
| stays addicted. I consider these "Brain Hacking" systems just the
| same as I consider social media like TikTok and Instagram. They
| both are designed specifically in ways to entice users to be
| addicted without any concern for the harms they cause. It baffles
| me that simply because it is not a physical substance it gets
| treated as less dangerous than the harder substances.
|
| We keep seeing these issues in America when its very clear that
| similar things would occur if we made recreational substances as
| common as water and just as accessible. Revenously addicted
| people, dont party, they dont socialize, they retreat from
| society, and stop forming deeper releationships. It is no
| surprise that this is creating issues for us.
|
| Americans have always been the world's leading consumer of drugs,
| and now that we have digital drugs, they are more accessible and
| in demand than ever. So much so that the cartels desinging and
| pedeling these products, are basically the most powerful
| companies in our society.
| shawndrost wrote:
| Does anyone know why "Hours spent in childcare" started
| skyrocketing in the 1990s? Here is the graph from the article:
| https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2g7_!,w_1456,c_limit...
| tpmoney wrote:
| Off the cuff that coincides pretty well with the rise of
| "helicopter parenting" and "tiger mom" trends.
| imzadi wrote:
| > Burrowing into the appendix tables of the American Time Use
| Survey, she unearthed the fact that just 4.1 percent of Americans
| said they "attended or hosted" a party or ceremony on a typical
| weekend or holiday in 2023. In other words, in any given weekend,
| just one in 25 US households had plans to attend a social event.
|
| There's a huge difference between not hosting or attending a
| party and not attending a social event. "Party" has very specific
| connotations. If I go out bowling with my friends or have a game
| night, I don't call that a party, but it is certainly a social
| event.
| psyclobe wrote:
| Yeah. I haven't gone out in decades.
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