Rather than simply a quirky feature of digital life, this is a terrible shift in what it means to be young in America. Plus: Edu Lobo's "Cantiga de Longe" from 1969.
I turned 16 in 1991. My birthday fell on a Sunday and the next day was a holiday. I was so pissed that the DMV was closed. I had to wait TWO WHOLE DAYS to get my license and I could barely wait.
I guess I’m doing my part to help buck the trend. My 17-year-old is car crazy and got his license the first moment he could (which was delayed by COVID closures). But he’s definitely seen this in his peer group in our upscale suburb.
BUCK THE TREND. This is really good. He will have so many experiences his peers will miss out on. If you think he’d dig it, show him the post. Thanks for reading!
A bit of a follow-up on this: yesterday I let my 15-year-old drive for the first time ever (in a deserted parking lot) and he went from unenthusiastic about getting his license to excited to get it as soon as he can. I was worried that my above comment could be seen as vaguely dishonest since my other kid wasn't excited to drive (not that any of you would know) -- but now he's plenty gung-ho.
I live in the suburbs and have many adult (50+) friends whose children are like this. The first question I ask them is “do you drive your kids places?” The answer is almost always “yes - everywhere they want to go”. I wouldn’t drive if I had a driver either. Told both my daughters they were on their own for non-school transport once they were 16, and they learned to want to drive pretty quick.
I can still remember the exhilarating freedom I felt the first time I dropped my dad off at work & kept his car for the day, back in the 70's. Now my grandson drives. He couldn't wait and neither can his younger siblings. So much so that my granddaughter snuck off in her mom's car before she got her license.
Road trips rule. Driving often relaxes me. Being able to jump in a car and go anytime feels great. People should be able to use a car when need be and I'll teach and expect my children to. But I don't care if they feel the same way about driving as I do. There are many ways to feel free. For many years I rode my bike get around and explore one of America's great cities and felt free in ways I never have in a car. My wife biked across the country and talks about that trip like no (car) road trip I've heard about. Motorcycling brings a kind of freedom cars don't. Is America decadent because relatively few ride motorcycles?
The motor vehicle trends that concern me are the disappearing stick shift (they're so fun!) and the ugly big ass trucks that have no sense of the proper cab-to-bed proportion. Americans were free before cars and they can be free whether or not they enjoy them in the future. I love cars, but insisting that others do is idolatry. No thanks.
The expense and stress are one thing also they have been told their whole lives that the internal combustion engine is the pinnicle of evil. But I really think something to do with the phones. I'm not sure what.
Not just a driving thing. Pre-16 year olds used to ride bikes everywhere. I used to hop on one everyday in the summer and wind up anywhere within a 5 mile radius and then return home by supper in order to get the free meal. Shopping malls, creeks, swimming pools, skate parks, bowling alley pinball machines, friends' houses, etc. We also snuck out and stole our older brothers' cars once for joyriding at 3 am. That didn't turn out so well since we got caught and had to deal with older brothers as well as parents. We also had the neighborhood storm tunnel system explored, rope swings installed over water on railroad trestles, vacant house pool skates, etc. The outside world was ours to claim and computers were for the pocket protector horn rimmed nerd dads.
Like you, I couldn't wait until I got my driver's license. Sweet freedom it was, and one that my parents appreciated, too, so they no longer had to drive me around. I grew up Out West, where it's an entirely different experience than driving on 95. I can at least somewhat understand people who don't enjoy driving in traffic--even moreso when there's readily available public transit and ride sharing.
But what I don't understand is people not learning to drive. It's like swimming--a necessary life skill even if you don't end up doing it every day. Learn to drive and get your license, for there may be a time in your life when you need to be able to take yourself from Point A to Point B.
I grew up in rural ranching community in the early 1980s-2000. 82miles to the closest movie theater to take a date! Getting that drivers license was the single most significant life event in our young lives. It felt soo damn empowering. And that was shared across all culture lines. Worth noting, there's a family in our neighborhood who's son just turned 16. Great family, volunteer for everything, outstanding kids. The daughter is a star softball player and a helluva student who managed to garner multiple scholarships for college, which is awesome because her folks can't afford college. The son the same. Outstanding manners, smart, athletic...anyone would be proud to have either as their kid. Well they couldn't afford to buy him a vehicle when he turned 16. Covid etc etc really mucked up the used car market. I had an old ranch truck with 250K miles on it and basically told he and his dad it was his. Pay me what you can. I practically gave it away and couldn't be happier about it. Seeing that kid's face driving around the neighborhood is worth more money than I could ever spend.
Cars are the worst invention of all time. Our built environment that prioritizes individual car use over all other forms of transportation is entirely to blame for most of our problems as a society. Thanks to the “need” for colossal parking lots and stupendously wide roads, everyone lives too far from everything so we all need to use cars to get around which leads to illness, pollution, ugliness, and death on a scale greater than that of every other destructive force in history, put together.
How can a car represent “freedom”? It’s the freedom to sit for hours in 5 MPH traffic, the freedom to get yelled at and harrassed for the sin of trying to cross a street on foot, the freedom to watch both your beautiful cityscape AND countryside blown to smithereens by parking lots and highway construction, the freedom to see coastal Louisiana and Alaska destroyed by oil spills, or the freedom to sit with your head in your hands at a car dealership or repair garage while a slimy salesman wastes your time and wheedles you out of your money. We are all basically living through that one chapter from East of Eden, all of us, forever.
If you think cars equal freedom you have been brainwashed by Madison Ave. and Hollywood slimeballs who have been promoting the crassest form of short-sighted capitalism for over 100 years. It’s all basically a big ponzi scheme. And now that cars have all kinds of high tech computers and remote communication devices in them, they have become yet another arm of Big Tech and government surveillance.
Anyone who claims to be nostalgic for the past beauty of America while also being pro-car can safely be ignored on any of their other opinions because it’s the car that destroyed all of that.
My first kid couldn't wait. My second, didn't care to even drive a golf cart. We forced him to practice. We forced him to take the test. It was a constant struggle and would have been easy to give in, but we are strict parents that know what is best for our kids. Now, he actually enjoys driving.
While I think current/younger generations have been predisposed against driving (helicopter parents, no real-world hangout spots, climate change/privilege peer pressure, etc.)
I can definitely see a backlash to that, where driving simply *to drive* makes a comeback, especially if the #tradlife subculture continues to grow and/or there's a push to make cars more affordable / fun to drive again.
Great article. Got my DL when I was 17 but was driving regularly since I was 14. At 15 my mom had me driving her 4 other kids across the country in the station wagon while she drove the moving truck, and that's when I hydroplaned for the first time on the freeway and learned later what it was (scared the sh** out of me and I never forgot it). Left home at 18 for the military and had my first vehicle when i was 19, which was a motorcycle. Learned how to ride it driving around San Antonio and then realized after 6 months I needed a particular license - lol! Driving is freedom, tho. Have always loved road-tripping. Yes, flying is convenient but, truth be told, I way prefer driving. Nothing like seeing the country, meeting the locals at rest stops, rolling into your destination seeing it for the first (or umpteenth) time, and nothing like seeing it in the rearview mirror when it's on to the next stop. My son has inherited/learned my love of driving, too, and like the writer expressed perfectly, sees it as a major avenue of independence and I'm glad he does. We full time RV'd around the country for his middle school years while I worked from the RV, and I will probably move back into an RV with my dogs and my job and go back to living on the road when he leaves for college. Can't wait. 😍
I turned 16 in 1991. My birthday fell on a Sunday and the next day was a holiday. I was so pissed that the DMV was closed. I had to wait TWO WHOLE DAYS to get my license and I could barely wait.
I guess I’m doing my part to help buck the trend. My 17-year-old is car crazy and got his license the first moment he could (which was delayed by COVID closures). But he’s definitely seen this in his peer group in our upscale suburb.
BUCK THE TREND. This is really good. He will have so many experiences his peers will miss out on. If you think he’d dig it, show him the post. Thanks for reading!
A bit of a follow-up on this: yesterday I let my 15-year-old drive for the first time ever (in a deserted parking lot) and he went from unenthusiastic about getting his license to excited to get it as soon as he can. I was worried that my above comment could be seen as vaguely dishonest since my other kid wasn't excited to drive (not that any of you would know) -- but now he's plenty gung-ho.
"Freedom is inseparable from spontaneity."
One of the most wise and wonderful things I've ever heard.
I live in the suburbs and have many adult (50+) friends whose children are like this. The first question I ask them is “do you drive your kids places?” The answer is almost always “yes - everywhere they want to go”. I wouldn’t drive if I had a driver either. Told both my daughters they were on their own for non-school transport once they were 16, and they learned to want to drive pretty quick.
There was nothing better than taking our cars to a cutout in the woods in CT and swilling Coors extra gold.
I can still remember the exhilarating freedom I felt the first time I dropped my dad off at work & kept his car for the day, back in the 70's. Now my grandson drives. He couldn't wait and neither can his younger siblings. So much so that my granddaughter snuck off in her mom's car before she got her license.
Road trips rule. Driving often relaxes me. Being able to jump in a car and go anytime feels great. People should be able to use a car when need be and I'll teach and expect my children to. But I don't care if they feel the same way about driving as I do. There are many ways to feel free. For many years I rode my bike get around and explore one of America's great cities and felt free in ways I never have in a car. My wife biked across the country and talks about that trip like no (car) road trip I've heard about. Motorcycling brings a kind of freedom cars don't. Is America decadent because relatively few ride motorcycles?
The motor vehicle trends that concern me are the disappearing stick shift (they're so fun!) and the ugly big ass trucks that have no sense of the proper cab-to-bed proportion. Americans were free before cars and they can be free whether or not they enjoy them in the future. I love cars, but insisting that others do is idolatry. No thanks.
The expense and stress are one thing also they have been told their whole lives that the internal combustion engine is the pinnicle of evil. But I really think something to do with the phones. I'm not sure what.
Not just a driving thing. Pre-16 year olds used to ride bikes everywhere. I used to hop on one everyday in the summer and wind up anywhere within a 5 mile radius and then return home by supper in order to get the free meal. Shopping malls, creeks, swimming pools, skate parks, bowling alley pinball machines, friends' houses, etc. We also snuck out and stole our older brothers' cars once for joyriding at 3 am. That didn't turn out so well since we got caught and had to deal with older brothers as well as parents. We also had the neighborhood storm tunnel system explored, rope swings installed over water on railroad trestles, vacant house pool skates, etc. The outside world was ours to claim and computers were for the pocket protector horn rimmed nerd dads.
Like you, I couldn't wait until I got my driver's license. Sweet freedom it was, and one that my parents appreciated, too, so they no longer had to drive me around. I grew up Out West, where it's an entirely different experience than driving on 95. I can at least somewhat understand people who don't enjoy driving in traffic--even moreso when there's readily available public transit and ride sharing.
But what I don't understand is people not learning to drive. It's like swimming--a necessary life skill even if you don't end up doing it every day. Learn to drive and get your license, for there may be a time in your life when you need to be able to take yourself from Point A to Point B.
I grew up in rural ranching community in the early 1980s-2000. 82miles to the closest movie theater to take a date! Getting that drivers license was the single most significant life event in our young lives. It felt soo damn empowering. And that was shared across all culture lines. Worth noting, there's a family in our neighborhood who's son just turned 16. Great family, volunteer for everything, outstanding kids. The daughter is a star softball player and a helluva student who managed to garner multiple scholarships for college, which is awesome because her folks can't afford college. The son the same. Outstanding manners, smart, athletic...anyone would be proud to have either as their kid. Well they couldn't afford to buy him a vehicle when he turned 16. Covid etc etc really mucked up the used car market. I had an old ranch truck with 250K miles on it and basically told he and his dad it was his. Pay me what you can. I practically gave it away and couldn't be happier about it. Seeing that kid's face driving around the neighborhood is worth more money than I could ever spend.
Cars are the worst invention of all time. Our built environment that prioritizes individual car use over all other forms of transportation is entirely to blame for most of our problems as a society. Thanks to the “need” for colossal parking lots and stupendously wide roads, everyone lives too far from everything so we all need to use cars to get around which leads to illness, pollution, ugliness, and death on a scale greater than that of every other destructive force in history, put together.
How can a car represent “freedom”? It’s the freedom to sit for hours in 5 MPH traffic, the freedom to get yelled at and harrassed for the sin of trying to cross a street on foot, the freedom to watch both your beautiful cityscape AND countryside blown to smithereens by parking lots and highway construction, the freedom to see coastal Louisiana and Alaska destroyed by oil spills, or the freedom to sit with your head in your hands at a car dealership or repair garage while a slimy salesman wastes your time and wheedles you out of your money. We are all basically living through that one chapter from East of Eden, all of us, forever.
If you think cars equal freedom you have been brainwashed by Madison Ave. and Hollywood slimeballs who have been promoting the crassest form of short-sighted capitalism for over 100 years. It’s all basically a big ponzi scheme. And now that cars have all kinds of high tech computers and remote communication devices in them, they have become yet another arm of Big Tech and government surveillance.
Anyone who claims to be nostalgic for the past beauty of America while also being pro-car can safely be ignored on any of their other opinions because it’s the car that destroyed all of that.
You can say I don’t like em
My first kid couldn't wait. My second, didn't care to even drive a golf cart. We forced him to practice. We forced him to take the test. It was a constant struggle and would have been easy to give in, but we are strict parents that know what is best for our kids. Now, he actually enjoys driving.
While I think current/younger generations have been predisposed against driving (helicopter parents, no real-world hangout spots, climate change/privilege peer pressure, etc.)
I can definitely see a backlash to that, where driving simply *to drive* makes a comeback, especially if the #tradlife subculture continues to grow and/or there's a push to make cars more affordable / fun to drive again.
"Gone are the days we stopped to decide
where we should go
we just ride"
- Robert Hunter (lyricist for the Grateful Dead) from the track Crazy Fingers
Great article. Got my DL when I was 17 but was driving regularly since I was 14. At 15 my mom had me driving her 4 other kids across the country in the station wagon while she drove the moving truck, and that's when I hydroplaned for the first time on the freeway and learned later what it was (scared the sh** out of me and I never forgot it). Left home at 18 for the military and had my first vehicle when i was 19, which was a motorcycle. Learned how to ride it driving around San Antonio and then realized after 6 months I needed a particular license - lol! Driving is freedom, tho. Have always loved road-tripping. Yes, flying is convenient but, truth be told, I way prefer driving. Nothing like seeing the country, meeting the locals at rest stops, rolling into your destination seeing it for the first (or umpteenth) time, and nothing like seeing it in the rearview mirror when it's on to the next stop. My son has inherited/learned my love of driving, too, and like the writer expressed perfectly, sees it as a major avenue of independence and I'm glad he does. We full time RV'd around the country for his middle school years while I worked from the RV, and I will probably move back into an RV with my dogs and my job and go back to living on the road when he leaves for college. Can't wait. 😍