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The death of partying in the USA

derekthompson.org

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Re: The death of partying in the USA

#231

Post by echelon »

os2warpman wrote: post #171
Apreche wrote: post #28

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 witho…

>People these days don’t own real estate. The home ownership rate has been 64%, plus or minus about 1%, for the last 45 years. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RSAHORUSQ156S

Phones are the reason.

Everyone gets quick and lazy dopamine from phones. Why bother with anything else?

Think about how much time goes into phones. Who has time to plan? Who has time to coordinate?

Phones are probably why the birth rate is declining too.

You don't even need a house to party. You can use a pavilion at a park, go out in the woods like the rednecks I grew up around did, party at the trailer park. Homes are by no means a limiting factor.

It's 100% our phones.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#232

Post by bluGill »

luckydata wrote: post #27
lr4444lr wrote: post #6

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 whe…

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.

People are friendly everywhere, but they mostly already have a full friend group and so are not looking to add more. Thus breaking in as a new comer is hard. However there are always people who need new friends it is just hard to find them.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#233

Post by BlackjackCF »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #193
jcranmer wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People these days don’t own real estate. Wealthy people own it all. Normal people are renting apartments or portions of homes. If you look at a graph of home ownership in the US by cohort at various points in time (see, e.g., https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/08/homeownership... ), while the rates are somewhat lower, between the highest point and the lowest point the difference is at worst 10 percentage p…

> This sentiment strikes me a lot more as people in their 20's complaining that they're poor because they don't have the financial resources of someone in their 40's, despite having more resources than the latter did at their age. Home prices have doubled over the past 20 years, twice the rate of income increases This isn't just "complaining"

I’ve seen homes double in price in some areas just during Covid

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#234

Post by mtalantikite »

flerchin wrote: post #189

Grouping up with the guys to play an online game wouldn't count here. Nor various other online activities that I would consider social. The drop-off in alcohol is stark, but probably good? I suppose we would see an uptick in weed in legal and probably also illegal states. The article focuses on US because that's the data they have, but I wonder if it's a similar trend for other developed countries. Anyone sharing a p…

When I was in high school in the late 90s/early 2000s, we'd go hang out somewhere with each other IRL and then when it got late and we got home we'd meet up in some online game (usually Starcraft or Diablo). So we'd still be hanging out at least two nights a week IRL.

If we counted only online gaming then we'd have been hanging out every night.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#235

Post by typewithrhythm »

MichaelZuo wrote: post #180
jcranmer wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People these days don’t own real estate. Wealthy people own it all. Normal people are renting apartments or portions of homes. If you look at a graph of home ownership in the US by cohort at various points in time (see, e.g., https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2018/08/homeownership... ), while the rates are somewhat lower, between the highest point and the lowest point the difference is at worst 10 percentage p…

It is really strange to read complaints that the vast vast majority of 20 somethings have no chance of competing against older established households in the housing market. I would hope so, otherwise that would mean the country/locale is so bad that older households are packing their bags and fleeing. So the most desirable properties, such as large SFHs, townhouses, penthouses, etc… within a short driving distance of…

It's not a matter of competition around current supply, it's a complaint about policy that has lead to a decline in what a 20-something can purchase over time.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#236

Post by simplicio »

Apreche wrote: post #28

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 witho…

Eh, I feel like my (and most peoples) main exposure to house parties was in HS and college when basically no one owns their own home. Rented apartments, houses and family homes seemed to work fine then, I can't really think why that wouldn't be the case now.

Note the age-group with the biggest drop is 15-24, its not like the average 18 year old owned their own home circa 1995.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#237

Post by Telemakhos »

selectodude wrote: post #170
vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One important data point is that houses have become much more expensive compared to income in the last decades. When I lived in CA, my plumber neighbor told me he bought his house in the 70s for 80000 on a salary of 40000. Today he would probably pay 800000 for the same house but make maybe 100000 or a little more. It's definitely harder to buy a house these days.

$40,000 in 1975 is over a quarter million 2025 dollars.

You can't buy on the west coast for a quarter million. A house big enough to start a family will likely start at a half million, and in some communities will come with hefty tax burdens.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#238

Post by efields »

MisterTea wrote: post #220

Parties were where you went to meet random strangers, get intoxicated, and maybe get laid. None of this is exciting anymore. People are less motivated to go out. We have other forms of socialization. I blame a lot of the de-socialization on our constantly connected society. Since everyone is in contact with each other 24/7 via social media the idea of meeting random people is less exciting. The 24/7 news cycle also i…

This feels right. More than anything, it's the function of the Internet.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#239

Post by bluGill »

dddddaviddddd wrote: post #213
chkaloon wrote: post #149

The article mentions alcohol consumption by kids, but I think it doesn't emphasize enough the effect of efforts like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and strict DUI laws. Back in the 70s and 80s having a few drinks at a party, bar or friend's house was normal and part of the social lubrication. Even drinks during lunch was common where I worked. No more. You either need to have a designated driver, find a taxi (which do…

> You either need to have a designated driver, find a taxi (which doesn't exist in most rural areas), or just not drink. Or live in a place where you don’t drive to get around.

Very few places on earth are like that. Even in Europe's dense cities there are a lot of cars, get outside of that and there is no hope of an alternative. Though Europe is somewhat likely to have a bar within walking distance of your house, but a lot of people in Europe drive to whatever bar they drink in at least sometime.

Most of the world's public transportation sees themselves as a way to get to work and so parties which happen off hours in places hard for transport to reach get bad or no service.

Re: The death of partying in the USA

#240

Post by koolba »

jamiek88 wrote: post #31
lawlessone wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

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.

How is this any different than a post-it note with your home phone number on it? It also solves the problem of trying to not knowing your kid’s friend’s parents’ names.
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