The lost civic life of movie rental stores • Hacker News Board

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#201

Post by harrall » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 3:49 AM UTC

tyrust wrote: post #200

benvanderbeek wrote: post #149

This week I found a book called “let’s go all around the neighborhood” and read it to my 3 & 4 year old sons. It’s from 1982. A girl and her mother walk around doing errands. Mailing a letter at the post office. Buying shoes at the shoe store. Playing at the park. Eating at a restaurant. Going to the library. Buying an eggbeater at the hardware store. Stopping at the fruit and vegetable stand. They interact with huma…

> But there’s always a hidden “now you’ll have to” and “you’ll no longer be able to" But you can still do all those things from the book. Don't do the things you don't want to do.

Supposedly only ~10-15% of adults use DoorDash and Instacart in the US.

In 2026, most people don’t use technology to buy groceries or order food. Those people are a minority.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#202

Post by rickydroll » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:02 AM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #189

Loughla wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Join a club. Lions, Masons, knights of Columbus, Oddfellows, woodworkers guild, something like that. They're dying for lack of youth membership and they're still around.

Unfortunately, these clubs sometimes (knowingly or unknowingly) sabotage themselves when it comes to attracting young members. A lot of these organizations, you go there to share an interest, and you walk in and they're not really talking about their interest. To be blunt: a lot of them are just a bunch of old men griping about old-man things, making old-man jokes that were acceptable in the '80s, bringing up (ahem)…

Our astronomy club is the same way. Except it's a bunch of people standing around in the dark, looking at things through telescopes. And then, when everybody's seeing the object, we move on to the next one. We have a few folks active in things like astrophotography, variable star observing, and tracking carbon stars, but these are pretty obscure corners that it takes a newbie time to warm up to.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#203

Post by tayo42 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:14 AM UTC

autoexec wrote: post #45

triceratops wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Malls still exist. As do public libraries, community rec centers, gyms, and pools.

Malls have been in decline for decades. Public pools barely exist anymore either. ( https://www.poolmagazine.com/pool-news/america-is-losing-pub... ). If you're in a wealthy city you probably still have a decent community center. Libraries are probably the most common space avilable, but they are also under constant attack by republicans. In wealthy cities you can find all kinds of services there. Smaller libraries w…

Where do you all live?

I guess California is pretty nice and I don't appreciate this all enough lol

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#204

Post by bix6 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:20 AM UTC

SoftTalker wrote: post #119

afavour wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It isn’t, really. If it’s the expected norm in your job then there’s a real chance you’ll lose your job if you don’t do it. And particularly the kind of jobs market we see today that’s a real risk.

Actually not for most people. This is a peculiarity mostly of the tech industry. Most people don't read their work email after 5:00.

No it’s not. Realtors respond after hours and weekends. Tradesmen as well. If you want to win business you have to be available when people reach out.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#205

Post by skeeter2020 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:20 AM UTC

pstuart wrote: post #32

afavour wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People with kids sometimes experience this via all the activities they take their kids to This is something welcome I didn’t expect to come from parenthood. Like many others I had thought to myself “how do you even make new friends in your thirties?!” and then once I had kids… bam. New friendship groups. For us the local park and playground are a great equalizer in terms of economic stratification. But when the wea…

I kind of experienced that but the relationships were more superficial than I'd have liked. If the "shared interest" is happy kids together it doesn't directly translate to the adults shared interests. But then again, maybe it was just me being me.

overall I had a very similar experience, but did make a few very good, long-term friends out of it that have survived our kids growin up and apart.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#206

Post by enobrev » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:48 AM UTC

steveBK123 wrote: post #4

The end of interest-based 3rd places is one of the many things contributing to the compartmentalization / socioeconomic bubble of modern society. People used to frequent in person things like specialty retailers, arcades, hobby clubs, religious groups, etc. When you meet real life people in person based on shared interests, you make connections across socioeconomic groups. I just don't see nearly as much of this in t…

I miss the neighborhood officianados.

The movie buff at the blockbuster.

The music fiend at the local record shop

The gamer at the mom & pop game store.

The guy at Egghead Software who would let me play battle chess for hours.

Of course there are millions of them online these days, but that face-to-face interaction with the local officanado was a different thing. It wasn't a forum. And oddly, it wasn't a library either - it was a place of business - but it didn't feel like one in those moments.

Nerding out with a local stranger over a movie or a game or a band was something very different from what we do today. It was a different way for the local nerds to shine, while making a living adjacent to the things they knew so well.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#207

Post by gib444 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 6:06 AM UTC

BjoernKW wrote: post #133

steveBK123 wrote: post #4

The end of interest-based 3rd places is one of the many things contributing to the compartmentalization / socioeconomic bubble of modern society. People used to frequent in person things like specialty retailers, arcades, hobby clubs, religious groups, etc. When you meet real life people in person based on shared interests, you make connections across socioeconomic groups. I just don't see nearly as much of this in t…

> The end of interest-based 3rd places Whatever happened to pubs and the shared interest of drinking beer (and getting drunk in the process ...)? ;-)

In the UK: supermarkets selling cheap alcohol. Decline in drinking. Labour costs, energy costs, rent costs. House prices. Pubcos taking over.

Just battered from every possible direction

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#208

Post by gib444 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 6:11 AM UTC

bix6 wrote: post #18

More housing and fewer spaces for gathering seems to be the trend. Any open space near me became condos or protected habitat space (can’t even walk in because people trash it). There are practically no town squares. Parks are all gated by HOAs. Even the beach is encroached on by housing which means there isn’t enough parking. Where are people supposed to gather now and just enjoy the day? I see libraries, coffee shop…

My local library is ruined by people being anti social on purpose not using headphones and playing loud music, and the staff not doing anything because they get accused of being racist.

If other visitors try to police it, which invariably escalates, the staff kick out the person trying to police it.

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#209

Post by gib444 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 6:16 AM UTC

kstenerud wrote: post #56

> That same time-traveling video renter might find herself startled by the employee offering to recommend a movie, or by the knot of customers hanging out by the counter, shooting the breeze and discussing film. What universe is this person from? I must have missed it...

Yeah I feel like that's just a scenario that was depicted in movies/tv shows

Re: The lost civic life of movie rental stores

#210

Post by joe_the_user » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 6:20 AM UTC

steveBK123 wrote: post #4

The end of interest-based 3rd places is one of the many things contributing to the compartmentalization / socioeconomic bubble of modern society. People used to frequent in person things like specialty retailers, arcades, hobby clubs, religious groups, etc. When you meet real life people in person based on shared interests, you make connections across socioeconomic groups. I just don't see nearly as much of this in t…

I was around for many of these things. At different points in my life from the 70s to the 90s, I'd hang around arcades, the local coop bike shop, a hobby shop that specialized in D&D and occasionally an alternative video rental place. It was honestly miserable. Shops seldom facilitated socializing but when that was it, some people did it. (religious groups are in a completely different category, I think and one didn't experience).

The era when people semi-hung out at shops wasn't the "glory days" but their end. The era, that I get only historical research, where you had broad socializing was the era of clubs organized around neighborhoods and interests. American society was pretty isolated by the 1950s and only got more so after that.