“I don’t care what anyone says, talking to friends on a video game is absolutely not the same as those in-person experiences...”

"In fact, I remember being actively encouraged not to hang out at friends' houses because their parents wanted a break. So, our choices were either the mall or the park; the park basically had a dilapidated swing set and little else, so the mall was a good alternative.

I don't care what anyone says, talking to friends on a video game is absolutely not the same as those in-person experiences."

"There was a Family Video near me that lasted until COVID, and right up until the lockdowns in March 2020, I went there once or twice a month. Could I have found every movie in there on either a streaming service or pirated for free?

Probably. But the guy who ran it was super knowledgeable, and there was always another film buff or two to talk about movies with and give suggestions about movies that I probably wouldn’t have known about otherwise. I really wish it survived the pandemic."

"This may not be the case everywhere, but bowling alleys have started to go the way of the buffalo. The town where I went to school used to have a bowling alley that would be full of people of all ages on Friday/Saturday nights. It was one of the few places in town where teenagers could go to hang out if they didn't want to 'Drag Main' (aka drive up and down the main downtown street for hours on end). Sadly, 'dragging main' was essentially outlawed around the time I got my license in 1998, but the bowling alley stuck around. However, it was shut down in the early 2010s, and the building was demolished a few years later."

"Maybe I’m thinking about this wrong, but back when we were kids, there wasn’t the ability to have an ‘arcade’ experience anywhere else but at the arcade. Also, as a kid, part of the experience of being in an arcade was the scarcity of it. I was poor, and when that dollar was gone, I was relegated to watching my friends or someone else play. You were very specific about what game you were going to play. 

Arcade bars are this all-you-can-play buffet of any game I can basically emulate on my phone now, and it’s not the same. However, they make up for it with some killer beer and the nostalgia of the whole experience, so I’m not hating, but they’re not the same thing, and I think it’s not a fair comparison."

"There are still a few roller rinks in my very large city, but a lot of them have issues with gangs or just fights between teens — they have metal detectors and cops stationed outside after dark.

Maybe in the past, there were enough other places that groups didn’t have to mix, but with so few places now, rival groups are bound to cross each other."

"For most people, church is one of the only places you can go to have interactions with people who are: not in your family, not in your generation, not your boss or subordinate, or not there to provide you a service or merchandise for money.

Yes, all of those can exist in a church and in relationships among people who attend the same church. There will be people in your church who fall outside of those groups, but churches have been community centers for centuries. 

I will add that I am a recovering Christian, and some parts of the church need to die, such as the abuse and manipulation, but we need to find new places for us to gather as people and equals."

"Driving around and listening to music was something we did a lot. Also, parking somewhere, eating snacks, and hanging out. I don't have kids, so I don't know if teens still do this, but I have noticed there is a trend where more teens aren't even bothering to get their licenses at 16 anymore."

"I think the internet (especially dating apps) killed them off. Why go out and meet people when you can just find someone online? We've lost so much with the death of gay bars."

"We still have a ton of them, and I myself go every two weeks (I started going grey at 16 and my hair grows extremely fast, so I have to color it often), but it isn’t a social space in the same way it was for my mom, for example. I remember her going to the salon and chatting with the other ladies, who all seemed to know each other, for what seemed like hours. Now that doesn’t really happen like that.

And I am definitely part of the problem: I always bring my laptop so I can work while I wait for the color to set, but they also don’t really have companion-type chairs or chairs to wait or hang out and chat in, either. Also, it's loud as hell."

"I'm a Gen X'er who came of age in a legit bohemian cafe with a good cross-section of customers: punk rock kids, college professors, slackers, artists, folks from the neighborhood. It was a place where five bucks could get you a coffee, a pack of smokes, and an hour or two of misspent youth, where you could get exposed to offbeat music, have weird conversations with strangers, or just read a book.

Nowadays, coffee shops are sterile, boring casual office spaces where people stare into screens and nobody talks to each other."

"Anything that required large, heavy equipment that didn't move was screwed unless they could consolidate with another, larger facility, but that brought its own problems."

"We would do our homework together, while listening to music, we'd eat meals and snacks, and help with the chores, etc., then the next time would be at the next person's house.

I have a possibly controversial, but maybe not-so-controversial opinion that 'millennial' parents are awful. They confuse 'positive' with 'permissive,' and their kids are entitled and dysregulated. The number of kids who don't clean up after themselves (or even notice), and have outbursts when it's time to leave, is shocking. I also teach positive discipline, so maybe I am extra sensitive?

Anyway, I was a great houseguest and so were my friends, and it can go either way with the kids today."

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.