industry is killing the kids, actually

So I recently came across this post, and while it made me lol at first, it’s been on my mind since I’ve encountered it.

It’ll always be a hit piece to make a hit-piece about the youths, I’m always amused from the perspectives they’re written. To me, it always feels like this:

Millennials, once told that they couldn’t afford houses because they bought too much avocado toast and starbucks, can’t help but fall for it. “The Youths are Killing X Industry” never dies, just reinvents itself.

Full disclosure, I get it and I’m sure as hell not immune! I’ve totally thought and talked to friends about how “damn, the kids really don’t party anymore do they” myself before I read this article. The shift post 2020 was quite a surprise to see so quickly, but again, the pandemic was the pressure cooker that sped uP the inevitable.

I feel the extrapolations Derek pulls from the stats (seen eloquently by Faine Greenwood’s repost above) and Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone book only tell half of the story—leaving the reader to fill in the blanks with the gimmes “well boys play video games for hours” and the vague “married women were typically the social directors of the household, coordinating bridge games and dinner parties and when they increasingly joined the workforce, men never picked up the slack” has some conservative undertones that make me feel a tad itchy. To Putnam’s credit, I’m certain his theory made more sense in the historical context it’s discussing between the first and second half of the 20th century. But for Derek, he then contradicts this point immediately in the next paragraph, going into how parents now smother their children and instead of coordinating dinner parties they’re coordinating their children’s social and academic calendars to go to a good college. I.e, parents have shifted their coordination skills to “productively invest in their children.” What does this have to do with why the kids don’t party or drink in 2025?

In these “Industry Killer” articles, I’m always intrigued how the youths are painted as both antagonists and independent agents suffocating a precious, well-crafted industry. God forbid it’s another industry sabotaging it for its own personal gain, Video Killed The Radio Star-style.

So here’s a list of potential reasons/theories in defense of the youths to round out the perspectives:

1. Party traditions and habits are typically passed down by word-of-mouth, i.e., knowing which bars to go to or where to get your McLovin driver’s license. Not only did the pandemic lockdown decrease opportunities for the passive transference of this info, but because many regulations for entertainment venues and restaurants changed during this time, past knowledge was less reliable.

2. Helicopter parents—Derek was right that yes, parents do spend more time with their children than ever before. However, most of time teenagers have in the US can be highly structured with a packed schedule of extracurriculars. Not only does this mean people are growing up unsure how to make their own fun, but how you be out partying when you’ve already met with your tutor, have soccer practice, and you have a game the next morning. Do you think your parents are going to want to drive you to a party after driving you around all day and stay up to take you home later too? That’s not even getting into their possible paranoia and ability to contact and track you 24/7, which leads me to my next point

3. The Surveillance State. I cannot emphasize enough how little I’ve seen this discussed and the way it’s impacting kids and teenagers. Nowadays it’s not just parents who are responsible for the hyper monitoring of kids-it’s their own peers. Do you remember the dumb shit you’d get up to in the day at parties? Imagine if, at any given moment, someone could be filming you and upload that into an algorithm that could rocket launch you into a pit of public discourse. People have been trying to profit off these moments as early as they could—Girls Gone Wild is a household name that took advantage of intoxicated women and girls to make millions! No shit these kids are on guard of being perceived at any given moment.

4. How can you host if you don’t have the space lol - your parents are going to let you throw a rager? Sure, you could make it work, but I’d bet planning a 10-person dinner party in a 400 sq ft apartment with your three roommates may not feel the most appealing. People can be pretty uptight and “Karen” about noise. Noise pollution and gentrification are pretty linked, after all. Which, shocker, has nothing to do with the youths, actually!

5. The cost of living is more insane than ever, partying requires some disposable income. With all the other factors discussed, I’m sure this doesn’t feel as worth it.