240
Seeing this question asked is sort of sad. Did this become a less common experience? What killed it?
(lemmy.world)
this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
240 points (97.6% liked)
Just Post
1006 readers
114 users here now
Just post something 💛
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
(Younger) GenX here.
Yes, we partied hard, and we had a lot of fun. We got into tons of shenanigans, and there’s zero video or audio evidence of any of it remaining. We said and did a lot of dumb shit, and were free to roam and make minor mistakes.
We hung out at each others’ houses, at the mall (back when malls were cool), in parking lots, coffee shops, at railroad tracks, parks, the woods, swimming pools, whatever. We just talked for hours and really connected. We’d hop in the car and just go somewhere, sometimes far away, just because. And we weren’t tethered to any monitoring devices in our pockets keeping us glued to messages.
We were free.
I really do feel sorry for the younger generations. Kids these days really do have it very rough. It sucks for y’all, and I do wish I could destroy the internet so you guys could be free, too.
That's a perfect description! Hanging out on empty playgrounds, running around downtown and climbing on statues, parking by the lake, going for a drive with no destination just to talk and listen to music. No phone, no texts, be home by midnight. I wasn't allowed to go to the mall and it was devastating.
Younger GenX here, can confirm all this is 100% true.
Idk what idea you have of genz, but we did all this too, but when we were much younger, like before 15, definitely didn't have cars either.
I should note I'm not American though.
Hanging out in mall food courts especially and railroad tracks, but idk about houses, no one had a large enough apartment for anything other than hanging out with 4-5 people, and maybe playing call of duty or something.
I didn't have broadband until like the age of 13, so circa 2009 or so, and then we would talk over Skype and I'd grief my friend's Minecraft server to the point of physical violence on his behalf lol.
I don't think anyone was "glued to their messages" or "tethered to monitoring devices" - my parents didn't know and still don't how to use a smartphone, but maybe that's a third world thing.
In late teens, everyone was just busy as fuck with school, it was do or die. Friend didn't, failed uni, got drafted, now possibly in a mobile crematorium somewhere in Ukraine.
By 18, everyone moved away and changed. I left the country, changed name, gender. No idea what happened to them all, but I imagine nothing good.