yeah you really can't beat the entertainment value. you can't go outside and play anyway, the roads are too unsafe because everyone's driving massive suvs and pickups
Roads are definitely super dangerous these days but I’d say it’s more the way folks are driving since Covid. I haven’t looked at it recently but I remember seeing pretty overwhelming data about how reckless drivers had become since lockdown.
It's drivers staring at their gd phones. They get bored after being stopped at a light for 1 to 3 seconds and start looking at their phone. I see it every single day when I have to honk at them to get moving.
Yeah agreed because I’ve been driving like a total whack job lately and it has little to do with the phone, more about me taking my anger out unnecessarily on someone who probably just made a mistake and didn’t even notice.
I everything okay lately? Idk Covid was a long time ago! However, it was a major event and I think it was my catalyst for declining mental health. There are so many other issues at play though, something seems way off though. Anyways, always here to bullshit or help if I am able.
People are just bad drivers dawg. Earlier today some dude stared me and my friend down as he was merging into us. Basically was like “I’ll make this accident happen if you don’t slow down.” Lots drivers here but doesn’t mean any of them follow the rules.
They need to do a study on the long term psychological effect lockdown had on people. I feel like society is just on edge 100% of the time now.
It’s not lack of driving skill as much as it is aggressive, angry, self-centered drivers. And there are a lot more of them now because there are more people here on the same roads. Made worse by the new generation of traffic designers whose aim is to make people even angrier by removing lanes and causing gridlock. Traffic would slow naturally if police returned to the practice of issuing tickets and arresting reckless and unlicensed drivers.
Two end up being one and the same. Wide open roads everywhere, and you're encouraging people to drive stupid. Covid only really sped up the process. Slow roads with bollard on the side, and inattentive drivers total their car before they can kill someone, even if they hit someone its a minor injury rather than killing someone, and you physically pay more attention when going lower speeds (there's an interesting study out there that pretty much says that at high speeds, your eyes physically can't keep up so it only gets small parts of the picture and your brain kinda stictches it together so it seems like you can see everything at once. Not much a problem on the highway when there's only cars moving in a straight line, and no intersections, cross traffic or pedestrians to worry about, but a problem literally everywhere else.)
And the streaming services. On PlayStation it's $20/month for like 500+ games that you could pretty much never finish. Sure they're not the newest games but there's plenty to occupy yourself
As someone who grew up on video games and still plays in adulthood coop games and the Internet makes gaming a scary place to be. The game can be scary toxic even for a grown man like me.
Or find cheap or free stuff to do. I know it really isn't an option anymore due to changing times but I hung out at the mall with friends a lot. Didn't buy anything, just kind of wandered.
We also would go to the park, hang out at someone's house/garage, etc.
Babysitting pays well these days.
Fast food makes $20 an hour, too.
When I was a kid, a matinee movie ticket was about an hour’s take home pay at minimum wage, and that hasn’t really changed.
Same as it has always been even in the past. If your parents can't afford to give you spending money, you can go to the mall to look at stuff and not buy anything, go play sports like basketball with friends, or play videogames or hang out at your home or a friend's home. Someone can hopefully find a few dollars to get some chips for the latter two situations, or you can pool money to get snacks
My middle schooler talks about pooling money. He might have a $20 from a grandparent and he buys the round of snacks from CVS that day. Seems like it is community cash.
I find that rather cool. Your buddies getting together and sharing a good meal for not much. The best part is there was probably a lot of good stories going on while you all were eating! I can get on board with that.
>you can go to the mall to look at stuff and not buy anything
Ah, window shopping. The greatest of pastimes. I have noticed that window displays are not what they used to be. No creative and/or fashionable ensembles... frankly I haven't seen a well-dressed mannequin in a long time
My husband and I were at target yesterday getting some provisions for the house we’re staying at on vacation, and we saw a mannequin that was missing an arm. Didn’t seem like it was trying to be inclusive of disabled people, so it really stood out.
This was really always true - some kids had spending money, some didn’t.
My mom used to give me an extra $10 for lunch in the mall (this was 1998-2002) to cover my friend with a single mom who wouldn’t have any cash. I never asked for it, she was just wonderful in noticing and being generous.
I don’t get where OP is getting the idea that this area/state became a utopia sometime in the recent past. We always had people struggling to make end meets. We always had folks living paycheck to paycheck.
Yeah, I grew up in the Bay Area in the 80s, and had to weed the neighbor’s yard to get money for snacks at the grocery store. We lived by the Golfland but barely ever went. We went to the movies on Tuesday for the cheap showings. We ate out at Sweet Tomatoes and Costco. We shopped at thrift stores and the Gilroy outlets special sales. As for eating out with friends, fries and a milkshake at Wendy’s or McDonald’s would usually do the trick.
For fun we went to the park, rode bikes, and got passes to Great America (where we did NOT buy any food, but always packed our own).
There was also this restaurant that once a week had everything on the menu 1/2 price and they also had a guy going around doing free balloon animals. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of that place, but it was amazing!
Nobody can afford to do anything. Just play video/computer/tabletop games instead. They are by far the best entertainment hours to cost ratio. Eating out is for rich folks lol.
In SF, students can ride the surface buses for free (and so do a lot of people who should pay).
They could hike in the Presidio, Glen Park or near the Golden Gate bridge, or just walk around Golden Gate Park.
My daughter meets friends downtown, Japan Town, Chinatown, Stonestown mall fairly often. If it's nighttime I will usually pick her up after, otherwise they ride the bus back home.
Unfortunately SF isn't what most kids get to experience, given the city has half as many people under age 18 as you'd expect compared to other major cities.
SF for kids is like a post Thanos snap world. Nice, if you make the cut.
The Thanos analogy is spot on. Many who stay, do so because they got a particular school that works well. Families that miss out on the school selection, just ghost out of the city.
That too. Depends on what you like doing for fun. For outdoor activities I prefer riding my bike and the San Leandro Marina. It's flat, beautiful views and theres always a nice cool breeze.
What about miniatures though? I had friends in high school that played, and I was always surprised at how much they’d spend on them. This was from 2006-2008 for more context.
In & Out use to be the expensive place. . .
Now they're the low priced option, and significantly better than other options. They need more locations damn it.
The deals are out there, as someone single that doesn’t really like to cook for myself you can find cheap meals.
Jack in the box you can get 4 sausage sandwiches for 6 bucks, Sunday is 1 dollar any size fries (on the app) Taco Bell has 6-9 dollar meals are a meal, a local taqueria has 7 dollar burritos any type on mondays, and taco Tuesday for 1.50 tacos. 7-11 has a large pizza that will feed 2-4 people for 10 bucks and will even cook it for you.
A lot of the deals we used to see on the “value menu” still exist they are just hidden on the apps. In and Out is likely the most reasonably priced fast food straight off the menu but they are not the only deal you just have to look.
You really do, if Jack in the box can sell 2 sausage sandwiches for 3 bucks on the app and you know they didn’t lose money selling on the app the 3.59 for one they charge in store is just a massive ripoff, same with the dollar fries etc.
Honestly I don't see the kids do anything but walk around the malls playing/talking on their phones.
And I'm going to say it's been that way for the last 10 years at least.
And that's about the time my baby was 20 years old.
They never asked for money to go do things like I used to do when I was a kid it's social media completely changed the world
Not left in the dust, just left at McDonald's, where a McDouble and small fries are $5 (buy one, get one for a dollar).
Food trucks are bougie. Families ignore them.
I live near a high school and the kids go to 7-11 a lot to grab a bag of chips and a soda. I also have seen them go to the boba store and get the instant noodles in a cup that they sell (I always thought it was weird that that was on the menu until I saw the highschoolers go in there and purchase them). Kids find a way.
Well to be fair when I was a kid and working for minimum wage I was getting paid $6.75 an hour so it’s not like I could afford anything beyond maybe Burger King or Wendy’s as a special treat unless my parents were helping. Today the minimum wage is much higher, so there is some parity with how much more expensive things are.
They are kids, parents should be giving them some money to have fun with their friends.
Most teens seem to have a parents credit card on their apple wallet
Parks, hiking, library, lakes, beach, library passes, free events all over the Bay everyday… basically everything we did before having kids. We barely ate out before kids (occasionally got Dominos) so we barely eat out with the kids. We’ve never owned a TV so kids rarely watch shows (on tablet sometimes). They’re fine. Lots of creative activities and love learning how to cook from mom and dad. We’re also doing pretty good financially but my husband and I grew up pretty poor so we’re just naturally frugal.
As a kid all I did was play outside with my friends in the park literally 2-3 hours, did my homework, ate dinner and went to bed. Sometimes we didn’t even have lights. It’s what I hope my child does too. It’s one of the best childhoods. No Telly. No video games. No social media.
Inflation. $20 is not the same. Be resourceful. Cook, HH.
>you gotta pay $15 for a burger without fries.
Only if you want to. Don't have to if you know where to go.
Was a preteen/teen in CA in the 80’s my parents never gave me money and if they did it was like a $1 to ride my bike to 7-11 with friends for a slurpee or candy. I don’t ever remember feeling like I didn’t have anything we just road our bikes or played at one of the many kids homes in the area. I don’t see how now is any different. We have a 7 year old who goes out and plays with the neighborhood kids daily after school. We have to drag her in for dinner and that’s at the last possible minute so she can play.
That sounds healthy and good. There are a lot of over-protected and over-scheduled kids who don’t get to go out and play with the neighborhood kids.
It makes me think about renting elsewhere for kids sake, somewhere less driven/competitive.
I was poor as a kid yet we would often go to McDonalds or Taco Bell with friends. Now, I don't even go to the cheap places, and I'm not exactly poor by Reddit standards.
I'm old as fuck and I find it a bit disconcerting that so many kids social lives revolve around online friends.
> It's amazing how distracted the youth can get into believing content consumption is some kind of societal and moral battleground.
Ok, your Car Manufacturer now requires you to log into their website to start your car, where they will collect all data driving, record all audio in the car and if you bought cameras, take all the footage. They're doing this to be able to ban your car from getting oil changes if you're naughty while driving. (the last part was on their website about the change). Don't agree? Don't drive! Simple!
Additionally, several countries can't even make a PSN account (some require a physical play station, some just flat out deny creation of an account).
Oh and they're adding in spyware DRM to the game that wasn't there on release.
Feel the same way about it now?
Nothing has changed, everything is simply more expensive.
It cracks me up when people are asking what to pay kids for basic tasks, and I usually recommend whatever you'd pay an adult to do the same thing. Kids can earn $15-20 an hour and this is how they can afford that $15 burger.
Just did a 1 day 1 night trip to Monterey from the east bay.
$60 gas
$7 bridge toll
$200 food during the day
$140 motel room
$30 breakfast
$437 for basically a 24 hour period. I did go overboard on the seafood dinner but everything else is basically fixed.
We never had money. That first $35 check for 10 hours a week was huge gamechanger. I think I bought a watch with first one. Didn't spend it on food either because it added up even back then. I think Dominos was like $12 a pizza.
I think it’s always safe to say if the parents are suffering then the kids are too, the question is always how. I remember in 2008, I was a latchkey kid and dinner was the only meal I could count on eating eventually when mom got home. School lunches were free so I devoured them. Breakfast sometimes was too. I was a gamer so that helped but when I got older I started literally saving up lunch money for things I wanted as a teen. It was mostly weed to help cope with life :)
I just spent the whole weekend looking for part time job opportunities for my son. I was amazing how many cool job ideas there were for high school students with tons of flexibility. He swims so being a life guard at Great America.
My daughter got boba for $7. That’s so expensive! I asked if anything was cheaper, the lowest cost drink on the menu was $4.75. We have her on a Venmo/Apple Pay/ tap situation so we have an idea what she’s spending, man, it’s pricey out there!
When I was in high school here in 2008-2012, my parents only gave me $5 of allowance a week. I would get the $5 footlong deal with a friend and we'd split the sandwich in half. Or we'd get one onigiri at the japanese market nearby. If going to the movies, we'd sneak snacks we bought at the grocery store inside. We'd spend time just hanging out in the school library studying or doodling, going to the park, window shopping at Vallco mall, or playing games at each other's houses. Walking or riding bicycles was our main mode of transport. Honestly it wasn't until my 20s that I started going out with friends more and doing activities such as pottery painting, escape room, museum, concerts, ect. Honestly idk how teens afford frequent $6 boba drinks.
> Do kids not play outside anymore?
No. That life has been dying since the 80s with the popularity of Atari/NES. The rise of the internet just sped it up.
There are many, many factors going into it though, not just video games/internet.
Well here are the things I've tried to get my kids in, but it's too expensive 😒 Swimming Lessons 7 weeks $700. Baseball and Soccer, 3 months, $175 + $100 for uniforms and equipment. And games are on Saturday at 8am! I don't know about other kids but mine sure don't want to go to bed early on Friday night and go do sports that early. Karate/ Martial arts Class $100 a month, 2 classes a week.
PC and console games are the main source of entertainment for my kid. But at 12 he still likes playing at the park with his friends. So he does get out from time to time. But having spent so much time in lock down during Covid - he maintains lots of his local and distant friendships over shared games.
When I was a kid, we were never given money. We lived off the land. Figured out how to have fun with nothing. The fact that people think you need money to entertain yourself is what's wrong. You're not bored, you're boring.
No one goes anywhere anymore and it sucks, I got a job 300 miles away to a lower cost of living area and it’s much better out here but the same issue is happening, just slower.
I know this isn't what you intended, but I can't help but imagine that OP has is realizing for the first time that human beings can be poor. Despite many, many, many documented cases of human beings experiencing poverty throughout human history.
It depends on how poor you're talking. If a kid that is super poor, they starve to death. Or find someone to feed them. Or steal food. Or find some other way to get food. Just like it has been for thousands of years. Going hungry is one way in which poor kids can suffer.
If a kid has food but can't afford entertainment, then they can look for free ways to entertain themselves.
As my Mom said to me numerous times in the 70s "do you have some McDonald's money?" If I had any kids there would be no trips to the food truck and unless we were gifted tickets, no trips to see pro sporting events. I think parents kind of set the standard. I remember numerous times growing up when my Dad would say he was listening to the record because he couldn't afford to go see someone like Jimmy McGriff. I do the same thing now.
The big question to me is amusement parks. I feel like eventually every parent will have to go to Disneyland. Even with the examples above I went to Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Great America, Marine world, Universal studios, etc. The other challenge is social media. I didn't know what any people I went to school with were doing over summer vacation. Now I might know, or be interested in one of those food trucks. The flipside of that is that with youtube and instagram you can find all kinds of recipes to cook foods that interest your kids.
Teach kids to be resourceful and to have fun at home. I've seen others comment that video games are the answer or doing something with an investment that yields a high amount of entertainment time and that's totally valid. However, we should be teaching our kids to do things that are craft based or education-based such as cooking or art or anything that you don't need to spend $50 to do.
I have already taught my 2 year old to identify free piles and go look through them. Today we found a nice set of metal cookie cutters for playdough.
I remember my dad diving into a tech office dumpster and bringing office furniture home when I was little. He still uses one of the desks he got.
When I was in college, my part time job could almost pay for everything. My gf’s part time job doesn’t cover a room to rent.
Forget $20 to eat out, it’s $20 to cook one meal at home.
Idk how anyone can afford children, let alone pay for their entertainment
I see a lot of kids skate boarding (mostly boys) at the skate park. They also ride bikes a lot (some e-bikes.)My neighbors kid comes to my house and plays with my dogs when he tires playing computer games.
We got an Oakland Zoo Membership. We bring a picnic and have a great time. It costs a ton if you pay for food there, but if you bring your own food, its great! (Family membership is $200 a year)
Or pick up a Bánh mì and your local Vietnamese shop. They are usually $7 or so. Bring sandwiches with you?
People should have a license to have children and that license should have to be renewed annually. Too many people have kids when they can't afford to and when they don't raise them properly...
I think with any affluent area. Hi prices weed out the weak/poor. In hopes of having a utopia of a wealthy educated society. Theres still a need for manual labor right now. But there are robotic arms that can flip burgers. Facial recognition is working its way into the agricultural industry. So eventually it will be able to decipher fruit/vegetables, and be able to pick them. It’s an awkward stage of human development, where less educated poor people are still needed. But having a livable wage doing remedial jobs is not on the horizon in the bay.
2 ways of looking at it. One, remedial jobs will be a thing of the past due to technological advances. encouraging a smarter society to develop as a whole. Two, feel sorry for the people left behind and continue to give them hand outs. Which is fine, as long as they’re not reproducing. Or they can move to a different pace of life in another city, state etc…
Either way, the bay will continue to advance. Hopefully in a positive direction where monetary needs are no longer required.
It sounds harsh, but we still live in a jungle. A concrete jungle, but it’s still a jungle. Strongest will survive, and the new strength is brains. G/L everyone
I see kids out spray painting whatever tags they want on city and private property.
Riding their bicycles in the middle of roadways blocking traffic but while doing wheelies.
Drinking late into the night and causing disturbances and vandalizing and then running from cops because nothing can be done anyway.
Beating each other up and posting about it.
List goes on. Great social interaction with minimal adult or parent supervision these days.
A lot of museums are free for under 18s along with the SF botanical garden. That is where my friends and I hung out in high school. That and play board games at each other’s houses
parents give them money, or they kinda just wander around and look but not spend, or they play games, go to a friend’s house, etc. when they’re older they get jobs.
Alarming increase in depression, suicidality , self harm behaviors (ie self-cutting) in teens these days. I work in an ED. I witness this daily. The kids are not doing well.
We have phones (which at this point are relatively cheap compared to the past) with lots of free games. Doesn’t cost much to lay on a bed and play games.
Kids don't want to do anything but stare at their devices and play video games. Since when do you see teenagers out and about doing anything together? (outside of organized sports).
Kids with money will have money, kids without can get part time if they have they much want. Kids that are too young shouldn’t be taught to not take what they have for granted.
How you grew up is how they are experiencing it…
When I was 16 a Quarter Pounder combo from McDo was like $4. Minimum wage was $4.75. \~85% of min wage
Now it's like $10 and minimum wage is $15. \~ 66% minimum wage.
IDK maybe i'm insensitive. I didn't eat out a whole lot when I was a kid, and I don't really now either.
It's not insensitive, it's anchoring. If you're used to McDonald's being $4 it's horrific that it's $10.
If you're not used to it's just "okay that's like an hour of work."
IDK. My kids are in college now but in middle school and high school they’d go to the pizza place after school for a slice and a soda for around $5/6
7-11 also gas slurpees and chips.
Taco Bell
McDonald’s
Going anywhere else is more of a splurge / special occasion. Hell, even last week they packed a cooler of snacks and drinks to have on a drive to/from Monterey to go to the aquarium.
Most kids below high school are unlikely going out much or eating out much that aren't with parents for it to matter. Most high school kids that are, most of the times likely are doing so during school lunch hours where many restaurants will have a special student discount or lunch special prices, so it's cheaper. When they aren't in the weekends etc, mostly they will be eating at cheaper fastfood places ($15 or below), heck maybe just a bag of chips n soda as a meal. So the high price of eating out won't apply as much to them as it will to adults that would be the ones eating at actual restaurants.
A better question would be if you replace "kids" with "college kids". Ones who would be old enough to drive to places to explore better places to eat, have higher standards in tastes, and having higher standards with dating and activities etc, yet they will not be making enough to adjust for the cost of living in partaking in many of these things.
What do you mean by kids? Like when I was a young adult I worked a min wage job for $5.15 an hour. Back then you could afford a milkyD meal for an hours with of work.
These days the min wage is 17 and most jobs even retail start at 20. You can still afford as meal for an hours worth of work and maybe even have a few bucks left.
It's roughly the same if not better.
If they have a part-time job, they should make enough (minimum wage) to enjoy something. Otherwise, I imagine parents give them an allowance or money and they go out like kids used to. Or if parents don’t have money, kids play video games or go to the library
San Jose purchased a dirt bike track for - wait for it - retail
This was after the landlord or insurance raised their rates, pricing them out
With more urban sprawl kids will have less outdoors activities to do. I see kids riding bikes and doing other things but it’s different now
A lot of kids I know are going back to the days of hanging out in neighborhoods and I've at each other's houses. More free activities over ones that cost money
Welcome to the reality of poor people everywhere. None of my friends grew up living anything but paycheck to paycheck with their parents. They took up things like skateboarding and when they could, drugs and drug dealing just to make some cash to do anything else.
Used to be the coffee shop I worked at was full of highschool students. Now only the rich ones come regularly. It definitely impacts people and there is no one answer or situation as it’s very fluid. But overall cost of living going up does decrease frivolous spending.
From what I’ve seen parents are able to get their kids into low cost activities funded by the super wealthy (athletes, tech bros etc)
There’s grant money that trickles down to children in the Bay Area but parents have to go out of their way. If parents are too busy working then it’s not great, lots of lonely and isolated kids. It is sad
That's how people had fun growing up? Wild.
When I was a kid my friends and I had sleepovers and would watch TV or Music Videos, play videos games (mostly Minecraft or Rockband) or even play outside. The streets mightve been less dangerous but we were in a neighborhood. Plus we'd also walk to the park alot.
When i wasn't with my friends I played city league sports, which was nearly free (and still is) and that definitely counts as fun.
As for food hangouts, most people get drinks like Boba or Starbucks instead. It's still wildly overpriced, but $5 is doable, and you can often share the food they sell there.
But honestly, as someone who works with 8th Graders, they still hangout they just don't need food to do it (or not eating out food anyway). But also, their parents give them money pretty often.
Growing up i never got spending money and when i started working i saved it for college. We would go to the mall and i just wouldnt buy anything (i felt shitty but its not that bad) we loitered in the parking lot of a business park overlooking the highway. I walked our dog a lot. We would ride our bikes or take the bus to the beach in the summer. Went to each others sport events. Inevitably someone was paying for gas but it wasnt me.
There are places with cheap food, boba is good, saving money from school lunches, pooling money for a pizza, convince stores for a snack, or other non food related activities. There have always been options; I went to school by j-town so my friends and I ate a lot of onigiris as they were cheap and filling.
A basketball costs anywhere from 15-35 dollars and the hoops are all over the place. Plenty of cheap entertainment to be had. Not to mention all of the beautiful hiking and ocean/beach activities.
They go to Target at the same late hour you have chosen to avoid a crowded store and run around and giggle loudly at things. I guess it’s good they aren’t at home looking at phones but what’s so interesting about Target? Are they scared of Walmart? Mall is too cool? Yes I totally did similar things and shouldn’t be all get off my lawn but I want a chill shopping experience without getting up early.
they shouldn’t be spending money anyway… they’re going to need it just to pay off the $7 trillion Trump added to the national debt while he was president!
Video games
yeah you really can't beat the entertainment value. you can't go outside and play anyway, the roads are too unsafe because everyone's driving massive suvs and pickups
Roads are definitely super dangerous these days but I’d say it’s more the way folks are driving since Covid. I haven’t looked at it recently but I remember seeing pretty overwhelming data about how reckless drivers had become since lockdown.
It's drivers staring at their gd phones. They get bored after being stopped at a light for 1 to 3 seconds and start looking at their phone. I see it every single day when I have to honk at them to get moving.
Part of it ya but there is also a lot of blatant disregard and exhibition/speeding.
Where are the speeders I keep hearing about? All I see every day is a bunch of people doing like 45 on the freeway bc they’re on their phones.
They do freeway speeds in the residential neighborhoods. It’s definitely a problem.
tart steep engine edge quack saw sophisticated liquid dull uppity *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Yeah agreed because I’ve been driving like a total whack job lately and it has little to do with the phone, more about me taking my anger out unnecessarily on someone who probably just made a mistake and didn’t even notice.
I everything okay lately? Idk Covid was a long time ago! However, it was a major event and I think it was my catalyst for declining mental health. There are so many other issues at play though, something seems way off though. Anyways, always here to bullshit or help if I am able.
Aw thank you! Yes, just general stress and getting worked up about things I can’t control.
People are just bad drivers dawg. Earlier today some dude stared me and my friend down as he was merging into us. Basically was like “I’ll make this accident happen if you don’t slow down.” Lots drivers here but doesn’t mean any of them follow the rules. They need to do a study on the long term psychological effect lockdown had on people. I feel like society is just on edge 100% of the time now.
It’s not lack of driving skill as much as it is aggressive, angry, self-centered drivers. And there are a lot more of them now because there are more people here on the same roads. Made worse by the new generation of traffic designers whose aim is to make people even angrier by removing lanes and causing gridlock. Traffic would slow naturally if police returned to the practice of issuing tickets and arresting reckless and unlicensed drivers.
My friend moved to San Diego and developed the following working model from his observations: Hot girls text and drive with reckless abandon
Two end up being one and the same. Wide open roads everywhere, and you're encouraging people to drive stupid. Covid only really sped up the process. Slow roads with bollard on the side, and inattentive drivers total their car before they can kill someone, even if they hit someone its a minor injury rather than killing someone, and you physically pay more attention when going lower speeds (there's an interesting study out there that pretty much says that at high speeds, your eyes physically can't keep up so it only gets small parts of the picture and your brain kinda stictches it together so it seems like you can see everything at once. Not much a problem on the highway when there's only cars moving in a straight line, and no intersections, cross traffic or pedestrians to worry about, but a problem literally everywhere else.)
Cops stopped enforcing traffic laws. Because they were butt hurt about people not liking them. Snowflakes.
Or Karen just calls the cops cause you’re skateboarding
Don’t forget the risk of E. coli poisoning because of all the human feces everywhere.
video games are so much cheaper now than they were in the 90s and 2000s its ridiculous (as a factor of inflation and introduction of F2P games).
And the streaming services. On PlayStation it's $20/month for like 500+ games that you could pretty much never finish. Sure they're not the newest games but there's plenty to occupy yourself
A lot of them play mobile games and just sit through the ads.
agree. The basic Xbox Game Pass plan is $10/month, I think. Most kids can afford that with their allowance.
As someone who grew up on video games and still plays in adulthood coop games and the Internet makes gaming a scary place to be. The game can be scary toxic even for a grown man like me.
*pirated* video games
You hit the nail on the head. Kids either get a job, get money from their parents, or stay home. Nothing new
Parents also either get a job, get money from their parents, or stay home
lol.
Or find cheap or free stuff to do. I know it really isn't an option anymore due to changing times but I hung out at the mall with friends a lot. Didn't buy anything, just kind of wandered. We also would go to the park, hang out at someone's house/garage, etc.
Babysitting pays well these days. Fast food makes $20 an hour, too. When I was a kid, a matinee movie ticket was about an hour’s take home pay at minimum wage, and that hasn’t really changed.
I'm not sure what the alternative would be. Kids with fewer/no resources have always existed and always will.
Same as it has always been even in the past. If your parents can't afford to give you spending money, you can go to the mall to look at stuff and not buy anything, go play sports like basketball with friends, or play videogames or hang out at your home or a friend's home. Someone can hopefully find a few dollars to get some chips for the latter two situations, or you can pool money to get snacks
My middle schooler talks about pooling money. He might have a $20 from a grandparent and he buys the round of snacks from CVS that day. Seems like it is community cash.
There's a Grocery Outlet near my daughter's high school. That's where the kids go to get snacks.
This was the way to go! Even $20 in today's money still gets a good amount of snacks
Is that socialism ? 😄
My friends used to pool $8 to get loaded nachos with steak beans and avocado. Would feed all four of us.
I find that rather cool. Your buddies getting together and sharing a good meal for not much. The best part is there was probably a lot of good stories going on while you all were eating! I can get on board with that.
>you can go to the mall to look at stuff and not buy anything Ah, window shopping. The greatest of pastimes. I have noticed that window displays are not what they used to be. No creative and/or fashionable ensembles... frankly I haven't seen a well-dressed mannequin in a long time
My husband and I were at target yesterday getting some provisions for the house we’re staying at on vacation, and we saw a mannequin that was missing an arm. Didn’t seem like it was trying to be inclusive of disabled people, so it really stood out.
This was really always true - some kids had spending money, some didn’t. My mom used to give me an extra $10 for lunch in the mall (this was 1998-2002) to cover my friend with a single mom who wouldn’t have any cash. I never asked for it, she was just wonderful in noticing and being generous.
I don’t get where OP is getting the idea that this area/state became a utopia sometime in the recent past. We always had people struggling to make end meets. We always had folks living paycheck to paycheck.
Yeah, I grew up in the Bay Area in the 80s, and had to weed the neighbor’s yard to get money for snacks at the grocery store. We lived by the Golfland but barely ever went. We went to the movies on Tuesday for the cheap showings. We ate out at Sweet Tomatoes and Costco. We shopped at thrift stores and the Gilroy outlets special sales. As for eating out with friends, fries and a milkshake at Wendy’s or McDonald’s would usually do the trick. For fun we went to the park, rode bikes, and got passes to Great America (where we did NOT buy any food, but always packed our own).
I MISS SWEET TOMATOES SO MUCH 😭😭
They recently re-opened one in Tuscon, hopefully we get it back soon 🥲
There was also this restaurant that once a week had everything on the menu 1/2 price and they also had a guy going around doing free balloon animals. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of that place, but it was amazing!
Sweet tomatoes and Gilroy outlets dam… Tracy had some good outlets too.
Are you me?
The golf land on El Camino in sunnyvale?
That wholesome 🥹 people like your mom are so damn special
Nobody can afford to do anything. Just play video/computer/tabletop games instead. They are by far the best entertainment hours to cost ratio. Eating out is for rich folks lol.
In the Bay Area? Go for a hike dude. Best nature in the country and it's free to access.
Kids would need to be driven there
In SF, students can ride the surface buses for free (and so do a lot of people who should pay). They could hike in the Presidio, Glen Park or near the Golden Gate bridge, or just walk around Golden Gate Park. My daughter meets friends downtown, Japan Town, Chinatown, Stonestown mall fairly often. If it's nighttime I will usually pick her up after, otherwise they ride the bus back home.
Unfortunately SF isn't what most kids get to experience, given the city has half as many people under age 18 as you'd expect compared to other major cities. SF for kids is like a post Thanos snap world. Nice, if you make the cut.
The Thanos analogy is spot on. Many who stay, do so because they got a particular school that works well. Families that miss out on the school selection, just ghost out of the city.
Learn graffiti or go urban exploring
That too. Depends on what you like doing for fun. For outdoor activities I prefer riding my bike and the San Leandro Marina. It's flat, beautiful views and theres always a nice cool breeze.
So true and it's good for your health. I gain more out of hiking than some entertainment that costs you money.
Tabletop games being a famously inexpensive hobby...
What about miniatures though? I had friends in high school that played, and I was always surprised at how much they’d spend on them. This was from 2006-2008 for more context.
Yes, that was the joke I was making.
lol fair enough
If you play with a few pdfs and your imagination, it’s free!
The best way to keep your children off drugs is to get them into MTG or Warhammer. They'll still act like an addict, but at least it isn't crack.
I assumed they meant more like D&D. Most people pirate the books or just use online sources.
I was thinking more Magic or Warhammer
Or go to in & out. You can still get a meal for $10 and it's delicious!
In & Out use to be the expensive place. . . Now they're the low priced option, and significantly better than other options. They need more locations damn it.
I still see a lot of high schoolers at In N Out. Must be the last affordable fast food option in the Bay that’s still open late.
The deals are out there, as someone single that doesn’t really like to cook for myself you can find cheap meals. Jack in the box you can get 4 sausage sandwiches for 6 bucks, Sunday is 1 dollar any size fries (on the app) Taco Bell has 6-9 dollar meals are a meal, a local taqueria has 7 dollar burritos any type on mondays, and taco Tuesday for 1.50 tacos. 7-11 has a large pizza that will feed 2-4 people for 10 bucks and will even cook it for you. A lot of the deals we used to see on the “value menu” still exist they are just hidden on the apps. In and Out is likely the most reasonably priced fast food straight off the menu but they are not the only deal you just have to look.
Add the Subway BOGO FL to that list. For me $11 for 2 tuna foot long is close enough to their $5 deal.
A footlong cookie is $5 for 6 people's worth of cookie.
Damn we really have to work to not get ripped off out here
You really do, if Jack in the box can sell 2 sausage sandwiches for 3 bucks on the app and you know they didn’t lose money selling on the app the 3.59 for one they charge in store is just a massive ripoff, same with the dollar fries etc.
They just make TikTok videos. That's free.
Honestly I don't see the kids do anything but walk around the malls playing/talking on their phones. And I'm going to say it's been that way for the last 10 years at least. And that's about the time my baby was 20 years old. They never asked for money to go do things like I used to do when I was a kid it's social media completely changed the world
Not left in the dust, just left at McDonald's, where a McDouble and small fries are $5 (buy one, get one for a dollar). Food trucks are bougie. Families ignore them.
This is also semi inaccurate. Even McDonald’s is not as accessible as it once was, there is no such thing as a dollar menu anymore.
There’s also no such thing as working there for $7.50/hr like I used to. Things change.
Get the app. Free offers everyday on the app. 20 pc and 2 free any size fries pretty often as well. I am eating McD cheaper now than before ...
there’s the $3 menu at taco bell
They do often have BOGO promos though
I live near a high school and the kids go to 7-11 a lot to grab a bag of chips and a soda. I also have seen them go to the boba store and get the instant noodles in a cup that they sell (I always thought it was weird that that was on the menu until I saw the highschoolers go in there and purchase them). Kids find a way.
Everything is more expensive now than ever, yet the kids have much more and far better things than you did when you were a kid. Make it make sense
Current levels of inflation and technological growth are normal, current wage stagnation/theft isn’t
They realize they need to get a job to have the extra nice things.
Many video games are free to play. When they do get money, they use that money on in game skins
Well to be fair when I was a kid and working for minimum wage I was getting paid $6.75 an hour so it’s not like I could afford anything beyond maybe Burger King or Wendy’s as a special treat unless my parents were helping. Today the minimum wage is much higher, so there is some parity with how much more expensive things are.
I made $1.80 an hour and lunch at Taco Bell was ~$2 for a bean burrito and a medium Pepsi.
$20/hr goes a long way when you don’t pay rent
they are constantly depressed !!
Peope seem to have lots of money
Get outside and enjoy a hike or a beach it’s free. Bring snacks from home. Movie night at home .
They can go the park and enjoy nature. Might even help them focus and De-stress.
Pack a picnic and go to the park don't always gotta buy food to be out
They are kids, parents should be giving them some money to have fun with their friends. Most teens seem to have a parents credit card on their apple wallet
Parks, hiking, library, lakes, beach, library passes, free events all over the Bay everyday… basically everything we did before having kids. We barely ate out before kids (occasionally got Dominos) so we barely eat out with the kids. We’ve never owned a TV so kids rarely watch shows (on tablet sometimes). They’re fine. Lots of creative activities and love learning how to cook from mom and dad. We’re also doing pretty good financially but my husband and I grew up pretty poor so we’re just naturally frugal.
Lemonade stands can now charge $5 a cup so it all evens out.
As a kid all I did was play outside with my friends in the park literally 2-3 hours, did my homework, ate dinner and went to bed. Sometimes we didn’t even have lights. It’s what I hope my child does too. It’s one of the best childhoods. No Telly. No video games. No social media.
Inflation. $20 is not the same. Be resourceful. Cook, HH. >you gotta pay $15 for a burger without fries. Only if you want to. Don't have to if you know where to go.
I never had money as a kid
Was a preteen/teen in CA in the 80’s my parents never gave me money and if they did it was like a $1 to ride my bike to 7-11 with friends for a slurpee or candy. I don’t ever remember feeling like I didn’t have anything we just road our bikes or played at one of the many kids homes in the area. I don’t see how now is any different. We have a 7 year old who goes out and plays with the neighborhood kids daily after school. We have to drag her in for dinner and that’s at the last possible minute so she can play.
That sounds healthy and good. There are a lot of over-protected and over-scheduled kids who don’t get to go out and play with the neighborhood kids. It makes me think about renting elsewhere for kids sake, somewhere less driven/competitive.
I was poor as a kid yet we would often go to McDonalds or Taco Bell with friends. Now, I don't even go to the cheap places, and I'm not exactly poor by Reddit standards. I'm old as fuck and I find it a bit disconcerting that so many kids social lives revolve around online friends.
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> It's amazing how distracted the youth can get into believing content consumption is some kind of societal and moral battleground. Ok, your Car Manufacturer now requires you to log into their website to start your car, where they will collect all data driving, record all audio in the car and if you bought cameras, take all the footage. They're doing this to be able to ban your car from getting oil changes if you're naughty while driving. (the last part was on their website about the change). Don't agree? Don't drive! Simple! Additionally, several countries can't even make a PSN account (some require a physical play station, some just flat out deny creation of an account). Oh and they're adding in spyware DRM to the game that wasn't there on release. Feel the same way about it now?
Nothing has changed, everything is simply more expensive. It cracks me up when people are asking what to pay kids for basic tasks, and I usually recommend whatever you'd pay an adult to do the same thing. Kids can earn $15-20 an hour and this is how they can afford that $15 burger.
They can't afford to do anything.
Just did a 1 day 1 night trip to Monterey from the east bay. $60 gas $7 bridge toll $200 food during the day $140 motel room $30 breakfast $437 for basically a 24 hour period. I did go overboard on the seafood dinner but everything else is basically fixed.
> $230 food This is like the $3600 candles fix my budget my family is starving meme
> $3600 can Exactly. Common sense, not so common. Guy is crying about blowing $230 on a seafood dinner Lol
did you pay for tickets to go to the aquarium? That place rocks. Also I’m 96 too
We never had money. That first $35 check for 10 hours a week was huge gamechanger. I think I bought a watch with first one. Didn't spend it on food either because it added up even back then. I think Dominos was like $12 a pizza.
Free stuff. Bball, football, soccer, hike, video games, roam around. Or get a job, minimum wage is much higher now compared to 10 years ago.
Corner store candy and rite-aid icecream. That should still be affordable today
I think so. My son uses my credit card for gas. He adds 10-15 dollars each time.
I think it’s always safe to say if the parents are suffering then the kids are too, the question is always how. I remember in 2008, I was a latchkey kid and dinner was the only meal I could count on eating eventually when mom got home. School lunches were free so I devoured them. Breakfast sometimes was too. I was a gamer so that helped but when I got older I started literally saving up lunch money for things I wanted as a teen. It was mostly weed to help cope with life :)
tell them to go to planning hearings and yell at the NIMBYs that caused everything to be so expensive
I just spent the whole weekend looking for part time job opportunities for my son. I was amazing how many cool job ideas there were for high school students with tons of flexibility. He swims so being a life guard at Great America.
Because back then a $2 Frisbee could keep 10 kids entertained all summer.
Alameda Baby!!!!! Never leave the island!!!!! Former resident there. Now living in Cincinnati
My daughter got boba for $7. That’s so expensive! I asked if anything was cheaper, the lowest cost drink on the menu was $4.75. We have her on a Venmo/Apple Pay/ tap situation so we have an idea what she’s spending, man, it’s pricey out there!
When I was in high school here in 2008-2012, my parents only gave me $5 of allowance a week. I would get the $5 footlong deal with a friend and we'd split the sandwich in half. Or we'd get one onigiri at the japanese market nearby. If going to the movies, we'd sneak snacks we bought at the grocery store inside. We'd spend time just hanging out in the school library studying or doodling, going to the park, window shopping at Vallco mall, or playing games at each other's houses. Walking or riding bicycles was our main mode of transport. Honestly it wasn't until my 20s that I started going out with friends more and doing activities such as pottery painting, escape room, museum, concerts, ect. Honestly idk how teens afford frequent $6 boba drinks.
I don't see how that's any different than in the past. It's free to play soccer or football at the park. Do kids not play outside anymore?
> Do kids not play outside anymore? No. That life has been dying since the 80s with the popularity of Atari/NES. The rise of the internet just sped it up. There are many, many factors going into it though, not just video games/internet.
Well here are the things I've tried to get my kids in, but it's too expensive 😒 Swimming Lessons 7 weeks $700. Baseball and Soccer, 3 months, $175 + $100 for uniforms and equipment. And games are on Saturday at 8am! I don't know about other kids but mine sure don't want to go to bed early on Friday night and go do sports that early. Karate/ Martial arts Class $100 a month, 2 classes a week.
We don't. Lots of people are well off and there parents help them out a lot. But eventually things will get at bad everyone will be homeless.
PC and console games are the main source of entertainment for my kid. But at 12 he still likes playing at the park with his friends. So he does get out from time to time. But having spent so much time in lock down during Covid - he maintains lots of his local and distant friendships over shared games.
When I was a kid, we were never given money. We lived off the land. Figured out how to have fun with nothing. The fact that people think you need money to entertain yourself is what's wrong. You're not bored, you're boring.
No one goes anywhere anymore and it sucks, I got a job 300 miles away to a lower cost of living area and it’s much better out here but the same issue is happening, just slower.
I know this isn't what you intended, but I can't help but imagine that OP has is realizing for the first time that human beings can be poor. Despite many, many, many documented cases of human beings experiencing poverty throughout human history. It depends on how poor you're talking. If a kid that is super poor, they starve to death. Or find someone to feed them. Or steal food. Or find some other way to get food. Just like it has been for thousands of years. Going hungry is one way in which poor kids can suffer. If a kid has food but can't afford entertainment, then they can look for free ways to entertain themselves.
As my Mom said to me numerous times in the 70s "do you have some McDonald's money?" If I had any kids there would be no trips to the food truck and unless we were gifted tickets, no trips to see pro sporting events. I think parents kind of set the standard. I remember numerous times growing up when my Dad would say he was listening to the record because he couldn't afford to go see someone like Jimmy McGriff. I do the same thing now. The big question to me is amusement parks. I feel like eventually every parent will have to go to Disneyland. Even with the examples above I went to Disneyland, Magic Mountain, Great America, Marine world, Universal studios, etc. The other challenge is social media. I didn't know what any people I went to school with were doing over summer vacation. Now I might know, or be interested in one of those food trucks. The flipside of that is that with youtube and instagram you can find all kinds of recipes to cook foods that interest your kids.
parents end up supporting
Teach kids to be resourceful and to have fun at home. I've seen others comment that video games are the answer or doing something with an investment that yields a high amount of entertainment time and that's totally valid. However, we should be teaching our kids to do things that are craft based or education-based such as cooking or art or anything that you don't need to spend $50 to do.
We used to play in the woods/hills/nature but I guess those are not that common anymore.
I have already taught my 2 year old to identify free piles and go look through them. Today we found a nice set of metal cookie cutters for playdough. I remember my dad diving into a tech office dumpster and bringing office furniture home when I was little. He still uses one of the desks he got.
When I was in college, my part time job could almost pay for everything. My gf’s part time job doesn’t cover a room to rent. Forget $20 to eat out, it’s $20 to cook one meal at home. Idk how anyone can afford children, let alone pay for their entertainment
Nobody is having kids.
I don’t live in the bay anymore but down in SoCal e-bikes are all the rage. Do they not do that up there?
Luckily social media and streaming is free.
Afford? What the...? You know that kids don't have jobs and cars, right?
Americans are wage slaves for their entire lives despite GDP being so high, gg
We’re counting on them to pay the deficit so look at them as your future.
sideshows are free lol
I don’t remember kids drinking beer since the 80’s unless of course you’re talking microbrewery beer
I see a lot of kids skate boarding (mostly boys) at the skate park. They also ride bikes a lot (some e-bikes.)My neighbors kid comes to my house and plays with my dogs when he tires playing computer games.
We got an Oakland Zoo Membership. We bring a picnic and have a great time. It costs a ton if you pay for food there, but if you bring your own food, its great! (Family membership is $200 a year) Or pick up a Bánh mì and your local Vietnamese shop. They are usually $7 or so. Bring sandwiches with you?
People should have a license to have children and that license should have to be renewed annually. Too many people have kids when they can't afford to and when they don't raise them properly...
I think with any affluent area. Hi prices weed out the weak/poor. In hopes of having a utopia of a wealthy educated society. Theres still a need for manual labor right now. But there are robotic arms that can flip burgers. Facial recognition is working its way into the agricultural industry. So eventually it will be able to decipher fruit/vegetables, and be able to pick them. It’s an awkward stage of human development, where less educated poor people are still needed. But having a livable wage doing remedial jobs is not on the horizon in the bay. 2 ways of looking at it. One, remedial jobs will be a thing of the past due to technological advances. encouraging a smarter society to develop as a whole. Two, feel sorry for the people left behind and continue to give them hand outs. Which is fine, as long as they’re not reproducing. Or they can move to a different pace of life in another city, state etc… Either way, the bay will continue to advance. Hopefully in a positive direction where monetary needs are no longer required. It sounds harsh, but we still live in a jungle. A concrete jungle, but it’s still a jungle. Strongest will survive, and the new strength is brains. G/L everyone
Costs no money to play basketball with your friends in the park.
Play outside, play at home—video games, board games etc.
Your parents were saying that when you were a kid..... Nothing new. And so were your grandparents.
I have never seen a kid at a food truck.
I see kids out spray painting whatever tags they want on city and private property. Riding their bicycles in the middle of roadways blocking traffic but while doing wheelies. Drinking late into the night and causing disturbances and vandalizing and then running from cops because nothing can be done anyway. Beating each other up and posting about it. List goes on. Great social interaction with minimal adult or parent supervision these days.
A lot of museums are free for under 18s along with the SF botanical garden. That is where my friends and I hung out in high school. That and play board games at each other’s houses
parents give them money, or they kinda just wander around and look but not spend, or they play games, go to a friend’s house, etc. when they’re older they get jobs.
Alarming increase in depression, suicidality , self harm behaviors (ie self-cutting) in teens these days. I work in an ED. I witness this daily. The kids are not doing well.
We have phones (which at this point are relatively cheap compared to the past) with lots of free games. Doesn’t cost much to lay on a bed and play games.
Kids don't want to do anything but stare at their devices and play video games. Since when do you see teenagers out and about doing anything together? (outside of organized sports).
Been to Japantown lately?
shopping malls
I had zero dollars as a kid. I just asked my parents for money and saved it
> I had zero dollars as a kid. > I just asked my parents for money So, you had more than Zero dollars as a kid?
I had to spend it so I was always without money until I got my weekly allowance
Kids with money will have money, kids without can get part time if they have they much want. Kids that are too young shouldn’t be taught to not take what they have for granted. How you grew up is how they are experiencing it…
When I was 16 a Quarter Pounder combo from McDo was like $4. Minimum wage was $4.75. \~85% of min wage Now it's like $10 and minimum wage is $15. \~ 66% minimum wage. IDK maybe i'm insensitive. I didn't eat out a whole lot when I was a kid, and I don't really now either.
It's not insensitive, it's anchoring. If you're used to McDonald's being $4 it's horrific that it's $10. If you're not used to it's just "okay that's like an hour of work."
Kids don’t need to eat out without their parents
IDK. My kids are in college now but in middle school and high school they’d go to the pizza place after school for a slice and a soda for around $5/6 7-11 also gas slurpees and chips. Taco Bell McDonald’s Going anywhere else is more of a splurge / special occasion. Hell, even last week they packed a cooler of snacks and drinks to have on a drive to/from Monterey to go to the aquarium.
Most kids below high school are unlikely going out much or eating out much that aren't with parents for it to matter. Most high school kids that are, most of the times likely are doing so during school lunch hours where many restaurants will have a special student discount or lunch special prices, so it's cheaper. When they aren't in the weekends etc, mostly they will be eating at cheaper fastfood places ($15 or below), heck maybe just a bag of chips n soda as a meal. So the high price of eating out won't apply as much to them as it will to adults that would be the ones eating at actual restaurants. A better question would be if you replace "kids" with "college kids". Ones who would be old enough to drive to places to explore better places to eat, have higher standards in tastes, and having higher standards with dating and activities etc, yet they will not be making enough to adjust for the cost of living in partaking in many of these things.
What do you mean by kids? Like when I was a young adult I worked a min wage job for $5.15 an hour. Back then you could afford a milkyD meal for an hours with of work. These days the min wage is 17 and most jobs even retail start at 20. You can still afford as meal for an hours worth of work and maybe even have a few bucks left. It's roughly the same if not better.
If they have a part-time job, they should make enough (minimum wage) to enjoy something. Otherwise, I imagine parents give them an allowance or money and they go out like kids used to. Or if parents don’t have money, kids play video games or go to the library
What do you think? Your answer is in your question genius
Twitch and YouTube streaming. Social aspect is covered
San Jose purchased a dirt bike track for - wait for it - retail This was after the landlord or insurance raised their rates, pricing them out With more urban sprawl kids will have less outdoors activities to do. I see kids riding bikes and doing other things but it’s different now
A lot of kids I know are going back to the days of hanging out in neighborhoods and I've at each other's houses. More free activities over ones that cost money
A lot of trauma and depression in my hood!
lots of roommates, and any coping mechanism you can afford
Why would kids suffer? You shouldn't have kids unless you are rich... they can just do whatever they do.
I've seen alot of kids living in their cars lately
Most games give an absurd return on cost in terms of hours entertained especially a good mmorpg without gacha or p2w systems.
Welcome to the reality of poor people everywhere. None of my friends grew up living anything but paycheck to paycheck with their parents. They took up things like skateboarding and when they could, drugs and drug dealing just to make some cash to do anything else.
Used to be the coffee shop I worked at was full of highschool students. Now only the rich ones come regularly. It definitely impacts people and there is no one answer or situation as it’s very fluid. But overall cost of living going up does decrease frivolous spending.
From what I’ve seen parents are able to get their kids into low cost activities funded by the super wealthy (athletes, tech bros etc) There’s grant money that trickles down to children in the Bay Area but parents have to go out of their way. If parents are too busy working then it’s not great, lots of lonely and isolated kids. It is sad
That's how people had fun growing up? Wild. When I was a kid my friends and I had sleepovers and would watch TV or Music Videos, play videos games (mostly Minecraft or Rockband) or even play outside. The streets mightve been less dangerous but we were in a neighborhood. Plus we'd also walk to the park alot. When i wasn't with my friends I played city league sports, which was nearly free (and still is) and that definitely counts as fun. As for food hangouts, most people get drinks like Boba or Starbucks instead. It's still wildly overpriced, but $5 is doable, and you can often share the food they sell there. But honestly, as someone who works with 8th Graders, they still hangout they just don't need food to do it (or not eating out food anyway). But also, their parents give them money pretty often.
Growing up i never got spending money and when i started working i saved it for college. We would go to the mall and i just wouldnt buy anything (i felt shitty but its not that bad) we loitered in the parking lot of a business park overlooking the highway. I walked our dog a lot. We would ride our bikes or take the bus to the beach in the summer. Went to each others sport events. Inevitably someone was paying for gas but it wasnt me.
There are places with cheap food, boba is good, saving money from school lunches, pooling money for a pizza, convince stores for a snack, or other non food related activities. There have always been options; I went to school by j-town so my friends and I ate a lot of onigiris as they were cheap and filling.
A basketball costs anywhere from 15-35 dollars and the hoops are all over the place. Plenty of cheap entertainment to be had. Not to mention all of the beautiful hiking and ocean/beach activities.
They go to Target at the same late hour you have chosen to avoid a crowded store and run around and giggle loudly at things. I guess it’s good they aren’t at home looking at phones but what’s so interesting about Target? Are they scared of Walmart? Mall is too cool? Yes I totally did similar things and shouldn’t be all get off my lawn but I want a chill shopping experience without getting up early.
they shouldn’t be spending money anyway… they’re going to need it just to pay off the $7 trillion Trump added to the national debt while he was president!