To think 16 year olds don't go out to clubs and parties anymore?

[Todayisaday]

I was in secondary for the 90s, and at around 16, we were all clubbing and going to raves, pubs, gigs and generally having a whale of a time. I know my parents generation were out a lot too by 16.

I know quite a few 16 year olds children of friends and relatives and they don't seem to go out very much at all like that.
Am I unreasonable to think that this generation are not party people??

Asking as so much culture and new music was created in generations past and fuelled by younger generations pushing boundaries. But either I am old and zi just dont know about these things, or youth culture is genuinly stiffled. They seem to all listen to 90s music atm 😂or mainstream music?
What do you think about it? What do you know that I don't as I am too old 😂

I was going to clubs most weekends aged 16-17, I had an NUS card that I'd hand written the wrong date of birth on, that was enough to get me let in most of the time!
I understand it's much stricter nowadays, which is definitely a good thing - I got into some unsafe situations.
The flip side of course is that by the time I went away to Uni I had learned to be a bit more sensible.

Maybe you didn't enjoy it but I absolutely loved it and had a blast. I mean it's my worst nightmare nowadays but I have good memories

What 'appened to them 'Youf Clubs'?

A game of ping-pong, a can of warm Coca-Cola. And reading out loud the letters from the problem page of Womans Weekly.

Those were days

Teenagers are so mollycoddled now that they'd probably not even be allowed out that late anymore 😂

Good point, we had no phones, or phones that did not have internet or cameras . The whole instagram look was not a thing. Just went out, in whagever you wanted and came back looking bedraggled and there is very little eveidence of what happened in between . It was a lot freerer and no pressure.

Me too, I had the time of my life. I was into the rave scene and we were out till 6 am and catching the first train home in the morning.
Earlier poster said about the cameras on phones now, I think this is a good point. If every part of those nights were captured it would have felt so pressurised.

My 16 year old DD has grown so much in independence as her bf lives over 3 hours away by train so she's had to learn the confidence to travel. She doesn't go out clubbing as such as limited here but definitely to gigs and days out without us.

It’s a shame in a way - not so much the binge drinking, but the socialising was awesome. I started to go to gigs when I was 14, both big arena concerts and local bands in pubs and festivals. It was relatively cheap and easy to get tickets in the 90s.

It was the time of northern rock.. they were handing mortgages out like candy. Got 110 percent mortgage on a 60 grand 1 bed with my boyfriend at the time. He was an NTL engineer and I worked at phones 4 u. Was cheaper than renting at the time so we did that.

That does seem to be a big change these days - I used to go out to the pub at 8ish and move to a club at 11pm when the pub closed (yes, showing my age here).

Whereas the DC often don't go out until 10 or 11, having been round someone's house for drinks first. Which means they don't move to a club until 2 or 3 so they generally do come in very late (or early depending on your perspective). They also go to McDonalds after clubbing and kebab vans are less prevalent.

1980s- 16 year old me didn't
1990s- 16 year old DSis did, in spades, all fake IDed up.
2020s - 16 year old DS wouldn't dream of it. There doesn't seem to be that culture, but this age group spent the ages of 11-13/14 under some kind of social restriction and didn't really learn how to be teenagers until GCSE work kicked in,

It’s sad that teens don’t dance as much anymore.

New research out today says dancing is one of the best treatments for depression! Also a great way to bond with friends and have a snog on the dance floor.

There's three main differences now I think.

1. Places are a lot hotter on ID. There were loads of places where I could get into at 16 without ever being asked for ID. That's not the case any more. Literally everywhere is shit hot on ID
2. It's too bloody expensive. Nights out that would have cost me a tenner now cost £50 I could pay £3 entry to a club, £4 for four beers on pound a pint night, and still have enough for a taxi home. These days its a tenner to get in, £5 a pint (because the deals just don't exist any more) and then £15 for an uber home
3. Phone cameras everywhere. Everyone in my generation made a tit of themselves regularly when drunk. And the next day, you woke up mortified and then discovered noone else remembered because they were also pissed. However now it's up on TikTok for the rest of your life.

Yes 100% mortgages on flats costing 100k ish which meant monthly repayments were cheaper than paying rent…there were lots of these around in the noughties. I know loads of people who got on the property ladder age 22 this way, including in London.

On the plus side you don't still reek of smoke 24 hours after going out, despite having changed all your clothes, washed your hair and had two showers. And no one has burnt a hole in your favourite top with a cigarette end.

When I told my DC that this used to be normal for a good night out, they looked at me as though I was bonkers.

What passes for dance music these days is crap compared to what we had in the 70s and 80s. Nothing takes me back to my clubbing days like Off the Wall by Michael Jackson. Sorry ‘n all that, I know we aren’t meant to listen to him any more.

Yes, I noticed this and my now adult DC still go out less than I used to at their age. A lot of their social life is at their friendship group’s respective homes.

I think the combination of how hard it is to get away with underage drinking now combined with the cost of drinking out is a factor. For those whose middle teen years coincided with Covid, that also set precedents about how to socialise that haven’t gone away (much like for many adults, too).

Aren't clubs in general dying on their arses? Young folks these days would rather have a matcha tea and film themselves doing a skincare routine than go out dancing.

It’s much more difficult to get served these days. When I was 16, no-one cared. Now there are big fines for venue and staff member, plus the implications for their licence, meaning they’re much more “on it”.

As for no young people going out - the state of my local city centre on a Friday and Saturday night begs to differ. There’s a reduction, certainly, in young people getting plastered and drinking, but still a substantial majority who still enjoy socialising in that way.

Be thankful your kids are more responsible than you were 😂 if your biggest problem is that your kid isn't a piss head that's your problem not theres the pub is the most boring place on earth who wants to hang out with the old bar flys!

I am 😂but I do think nothing clears the cobwebs like dancing all night with friends.
With all the mental issues surrounding young people, they arent getting that outlet, and even if they do go out it is being filmed and posted in real time.

I was 16 in 1986, started going on pub crawls, never been asked for ID in those days, one pub landlord told me and my mate, that he would never ask a lady her age😅

I left school and got a factory job, lived for going out, we went out Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, could get half a Carling for 55p, cheap date

The good old days😁

I've just remembered an under 18 disco we all used to go to on a Friday night .... we were 14/15 and used to drink in the park before heading there. The eldest looking in the group could usually get served in an off licence in those days (early 80s).

mother of a 17 year old who is desperate to go to pubs and clubs with his friends who have already turned 18 - most places won't let him in

I’ll go with two reasons

1. you can’t get away with “fake id” as you did back in the day
2. it’s hugely more expensive