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 look back on my clubbing days with fond memories. Pretty much at even 15 in the Midlands we could get in anywhere. It is now much tighter and Police and bouncers much more vigilant. On balance I think we were blind to the dangers a bit. Guys in their 20s (and probably older) buying shorts for us when we were clearly under age and not that street wise. If I had a daughter I would be worried if she was now out like this.

They can't afford to!! Price of alcohol through the roof but there aren't many clubs left anyway to go to. My two teens tend to go to house parties and also don't really drink thankfully.

By 16 I was going into town (Dublin City centre) frequenting many pubs and clubs with our fake id and getting last bus or night bus home. Everyone was doing it you knew the bars to go to and they were full to the brim with underage teens, every now and again they'd be raided with hundreds of drunk teenagers running out of the place. Clubs were large warehouse type venues with really low cover charges now everywhere is expensive, pretentious and ticketed. I was a teen during the 90s. I don't think teens have massively changed just night life has in general

It’s blooming expensive these days

I remember going to indie gigs in London in the mid 90s, tickets were £8-12 a go and you went and queued up for them.

Now it’s an online bunfight needing special codes and whatnot and costs £80+

Clubs, drinks, all more expensive. And start later.

And ID as people have said already

Pubs and clubs are definitely a lot stricter now. No ID no entry.

IME pubs and clubs are a lot stricter these days, and scrutinise ID before allowing young people in.

DD didn't turn 18 until after A levels. None of the pubs in town allowed in under 18s after 10 pm so she didn't go clubbing until she went to university.

She doesn't really like clubbing and prefers to see a live band instead.

I have early adult children.

iD is much more of an issue. DS went clubbing a few times but thought it expensive and over priced. They mostly go to open mic nights, out for bubble tea or to late night dessert places (apparently that’s the new trend).

he doesn’t drink and neither does my DD.

I would have never been like this. Occasionally maybe, but all my parents brag about even now is that when they were young they were out every night getting pissed and they think they were great.

To me, it sounds a bit sad that they think being pissed every night of the week is the meaning of having a good time, when in reality that’s all their teens and early 20s lives really consisted of and they were probably over compensating for something, but then I guess we’re all different in what we find entertaining!

Maybe it’s the area we live - large, well connected village 10 minutes train ride from medium sized lively city, 60 mins train ride from London but my son is 16 (year 12) is ALWAYS out at a party, a “gathering” or a 16-18 club night which are on, usually in London about once a month. I was sociable at his age but he’s on another level! I’m happy for him but it’s sometimes quite stressful! 🙃

Too expensive now, as well.

Neither was any 16 year old in the 90s . . Didn't stop them though.

Oh good, yes. I am HUGELY grateful that my teens/early 20s,(80-90s) when I did much of my partying, and admittedly behaved terribly (but in a fun way!), were not in an era of phone cameras! There are (luckily!j very few photos in existence of this, the odd one taken in film and developed), and I’d have hated every minute of this if I was born later and I don’t think I’d have enjoyed myself as much. Later on, first with digital cameras, and then phones, there are more photos, still nothing too bad, and by the time that camera phones really became a thing I was obviously not living the same life. Same with SM, I’d have hated to be growing up in the early part of the century onwards, and have everything documented, and been far too self conscious if they were as common then as they are now. There are many photos of nights out, meals, festival, gigs etc still on SM that I haven’t used in ten years or so, but that was ok. It would be your own friends sending you requests to be tagged in photos (fb mainly, back in the 2000s/early 10s, but I’d imagine within the last ten years especially it has changed so much, it seems like everything has to documented through a screen of some kind, which I realised many years ago that meant that you wouldn’t just be able to enjoy the event, you’d just be documenting it rather than living it, if that makes sense. I used to take photos and videos of gigs, then realised that even if I wasn’t watching it through the screen I was still aware of it and when I stopped doing that (with exceptions of the best/wildest gigs!), I just seemed to be in the present much more, like I used to be before digital was everywhere, and I already had so many photos and videos of these things that I just didn’t need it anymore. And tbh, apart from looking through the videos and photos when I got home I rarely looked at them much afterwards anyway. I’m glad of the memories I do have recorded, and I’m glad I do, due to various reasons now, but to be a teen/young adult growing up in a fully documented, SM entrenched world now would be utterly miserable.

ID

I started going out at 15 in naughties, never got asked for ID and had lots of fun! However, I don’t think it was necessarily a good thing. We grew up too quickly and it was quite dangerous. We would frequently get chatted up by much older men. There’s plenty of time for clubbing in your 20s. By the time I hit my 20s I was bored of it. I’d seen it all before!

I was too, in the 80's. I think it's a lot harder to get in anywhere now, parents are more protective, and they aren't working - most of my friends left school and were working at 16. I had part time job whilst doing A levels. They also socialise less generally, and spend more time at home.

My dds are 22 and 24 at16 they went to the odd house party but they didn’t start going out until uni (it was lockdown tho) and even then everyone drank at home until about 11pm then went to the night club. Now they don’t drink really they tend to do activities with friends or eat out.

when I was 12 I started going to the local night club on ‘kiddies’ night for under 18’s no alcohol serves but we all got drunk before going in. Started going round town at 14.

i think whilst I had a lot of fun there was a lot of inappropriate shit I experienced too. I’m glad my DDs and their friends are less fixated on alcohol for fun.

Oh yes! Waking in the morning and having to wash your hair - several shampoos and rinses - before work/uni/whatever because you absolutely stunk of smoke! I think the ban must be almost 20 years ago now, but (and I don’t go out much these days at all), it all just seems so normal now. Whereas when I was younger, first 15/20 years of my “socialising” (I’m early 50s now) it was totally normal for smoking everywhere, and I was a smoker for parts of those years, but even I didn’t miss the smoking inside after the ban. It was most refreshing, and we smoked a lot less!

My 16 year old dd regularly goes to gigs that allow under 18’s. Usually with her older sister, but most of her friends would hate the ‘local music scene’ and aren’t into the same type of music. (There are some community based venues that allow under 18’s if accompanied by an adult and have some surprisingly good local bands on.)

The aforementioned venues are all in the city, which is a 45 minute drive from here though, so dh and I often plan a meal/drink in a nearby pub, so that we’re close by if needed and can drive them to and from. Dh also goes to some of the gigs, as they get their music taste from us, but we do make a conscious effort not to stifle her independence. It can be a tricky balance sometimes.

There are so many barriers for them these days. None of her friends drink , including the 18+ year olds, but even if there is somewhere to go, the cost of entry, plus drinks and travel makes it far too expensive and very few parents are willing to do what we do to enable their dc to have nights out.

I started going out at 16, so for me that was around 2008... when I think about it now, I can't believe my mum let me, but her reasoning was that she started going out at 16, so it would be hypocritical not to let me!

I don't think she would have been so relaxed about it if I wasn't so sensible. Plus I had a really lovely group of friends who made sure everyone stuck together and got home safe.

We used to borrow older friends driving licenses/passports to get into places. The bars didn't care - as long as you were spending money, and had ID that could be passable if the police stopped by, they let you in. I had so much fun between the ages of 16-18; you don't have any real responsibilities yet, you're just trying to have fun and make memories. I really think that period helped shape me moving into adulthood. By the time I left for uni 3 hours away at 18, I was ready and confident in my independence.

Gen Z seem a lot more reserved, a lot more anxious. Maybe they're worried about drunk photos haunting them online, seeing as so much of their lives are online now. It's a different time to 2008 when you'd upload a new photo album every week with approx 258 blurry photos taken on a digital camera of your night out 😂

Parties = definitely. Pubs and clubs = no chance of being served.

Even 18 year olds don't go to pubs that much, it's too expensive. Students go out a fair bit as it is a little cheaper with student discounts.

In my school there were girls going to clubs and taking Es regularly at 14 in the late 1980s/early 1990s - glad that is not a thing for 14 or indeed 16 year olds today.

> Maybe they're worried about drunk photos haunting them online

They are, and also what they or someone else may put online about them, which may affect things like getting a job, which is super hard for them anyway.

First time I went clubbing, in the early 80s, someone threw up on my foot. I was wearing sandals. 🤮

My DD doesn’t, but she is ND and has pretty bad anxiety, so probably not typical 16yo.

Judging by the teenagers I know, she sounds extremely typical! I think high rates of anxiety and neuro diversity probably factor into this

Analysis like this isn't meaningful unless you look at the wider context. I'm in my mid 20s but I wasn't allowed to go out clubbing at 16 despite having friends who did. But it's expensive pocket money I had at 16 wouldn't stretch to a night out in today's economy. Plus there's far stricter laws on ID regulation etc...

Thinking about people my age there's a decline in house parties etc because of the housing crisis, if you're not living at home you live in a hmo with no living room, how are you supposed to party, wages haven't kept up and drinking out is too expensive when housing costs are £££ and alcohol is expensive.

I feel like my generation and younger get bashed a lot without people looking at the wider economy.

As a Muslim family this just haven't ever been a thing for us.