Shopping In Ghost Town

[Mark K]

Teens don't need to cruise the malls looking for the hookup any more. It's on their phone.

Yeah, so much for cruising the drive-ins in your muscle car w/ a 6-pack of PBR trying to attract the opposite sex.

Nowdays they sit in the back seat of an UBER cruising their phones on the way to the Apple store to gawk over the latest I-phone.

 

[George Hatch]

That's if they even bother to get up from their couch. And why would they, unless they just wanted to get out of the house.

My granddaughter is closing in on 13, and when she's here for the day she's a zombie. She's got the same personality type I have so I understand that she doesn't need a social circle beyond the 3-4 friends she has at school and Girl Scouts, but it's still disconcerting to see her spend as much time in front of her phone as I spend in front of my desktop.

 

[djd09]

Give them time. Some of those large shopping centers sites are desirable real estate that can be redeveloped into nice parks or government buildings!

Well based on the Malls i see closed, that is 20 plus years. Lucky for one, they had amazon buy it. That isn't happening often.

 

[Riick]

Kids!
WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KIDS TODAY?

 

[techbiker]

That's if they even bother to get up from their couch. And why would they, unless they just wanted to get out of the house.

My granddaughter is closing in on 13, and when she's here for the day she's a zombie. She's got the same personality type I have so I understand that she doesn't need a social circle beyond the 3-4 friends she has at school and Girl Scouts, but it's still disconcerting to see her spend as much time in front of her phone as I spend in front of my desktop.

I was eating at a local restaurant a few weeks ago when I noticed a family sitting a few yards away. The parents looked completely dead and their young kids were engrossed in their iPads. The kids didn't even seem to look away from their tablets to give the waiter their orders. I'm glad tablets and smart phones weren't a thing when I was growing up!

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Had lunch today and a little girl not over 6 years old calls her brother a ****head loud enough all close could hear. Dad ignores it. Mom tells her that is a dirty word and don't say that again...I wonder which taught her that or did she learn it from TV or iPad ?

 

[Evincere]

I was eating at a local restaurant a few weeks ago when I noticed a family sitting a few yards away. The parents looked completely dead and their young kids were engrossed in their iPads. The kids didn't even seem to look away from their tablets to give the waiter their orders. I'm glad tablets and smart phones weren't a thing when I was growing up!

We have a new family ph rules because fortunately, we also have a growing awareness of how phones can destroy interpersonal relationships. For instance, If we go to a restaurant everyone puts their ph on the table, they’re collected, stacked and put to the side. No peeking, checking or texting.

There’s finally literature now warning about how obsessions with phones and social media is causing our youth to become withdrawn, isolated, zombies. Our new universal babysitter. It’s imho like a disease. Thing is...while there is tremendous amounts of information out there and available I’m not sure people are getting any smarter.

 

[George Hatch]

My wife works with me - and has for many years - so we're together all the time. As a result, we tend to stretch our daily interactions with each other all day long, not just between the hours of 6:00 - 10:00 in the evenings. That means that when we go out to eat we don't really engage in a lot of small talk. We already know how each other's day went and what the latest is with our kids.

I'm sure that someone watching us from the outside would think we're indifferent or mad at each other even though that's not the case at all. Not everyone can handle being with their spouse all the time.

 

[Renee Healion]

A friend came to visit me from out of state. We went a nice restaurant and had a great time catching up. He's brilliant so the conversation is always interesting. My son knows the waitress and mentioned to her when he saw her that she had waited on his mother. She said "Oh yes she was here on a first date, I remember!"

I thought that was hilarious. You could mistake us for a date, I suppose. Two different genders, almost the same age. He was dressed nicely, I was too. He is gay. I am not and anyway it would not have constituted a date even if I were...It was just the "first date". I decided it was because we were talking avidly, and so, obviously not married!

 

[Artemis Fowl]

My wife works with me - and has for many years - so we're together all the time. As a result, we tend to stretch our daily interactions with each other all day long, not just between the hours of 6:00 - 10:00 in the evenings. That means that when we go out to eat we don't really engage in a lot of small talk. We already know how each other's day went and what the latest is with our kids.

I'm sure that someone watching us from the outside would think we're indifferent or mad at each other even though that's not the case at all. Not everyone can handle being with their spouse all the time.

Wife and I can spend an entire day together in separate rooms. Just the way it can be when you grow that close. Clingy/needy does not appeal to either of us.