A recent article in The New York Times by journalist Amy Chozick adds to the surmounting evidence that the attitude of younger generations towards mobility is quickly changing. Those between the ages of 18 and 24 are turning out to be more caring and aware of others and their environment, leaving behind old values and consumer needs.
http://thecityfix.com/blog/millennials-show-apathy-towards-cars/
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I'd recently read some other article about millennials as being shiftless layabouts, and one of the examples given was that fewer of the young people today are doing what are certainly Objective Growing Up Landmarks such as getting drivers licenses. That was pretty "Heh."
The original NY Times article is pretty funny too. Confused by the young people being all "fuck yo cars," auto manufacturers turn to the youth culture monolith of the 1980s for guidance. Confused by the trend toward "fuck yo cars," auto manufacturers turn to the youth culture monolith of the 1980s for guidance.
lmao "The strategy is to infuse General Motors with the same insights that made MTV reality shows like “Jersey Shore” and “Teen Mom” breakout hits. " Yes, well, I guess the lesson learned here is "bring back the AMC Pacer" because those shows are popular because they are human disasterpieces.
This urban-centric perspective fails to capture the 90%+ of millennials that don't live in cities or within metropolitan areas served by public and regional transportation networks. I suspect among the vast majority of this demographic, automobiles remain very important.
Statements like "Those between the ages of 18 and 24 are turning out to be more caring and aware of others and their environment, leaving behind old values and consumer needs" definitely sound good. Based on those statements, it's easy to believe that today's youth is not falling in the same traps that the previous generations did.
But here is another piece of research that indicates that the decision has more to do with down-to-earth, selfish reasons: "The fact that teens are more likely to rely on high-tech social interaction is clearly considered a factor in the delay. But there are others, including the weak economy, high unemployment among the young, a growing migration of young people to urban centers where cars are less necessary, and the high cost of owning a vehicle."
It doesn't need to be for Conscientious Virtue Reasons that they're seeing cars as less valuable and necessary. Being able to see cars as unnecessary massively-expensive entropy boxes for purely selfish or practical reasons and setting up their lives to not need them is a plenty good trend.
The waning of Car Culture is good to watch for whatever reason it happens.
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