What do teens do for fun?

[Anonymous]

What do teens do for fun besides play on their phones? I was a teen of the 90s, we'd go to the movies, the mall, go bowling. I just tried to go bowling and it was $100 for 3 people so I'm guessing teens don't do this and malls are no more. So what do they do besides watch youtube! Feeling sad for this generation.

[Anonymous]

Mine is 16 - her and her friends go to the mall, hang out at houses (bounce between different ones), make tik toks videos together, go the park (usually at night), sit on roofs and talk, bake, go to movies, go out to eat at restaurants, shop downtown, shop at thrift stores (goodwill outlet bins is really cheap). In the summer lots of swimming. Around the holidays they went to see Christmas light displays.

It all sounds like a bunch of nothing but their social network is huge so they keep it interesting by mixing in new friends and new houses to visit, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Oh and they also go as groups to school sports games - fall it’s football and winter basketball. Lots of sleepovers - they seem to keep themselves entertained during those.

I know that it’s always talked about that teens now just sit on their phones at home all the time but that’s not my experience. My teenager is super social though.

[Anonymous]

That is so refreshing to hear PP. That really doesn't sound all that different.

[Anonymous]

Mine go to the gym a lot, go to the park to play football with friends, hang out with friends watching movies at one of their houses, to the movies, out for bubble tea, to the mall, to the beach...

[Anonymous]

They definitely still go to the mall. We live in MoCo and my kids go to the Westfield, to Rio or downtown bethesda and just walk around and get food. They play video games together either online or get together. The younger girls will do makeup together or nails. There’s a lot of talking about people at school, complaining about teachers or assignments or whatever. My younger one will maybe go ice skating with friends. They go to movies. I agree bowling and such don’t seem as big as when I was a teen. They meet each other at the gym too.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea. My son is really reserved and doesn't get together with friends a lot. The only non-electronic thing he likes is the sport he plays, and occasionally watching a movie. It is tough.

[Anonymous]

My 14 yo son takes the bus with friends to downtown Silver Spring to see movies, browse the Nike store, get food. They also get together to play football or soccer, sometimes they just bum around our local parks, walk to Starbucks. Last week they went sledding and skiing. They do go to school sporting events, go to someone’s house to watch a movie. It’s really not all that different from my experience as a high school freshman.

[Anonymous]

I'm with you op, I was a high school aged teen in the late 90s and things were largely the same as you described. My friends lived in the neighborhood with me so we didn't even need to go out to have fun. It is sad all teens seem to do us screens and organized activities. We also managed to have fun without getting into trouble as well.

[Anonymous]

My boys both play a lot of sports so they have practice, games, matches 5-6x per week. When they don’t have actual practice, they often play the same sport with friends. Hanging out is usually rotating between friends’ houses and they still go to the mall. They may watch a movie, go eat or get bubble tea or a smoothie. Both boys get invited to a fair amount of parties.

[Anonymous]

Pp again. Both kids went sledding with their friends during the snow days this week. One kid went to the mall. Other kid went to friend’s house and the parents took them out to dinner. They went to cox farms fear night in the fall. In the summer, they go to the local pool or friends’ pools. We are members of a country club and we occasionally bring their friends.

[Anonymous]

I hate when people say, back in the day, we did x, y and z. Right, but back in the day we did not have the options of ipads, cellphones, computers, vr headsets, etc. We also did not live through Covid as a child where we could not see our friends, classmates or family members face to face so we were forced to communicate to loved ones through technology.

[Anonymous]

Son takes metro to Tyson's mall with friends. Plays pick-up basketball or soccer at the neighborhood park. A lot of videogames with friends, it's a lot more social than it may seem. Noodles around on a guitar

DD doesn't metro to the mall mainly because one BFF's mom keeps a tight rein on her.
The girls walk to Starbucks, go to movies, hang out at each others' houses. When alone, DD likes to draw, paint and write stories. Also reads a lot and plays a little Minecraft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hate when people say, back in the day, we did x, y and z. Right, but back in the day we did not have the options of ipads, cellphones, computers, vr headsets, etc. We also did not live through Covid as a child where we could not see our friends, classmates or family members face to face so we were forced to communicate to loved ones through technology.

Covid and lock down were/are a horrible unavoidable event. Kids/teens being on screens too much is totally avoidable. You can't even compare the two.

[Anonymous]

Concerts and festivals
Movies
Out to eat at restaurants
Hang out at people's houses