Gen Z are lonely and paying for activities to make friends

[Anonymous]

This isn’t new.

Kids and young adults have always joined clubs and most groups have fees of some kind. App dating is the same. To be able to filter you have to pay.

Gone are the days of organic social interaction. Not really, I’m being dramatic, but this is the future and millennials were similar, and gen Alpha will be the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

Junior League, country clubs, bowling leagues, etc. Incredibly common.

were they mostly made up of 18 to 24 yr olds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

The Masons, the Oddfellows, the Eastern Star, just to name the ones my grandparents were in, even when they were twenty somethings. In fact, my dad said he "had" to join the Masons at age 22 in order to be promoted at work.

Then there was the Rotary, the bowling clubs with matching shirts, the rec leagues, the local photography club, the Women's League, the Junior League, etc...

Almost every older adult I know paid some sort of dues to be a member of some sort of club. It's my Gen X generation who didn't do that.

OP here.. so maybe that's it. I'm also Gen X, and the idea of paying to make friends is not normal for me. But, I also grew up in SoCal, so I don't know.. maybe it's regional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

Bowling leagues

Seriously. Look it up.

ok, but bowling leagues aren't hugely popular. Not a lot of 18 to 24 yr olds were or are joining bowling leagues.

But, if people did join bowling leagues, it was because they wanted to bowl, not because they needed friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

Bowling leagues

Seriously. Look it up.

ok, but bowling leagues aren't hugely popular. Not a lot of 18 to 24 yr olds were or are joining bowling leagues.

But, if people did join bowling leagues, it was because they wanted to bowl, not because they needed friends.

Bowling leagues WERE popular. Exercise class passes are just the 2023 version of that. You get out of the house and spend some time doing an activity you like with other people. Plus if you think people didn't join bowling leagues to make friends, I don't know what to tell you. They did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

The Masons, the Oddfellows, the Eastern Star, just to name the ones my grandparents were in, even when they were twenty somethings. In fact, my dad said he "had" to join the Masons at age 22 in order to be promoted at work.

Then there was the Rotary, the bowling clubs with matching shirts, the rec leagues, the local photography club, the Women's League, the Junior League, etc...

Almost every older adult I know paid some sort of dues to be a member of some sort of club. It's my Gen X generation who didn't do that.

but that was for work, not to make friends.

Even if people today are joining organizations, then why are they more lonely than ever?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new.

Kids and young adults have always joined clubs and most groups have fees of some kind. App dating is the same. To be able to filter you have to pay.

Gone are the days of organic social interaction. Not really, I’m being dramatic, but this is the future and millennials were similar, and gen Alpha will be the same.

yea, I know, and I think that's kind of sad. Like everything has to be organized for people to make friends.

Is Gen Alpha after Gen z?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Country clubs? Isn’t this the height of buying friends.

Of course, but it’s very effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new.

Kids and young adults have always joined clubs and most groups have fees of some kind. App dating is the same. To be able to filter you have to pay.

Gone are the days of organic social interaction. Not really, I’m being dramatic, but this is the future and millennials were similar, and gen Alpha will be the same.

yea, I know, and I think that's kind of sad. Like everything has to be organized for people to make friends.

Is Gen Alpha after Gen z?

We spend less time doing the typical things that people used to do together (church groups, community service groups), so it makes sense that we have to join other things to meet people. Especially with people working from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

Junior League, country clubs, bowling leagues, etc. Incredibly common.

were they mostly made up of 18 to 24 yr olds?

My ILs had their first kid by 25 and 23 and the second one two years later. And hell yeah, my MIL was in junior league, their country club, etc. as soon as they moved into their first home.

Most folks didn't go to college (my ILs did), were marrying in their late teens/early twenties, and were bowling/playing cards, etc. Adolescence ending in your mid to late 20s is a recent development.

[Anonymous]

My father made his friends in Vietnam. Kickball League is more fun and cost-effective.

Stop hating on people who are going out and putting good in the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's what the "greatest generation" did as well OP, they liked to join clubs and organizations. It's fine.

? they paid to join organizations as 24 year olds to make friends? Which organizations were those?

US military at that age

[Anonymous]

My grandfather went to a pubic house and paid money to sit and drink with his friends. That must have been the beginning of the social collapse when meeting people and hanging out cost money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t new.

Kids and young adults have always joined clubs and most groups have fees of some kind. App dating is the same. To be able to filter you have to pay.

Gone are the days of organic social interaction. Not really, I’m being dramatic, but this is the future and millennials were similar, and gen Alpha will be the same.

yea, I know, and I think that's kind of sad. Like everything has to be organized for people to make friends.

Is Gen Alpha after Gen z?

alpha alpha

[Anonymous]

THat what happens when schools are closed down for 4+ years