According to the latest studies and surveys, young people are not interested into driving as much as their parents were. Back in those days, driving a car was one of the most desired things among teenagers and young adults. But, it seems that modern young people have different priorities. So, what exactly causes this decline and why is this happening?
It seems that the answer to this question is more complex and there are different factors that contribute to this trend. We will now analyze some of these factors.
To start with, if we look at the numbers we will see that the population growth is much slower than before. The number of newborn children is decreasing compared to the figures from 1980s and even more compared to 1960s. This trend will continue in the next few years, so we can’t expect that there will be more young drivers in the following years.
Another thing that makes young people stay away from cars or at least drive less than young people a few decades ago is the emergence of the Internet. The World Wide Web has brought many changes in the lives of young people. We can all agree that young people spend less time hanging out with their peers in the real life and they have replaced this socialization with social media. In the past, people had to drive to see their friends. Today, they only have to log in onto their Facebook account and they can communicate with their friends and see what’s going on in the world. They no longer need to drive to local libraries to find information about anything and they also don’t need to drive in different parts of the city to buy clothes or other products because they can purchase things online. This is definitely a characteristic for the younger generation – most of online shoppers belong to this category of people.
Furthermore, the price of oil and gas has forced many people to rationalize the use of cars. In the past, many people used their cars to drive around and have fun. Modern people use their vehicles only when they need to. The modernization of the public transport systems also had impact. People can use subways, trains, modern buses and other transportation means to reach any destination. On top of that, there are many low cost flights and increased number of flights.
Another reason why young people are not driving as much as their parents is the fact that most of them are aware of the damage that frequent use of cars is causing to the nature. These young people were raised to respect nature and they are doing their best to avoid pollution and don’t want to cause pollution. Of course, this problem may be solved with the use of hybrid and eco-friendly car models.
Young people will continue to drive cars, but the truth is that their use today is decreased.
editor@urbanmediatoday.com