Time was when the bus shelter, bike shed or street corner was regarded as meeeting places for the youth of the time. Places where you could have a puff on an illicit ciggy, a quick fumble, or whatever turned your mojo on – away from the prying eyes of the ADULTS. Nowadays it’s all digital; the meeting places are more likely to be Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, WhatsApp etc – but not Facebook, which is now seen as the territory of the over 50’s. Technology, which in theory should have liberated teenagers, has instead trapped many. Their lives have become narrower and more transcribed; banned from many open spaces such as shopping malls, not allowed to ride on public transport unchaperoned, online public space is for many the only public space they have. Most of them are addicted to their phones and their computers, and this is where their friendship groups live. Online. Digital Friends. IN A DIGITAL WORLD.
Oh for a return to a less complicated,more innocent time!