When we were kids we depended on adults to take us places. We became adults at 16, when we could finally drive ourselves places. Uber is trying to romanticize childhood for adults who will never grow up.
In Good Time depicts this future:
A young couple is shown organizing their romance around their Uber pick-ups and drop-offs. One shot shows the guy clambering out of the back seat of his Uber – just as he probably did when he was eight, with the only difference being he’s not strapped into a “safety” seat that his mommy has to let him out of first.
The ad – the propaganda – follows the couple through their romance, break-up and getting-back-together again, all around their Uber pick-ups and drop-offs. Many of us went through something like this . . . back in seventh grade. But then we grew up. More finely, we were encouraged to grow up, by our parents and other adults, who wanted us to be able to drive ourselves to wherever we wanted to go. It was a near-universal right-of-passage for GenX (and older) people who not only could not wait to get their driver’s license at 16 but almost without exception did. Very few ’70s and ’80s kids did not have a driver’s license the day they turned 16 because they wanted to be adults and other than being able to legally buy booze, the thing that once defined “adult” was not being dependent on adults for rides.
Then something changed. By the time the Millennials – who were born in the ’80s – reached driving age in the mid-late ’90s – many didn’t get licensed the day they turned 16. Some not for years afterward. This disinterest in driving – which can be seen a disinterest in growing up – has only worsened.
If by “worsened” you believe it is infantilizing to never grow up. Or to delay it.
Here is a sad stat for you: A majority of driving-age Gen Z kids – those born between 1996 and 2012 – don’t get their first license before they turn 18. As of 2012, only 25 percent of sixteen-year-olds have a license. “Even older members of Gen Z are lagging behind their Millennial counterparts,” says The Washington Post. “In 1997, almost 90 percent of 20- to 25 year-olds had licenses; in 2020, it was only 80 percent.”
“I’ll call an Uber or 911.”
This sentiment is something almost no ’70s or ’80s kid would have understood. It’s why there were no Ubers back then. Just mom and dad or your older brother or sister – and the sooner you weren’t forced to depend on them (and be on their schedule) the better.
What account for this growing disinterest in driving?
Well, there are several likely explanations, beginning with the change in driving privileges – as our former right-to-travel is now styled. Before the ’90s, when a sixteen-year-old got his first license, it was not a restricted license; i.e., the newly-licensed sixteen-year-old had the same privileges as any other adult. He could drive anytime anywhere. With his friends, too. That changed beginning in the ’90s, as the Safety Cult became the national religion. Graduated licensing became the new thing. A sixteen-year-old could drive himself, but not his friends. Nor after dark. This made getting a license a lot less adult-like for the self-evident reason that an adult who is not allowed to drive anytime he wants to – and who cannot drive with his friends (or his girlfriend) in the car is still a child under the supervision of the adults. One of the main drivers that prompted teenagers of earlier generations to get licensed was not so much to drive but to be able to pick up their friends – and their girlfriends – and drive together somewhere without parents along for the ride.
Take that incentive away and there is much less incentive to get licensed.
There is also an antecedent factor that likely bears on the matter. Those born after Rrrrrronald Rrrrrrrrreagan left office grew up strapped into “safety” seats, which imparted a none-too-subtle message to kids that cars and driving are dangerous – as well as no fun. Kids who grew up before the laws got passed requiring kids to be strapped into “safety” seats – and their parents to “buckle up” – grew up regarding cars and going for a drive as fun. If you were of that generation, you probably got to sit on your mom or dad’s lap and steer the car while they worked the pedals. Or at least,, you got to ride up front with them – as opposed to being strapped in the back, like a pint-sized felon on the way to prison.
So, cars – and driving – became “dangerous” as well as no-longer-freeing. A 17-year-old today is in a position comparable to the position a 12-year-old was in, back in the ’80s. So he plays the part.
Cars have also gotten to be burdensome. They are very expensive to get and insure – especially the latter, if you’re a teenager or young adult. Who wants to shoulder the responsibility?
Why not just call Uber?
Make it “fun” to wait for your ride. Just like being a kid again. Forever, this time.
. . .
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $25 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
If you’d like a Baaaaa hat or other EPautos gear, see here!
Man eric – this is the funniest shit I’ve ever seen. Turns me off using uber when I’m in the city. I can just imagine the “diverse” marketing department that made it and thought it was a good idea… Really thought the dude was a gay and the woman was a friend…. i mean he’s definitely not getting laid (doubt he even wants to!)
on a similar note – my wife’s cousin got divorced some time back. One of her main annoyances with the guy was “he didnt drive and didnt even want to learn – I cant keep driving him everywhere and Ubers are such a pain!”
Nutz.
Much of the world has simply gone absolutely, nutz.
Sadly, thw world has not gone “nutz” at all..
The “agenda (2030)” our (((overlords))) have designed for all of us Goyims is simply becoming clearer to the more observant among us.
There are still many ways to be able to get inexpensive cars, ie, FB marketplace and other sites, but the deck is stacked against young drivers/people. By the (((FEDGOV & STGOV))) oppressive regulations that are supposed to protect us all, LOL.
So I try to give as much support as possible, not just my kids, but their peers as well. Looking a potential cars, talking about problems, working on existing cars, and encouraging kids to start work ASAP so they can build a financial future.
And talking about moving to other countries, away from this disaster our government has created!!
In Ohio, you are not even an adult at 18, when it comes to driving.
Starting September 30, 2025, Ohio drivers aged 18–20 must complete a full driver’s education program, including 24 hours of classroom/online instruction, 8 hours of behind-the-wheel training, and 50 hours of supervised driving (10 hours at night) to obtain a license.
(Source: Google search)
Nutz. Regulatory capture has achieved dominance.
It’s all obscene.
Ohio is a Disgrace. As is every State.
They all fail to live up to their potential.
Freedom and Liberty are, ‘four letter’ words and enemies of The State.
I was borned in late 1981. I didn’t get my first driver’s permission slip until I was 18 because of the high insurance cost my parents had to pay.
I hate it that life dealt you that card. For all of my youth, it was understood that insurance was up to those who wanted to be insured, and that driving on public roads which tax Dollars paid for was a right, not a privilege.
All that changed along and about the time you were borned.
I would be in the same boat as you. You were robbed.
Plain, and simple.
Morning, Helot –
Yup. When I was a new driver, insurance was easy to skip because the DMV was not tied in with the insurance mafia. All you had to do was check the box that said you had “coverage” and – so long as you didn’t cause a problem – there was no problem. Imagine that.
Watching that ad reminds me of the DINK videos that was out a few years ago. DINK ~ duel income no kids.
This article actually meshes perfectly with what I actually saw at the car wash yesterday (gulf coast of FL) – an absolutely pristine Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser wagon! It seriously has been 2-3 DECADES since I had last seen one. A vehicle that in its day would have been dismissed as the “Family Truckster” or “Mom Mobile” now seems almost impossibly exotic. Where back in the day a kid would probably say to mom “you’re not picking me up in THAT” would now be the coolest kid in school for being picked up in something other than another generic crossover, complete with “safety” seats.
The 21st Century truly sucks ass.
Totally, MQ!
I took the TA out yesterday; people always give it the thumbs up but what really made me happy – and sad – was the little boy who jumped up and down and pointed at us as we drove past their house. Even though he is much too young to understand, he knows.
The poor kids
Nothing was more fun than riding in “The Way Back” of one of those things, MQ. Extra fun if the “Way Back” had a reverse seat (couch), so you could watch the drivers behind you and wave. Seat belts optional, of course. Ironic, also, Eric, in how the little boy instinctively knew that the Trans AM was (is) jaw dropping in a good way. No one is going to react like that to a stupid, EV or EV-That-Looks-Like-A-Charger-But Isn’t”. And never mind the looks, hearing the engine roar in the Trans AM? Sigh…it is like a little slice of Heaven.
Cars were affordable back in the day (70’s-80′). I bought my first car, a 68 Camero for $1,500.00. In today’s funny money that would be equivalent to $8,800.00. There are no used Cameros for $8,800 for sale. Do you think another contributing factor why young people have given up on cars and driving was *Cash for Clunkers* that destroyed a whole market of used cars?
I do , Hans –
Also: I have a way to personally as well as factually gauge the situation. I have owned my ’76 Trans Am for more than 30 years. I was not only able to afford to buy this car back in ’95, when I was a young guy – I was also able to easily afford the gas. It cost about $20 to fill her up. I could not afford to buy a car like my TA today, because a TA in the same condition as mine was (and still is) back in ’95 would likely cost at least $25,000 today – and that would require financing at usurious interest. It costs about $100 to fill the tank now. I can only afford to drive the car occasionally now. Why? Because I am poorer today than I was 30 years ago, when I was young guy just starting out. I was able to afford a mortgage on top of the car and gas, too. The only reason I have my TA today is because I bought it 30 years ago. The only reason I can afford to put gas in it – occasionally – today is because I don’t have a mortgage, today. I am living on the fumes of the past, in other words.
If I were 25 today, I’d be pissed also.
Absolutely this. We are all poorer than we were 25 years ago, and much poorer than we were 35 years ago. I have a big collection of antiques, but the only reason I have them is I’ve either kept them, or have sold and bought more when some stupid offer came along.
I was sold on the idea that if I just pushed myself through engineering school and got that degree, I’d be able to buy myself something like a new Corvette and a few years later would have the Ferarri.
What I got was decades of all the profit being stolen by taxes and “child support”. I know I’m not alone.
Hi Ernie,
Yup. My buddy (we’ve known each other since we were teenagers) talk about this regularly. His son is 20 and it’s unlikely he’ll have his own home before he’s 30 (as his dad and I both did). It’s infuriating. The kid is a hard-worker; but even if he works harder than we ever did, I doubt he’ll ever have what we have.
“ What I got was decades of all the profit being stolen by taxes and “child support”. I know I’m not alone.”
God forbid that you would have to take care of the children you fathered.
If you think “child support” has anything substantial to do with children you are grossly ignorant of reality. If you think it requires fatherhood to be stuck with it that goes double.
“ If you think “child support” has anything substantial to do with children you are grossly ignorant of reality. ”
FAFO.
Lol – wants to run other people’s lives but can’t manage his own.
Classic hypocrisy from our “elected officials”
Read some research, Anon. Farrell, Baskerville, many more. Child support is thinly-disguised single-mom support. Men get trapped into fatherhood with no choice in the matter (only women have choices), or simply have their kids kidnaped. It’s an extortion racket that openly violates numerous constitutional rights and it’s been going on for many decades. Yet no one talks about it, no media report on it, no one notices the damage to men and kids it causes, no politician discusses it.
When the topic does come up, men are always blamed, as with everything in the modern feminist police state.
Eric,
I was thinking of another factor why young people, especially males, aren’t into cars, de-emasculation of the species. Part of owning your own car back in the day, besides getting from A to B, was finding chicks. As Harry Chapin once sang in the song *Taxi* :
“It was somewhere in a fairy tale, I used to take her home in my car, We learned about love in the back of the Dodge, The lesson hadn’t gone too far.”
Not too many soyboys are thinking about the opposite sex. And if they do, they get into big trouble at high school or college. Better and safer to go gay or trans. Who wants to be accused of rape when you ask a girl for a date.
I digress.
That’s some Super weird sheet: “Not too many soyboys are thinking about the opposite sex. And if they do, they get into big trouble at high school or college. Better and safer to go gay or trans.”
IF that’s how things are. Wow. Super fucked up world we live in.
2010 Camaro RS for $8,000 in Farmington, NM.
https://farmington.craigslist.org/cto/d/farmington-2010-chevy-camaro-rs-ss-2ss/7925020668.html
“ There are no used Cameros for $8,800 for sale.” Hans the Goober
Don’t you just love how so many of the commenters here are so ignorant of the automotive world around them. On an automotive site. They make ludicrous statements and then when confronted with the data as Kyle posted, mysteriously they go silent.
Good point Hans,
“Cash for Clunkers” was probably part of the overall plan to make cars so unaffordable that eventually no one would be able to drive independently of the matrix.
My first was a 70’s Vega station wagon. It was a piece of work but by God it was mine. Bought and paid for by me at the ripe age of 16. The Vega was a beater that had low-ish power but got ok gas milage. Today’s teens can’t or won’t find entry level jobs much less buy a car.
“Why not just call Uber?”
The situation in large cities is a little bit different. Letz face it, most people live in large cities these days. This is where young people congregate to meet and hook up. Small towns are dying and the young are moving to large metropolitan centers because that’s where the job opportunities exist. The cities are very crowded and traffic and parking is a bitch. Owning a car in the central parts of cities is very expensive.
Uber for these people makes sense from a practical and economic point. I have never used an Uber or Lyft but I did drive a cab for a short while way back when, so I am kind of familiar with the type of people who use these.
When did a taxi ride become nostalgic? When Silly-Con Valley got hold of a business model they could milk.
Remember the GM holiday ad featuring a malaise-era Suburban and the nostalgic couple looking back across their family life? This is the same thing, just instead of an old busted up family hauler it’s nostalgia for an iPhone app.
Biggest difference is that the Uber couple cut bait at the first sign of trouble and returned to childhood. Even at the end they got back together (implied) after hooking up at a costume (cosplay?) party. When there’s no skin in the game it’s much easier to bail when there’s trouble.
And of course the ad has the now standard feminized incapable weepy falsetto male in it.
The taxi is iconic in art.
Jarmusch’s “Night on Earth”
Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver”
“Conspiracy Theory”
Borgnine’s key scene in “Escape From New York”
Even exploited for the sappy romantic, like the cab scene in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” it can be alright just on the basis that was a 1957 Plymouth Savoy. Even the cabs used to be cool.
This ad is superficial tripe by beta males circle jerking themselves that they’re producing actual artistic contribution. Bet it scored well with their target market.
All I can say is it’s a fucking up world that a can’t stand today.
Where to go? Many malls,,, and restaurants stores deny younger entrance without mommy and/or poppy escorts. If your treating them like children,,,they’re surely going to act like children. Today even adults are treated like children. Most boomers ‘freedom’ ticket was a high school diploma. Today,,, college and beyond…
‘Graduated licensing became the new thing.’ — eric
Yep. My son’s first license had a 9 pm curfew. One night he got stopped at 9:10 pm, about a mile from home. In the small town culture that had prevailed just a generation ago, the cops might have just called his parents to pick up him and the car.
But in the new impersonal occupation regime, the cops had the car towed — to a place miles away, with stiff daily storage fees — and we had to pick him up at the police station, along with a notice of his court date. Nice guys! To protect and & serve, etc.
In an unexpected way, though, he got his revenge. By the time the court date was scheduled almost a year later, he requested a postponement on the grounds that he was away at college, a thousand miles distant. It happened again the next year. Finally, he received a notice that because his case was stale — over two years old — the prosecutor was obliged to dismiss it.
The wheels of justice ground so slowly, they finally just shuddered to a halt. 🙂
Truly, we are a sheet nation for all that to happen.
RE: “he got his revenge. By the time the court date was scheduled almost a year later, he requested a postponement”
I’m glad he avoided the b.s. from The Monster, however; to call it revenge? That’s a stretch.
A couple more factors that may be driving lower driving rates might be that almost everyone has a smart phone now so instead of being bored while you wait for your uber you watch tick tock videos instead. Young people have less money, so cars that are easier to fix yourself are more likely to be older and rusted out where salt is used or turned into hot rods if in better condition that would tend to increase prices.
Sky high insurance costs doesn’t help either.
Good point about insurance. Maybe, you didn’t know this, but for ALL of Time, “Young people have less money”.
However; this was Super stoopid: “so instead of being bored while you wait for your uber you watch tick tock videos instead.”
Seriously, LAME.
As in, LAME.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lame
“you wait”?
Yeesh. Passive Loosers?
…I can’t even…