“More time on Facebook, less driver’s licenses. It might seem like an absurd sort of zero sum game to play, but it actually makes a good deal of sense. Thinking back to my own early car-driving days, I recall exactly what I did after exiting the DMV: I drove to my friend’s house who lived across town. Then to another friend’s. I beamed, I probably tried to act cool, maybe I awkwardly leaned up against my parents’ Subaru. Then I went home.
Both were friends who I’d previously had to get rides from Mom to visit, and both were girls, so that used to be embarrassing. Now I could talk to them without anyone cramping my style, on my own terms—the way tens of millions of teenagers are currently Facebook chatting their friends right now.”
-Brian Merchant, in the Motherboard article “How Facebook and Brooklyn Killed America’s Obsession With Cars.”
Though I don’t live in Brooklyn, I can relate to this being in a one-car family. I’m less interested in driving now than I’ve ever been in my life – I’ve commuted to work by bus for about six years – but I still would prefer a good road trip over time spent on Facebook any day.
Image via Wikimedia
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