Is “sitting in a car talking for hours” actually a big thing in America?
Posted by mechumechu@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 1132 comments
I’ve talked to a few Americans on an anonymous video chat site recently and one thing I keep noticing is how casually people mention driving around at night with friends with no actual destination 😭Like getting food at midnight, sitting in parking lots talking for hours, stopping at gas stations for snacks, listening to music in the car, driving through quiet streets, or just hanging out inside someone’s car after a long day.The way people describe it makes it sound like such a normal part of growing up there.. so the whole “we just drove around for hours” culture feels very American to me. I’ve seen it in movies too but now I’m curious how common it actually is in real life.
mrs_spacetime0@reddit
It's mostly an issue if there not being many "third space" (somewhere other than school/work and home) in a lot of areas. This is also why roaming around Walmart is a common activity for the youths in rural areas because it quite literally might be the most interesting free thing you can do.
Learningstuff247@reddit
As a kid I did it all the time
Unsure_Fry@reddit
Yep. This was core hangout activity when I was a teenager and early 20s. Drive around aimlessly, listen to music and talk to your friends. Take a break from the driving, stop at Wawa, and get a coffee at 1am then hangout in the parking lot.
dixie_girl_w_secrets@reddit
When I was about 18 or 19, I had a friend who lived down the street that I used to visit when I wanted to get away and every time we hung out we'd smoke (my parents didnt know). At this time, however, her grandparents were visiting and she couldnt smoke around them, so we got in the car and just drove around, screaming to the radio, each of us with a cigarette in our hand. We just drove around winding backroads trying to get lost on purpose because we had grown up there and we couldnt possibly get lost. We were gone maybe about 2 hours before I dropped her off back at her house.
Another time during the summer, me and a bunch of my friends had gotten together and went swimming in the lake but then we got hungry, so we pooled together whatever money we had (we were all high school/first year college students) and went to Little Ceasars and bought a couple pizzas just to eat em in the parking lot on the tailgate of my best friend's pickup truck.
Parking lots and driving is weaved into American culture. For teenagers, just having a car and a license is a symbol of freedom. You can go where you want and not have to worry about how to get there. It's the main reason I wish they'd bring back drive in movie theaters.
bernie_manziel@reddit
it was sheetz for me bc I’m from a diff part of rural PA lol
Traditional_Can_3983@reddit
KwikTrip and SuperAmerica in Northern MN
ehhhhhhwatevs@reddit
Circle K in Louisiana.
jorwyn@reddit
Circle K in Phoenix, too. 2:00 a.m. hot dogs with mustard and jalapenos. Spicy pickles and pouches. Icees. And my buddy's pick up had this huge antenna for a CB that was way overpowered, and it was on a swivel so we could lay it down to go through drive-thrus. And if you printed it at a coke machine and keyed up, it would make the Coke machine reset and drop a can of soda.
We would also go through the Taco Bell drive-thru and order everything with no mayo. I don't know why we found that so funny, but it was hilarious to us in our early 20s.
And we would go to thrifty (drug store) because they had 25-cent ice cream scoops. And we would go through couches for change, because a pack of smokes, a gallon of gas, and a gallon of milk all cost just under a dollar at the time. And then we were getting arguments about which one to spend the dollar on.
And we once stole an entire Denny's booth. For some reason they had a bunch of them sitting out back of this Denny's. I think it was being renovated, and one of my friends just got his first apartment. So we stole it, and that was totally his dining set for the next 20 years. It was one of those big round booths, too. Plus the table, of course. And with four of us riding in the back of that pickup holding that table and booth. Because who cared about safety? LMAO
MortAndBinky@reddit
I see we grew up around the same time in Phoenix. Sitting in the back of a pickup in the desert drinking and smoking.
mcsangel2@reddit
Me too. Back when strange things were afoot at the Circle K.
MortAndBinky@reddit
Every time I see that movie, I have to tell everyone "that's my mall! Metro Center!"
mcsangel2@reddit
I did that when I saw the movie when it came out! I was visiting a friend in Prescott. "That looks like MetroCenter......that IS MetroCenter!!"
jorwyn@reddit
Climbing up to the ridges in the mountain preserves to watch storms roll across the city is still one of my favorite memories.
Also, Thrasherland, which is apparently a junk yard now.
exquisite_conundrum@reddit
Sheetz is better than wawa any day.
emnuff@reddit
Silence. Heretic.
exquisite_conundrum@reddit
🤣🤣🤣 its true. And you know it. ❤️❤️
meowelbykins@reddit
They’re for two different things! Sheetz is for fried foods, but Wawa is for hoagies and coffee
jda404@reddit
It's Sheetz for me too, western PA. I've been to eastern PA, Wawa is okay but ain't no Sheetz. I've been to different states all have fine gas station/convenience stores, but first thing my family always does is hit the nearest Sheetz as soon as we cross into PA. Not a better gas station/convenience store to me ha.
Zombiiesque@reddit
Sheetz is in North Carolina, but I haven't found one anywhere in Florida yet. Keep hoping they'll expand, along with Cookout and Bojangles! (Although, there are a few Bojangles in Florida, just none near me.) Wawa is, unfortunately, everywhere here.
And it's far inferior, IMHO!
JDM1013@reddit
Bojangles has made it to Louisiana!
Zombiiesque@reddit
Get you some!
Muvseevum@reddit
Love Cook Out! Great burgers.
Zombiiesque@reddit
Right! And their milkshakes and sweet tea are top notch.
Euphoric_Ease4554@reddit
You’ll be happy to know that Sheetz is now in some parts of Ohio too. Northwest Ohio have the new Sheetz that I’m aware of.
NeuroguyNC@reddit
Sheetz and Wawa are working their way south and closer to me here, but the best we have are Circle K and 7-Eleven. (Meadville kid here.)
Muvseevum@reddit
I drive from Georgia to West Virginia and back several times a year, and I stop at the Sheetz at Troutman, which is the first one I hit.
Minute_Artichoke1354@reddit
The great Sheetz vs Wawa debate
Moravia84@reddit
I was at a Sheetz one night getting something and there was about 10 highschool kids in a couple of groups chilling inside at the tables. There were a few neighborhoods in walking distance and thought it was neat this was a hang out place. The manager got on the speaker and gave a reminder there were security cameras. I asked him if it looked like they were up to something. He said, "No, just keeping them honest."
Euphoric_Ease4554@reddit
Ebensburg has a fantastic Sheetz!😎
crtclms666@reddit
Scheetz is all over Pittsburgh, it’s not really a rural thing anymore.
StorytellerPerson@reddit
Hell yeah Wawa.
HMonster224@reddit
💯 (awarded for the Wawa shootout)
worrymon@reddit
I think you mean 'shoutout' but I can't be sure.
big_sugi@reddit
They went to the Wawa in the rough part of town.
HMonster224@reddit
I am from NJ, so do with that what you will...
railmanmatt@reddit
JTP!
Muvseevum@reddit
Jenkintown = hood
cstar4004@reddit
It just makes me think “Jenkem town,” and if you know what a Jenkem is, it is kind of an apt name.
crmrdtr@reddit
😂😂
xtingu@reddit
I'm old and from NJ so it was Cumberland Farms
worrymon@reddit
Isn't that redundant?
Zombiiesque@reddit
🤣🤣🤣
HMonster224@reddit
Lol, YES.
juneaujuice@reddit
Wawa and subway in the early 2000s were magic factories
NoseDesperate6952@reddit
Delaware?
HMonster224@reddit
Jersey
Several_Hospital_129@reddit
I remember a few years ago, a friend of mine was lamenting about her teenage daughter. My friend used to love hanging out with her friends as a teenager, just the way you describe above. Now her daughter just wanted to "hang out" with her friends on social media.
ContributionPure8356@reddit
Same but sheetz.
kaiareadit@reddit
I had a couple friends who would pick me up after my mother was asleep and we’d drive around the entire county, talking and playing music, sometimes picking up other friends. Ridiculously wholesome. Always made it back for little sleep and school in the morning.
iplaytrombonegood@reddit
For a lot of young people, especially in certain places, it’s the most convenient means of hanging out with friends away from adults. We can’t walk to anything, gas has usually been relatively cheap. I think our driving around with friends is like a lot of other places’ walking around aimlessly with friends.
We had that somewhat when malls were more common, but some places didn’t have malls, and they usually closed at 10 or sometimes even 8. And you’d have to pick everyone up and drive there anyway, so you’re already hanging out in the car before and after. I mean, I wasn’t around in the 1950’s, but there’s a lot of that in movies like Grease too, so I think it’s been a part of our culture for a long time.
PartyCat78@reddit
We called it Wawoffee. lol I had totally forgotten about that.
WhiskeyDeltaBravo1@reddit
K-Mart parking lot and Sonic. Good times.
Revolutionary_Pilot7@reddit
The old smoke drives through rural Pa
NateInEC@reddit
Wawa is east coast only...
bernietheweasel@reddit
Unless you are in Florida
grassesbecut@reddit
Florida is also technically part of the East Coast.
Zombiiesque@reddit
Right, Wawa is everywhere here. I wish we had some Sheetz!
gaberflasted2@reddit
We have 2 in port orange on the main street, but about a mile apart and on different sides. - always busy
cfbluvr@reddit
whataburger
Fabulous_Lawyer_2765@reddit
Just so you know- Wawa is a chain of convenience stores, mostly East Coast. There are other chains that get mentioned in this thread. The Americans are answering…but might forget that they are in a subreddit called ask an American, so not everyone knows what Wawa is.
mostly_elbows@reddit
Same, except no Wawa where I live. So it was 24 hour diners at truck stops for coffee and a piece of pie. Chat with the truckers and smoke cigarettes.
Legitimate_Top_1425@reddit
Kids drank coffee in the 1990s? We didn't
notabadkid92@reddit
We did as teens. End of the night stop @ Dennys. We didn't have Starbucks yet & indie coffeeshops were few
EloquentBacon@reddit
Where I am in the early 90’s there was Denny’s for coffee, one of the 5 million diners but just 1 coffee house, The Inkwell. I don’t drink coffee, never have, but I was still miss The Inkwell.
jorwyn@reddit
I can't even remember the name of the coffee house we used to hang out at. But it was near Arizona State university, and they had chess boards and a 5 gallon bucket of chess pieces. But you could not actually make one matched set. And most people didn't know how to play chess at all. It was just this wild free-for-all while we smoked cloves on the back patio and drank coffee. Well, I don't drink coffee, but they were willing to give me unlimited ice water. I definitely miss that place. Maybe not the place itself, but the people, and the vibe.
I miss hanging out for no other reason than to hang out. Seems like we all grew up, and everybody started scheduling their lives. And I moved back home. I got to find me a group of people who just want to hang out like teenagers.
nuglasses@reddit
We had the late night Dunkin Donuts with a long table.
earmares@reddit
We did. We'd go to the local diner.
functional_moron@reddit
Kids dont drive.
e1p1@reddit
When you're old enough, "kids" can refer to anybody under 30. And not as a negative.
HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit
100%
WhoWouldCareToAsk@reddit
I confirm both points to be 100% true 🫡
Such-Opinion3683@reddit
We did the same in the 90s, only we would first go to the dollar store to look at the makeup and then Dennys. I had the only car and a midnight curfew so our wandering was short.
ProfessionalBee4228@reddit
Wawa shoutout! Too real.
sircastor@reddit
Yup. We called it “cruising”. A few years later the city passed anti-cruising laws. I think it was mostly to manage traffic but there was a hint of “those darn kids!”
Rancisv2@reddit
What!? I mean, how tf they are enforcing that?
year_39@reddit
If you pass the same spot on a particular road for a third time within a few hours, you get pulled over.
squirrell1974@reddit
I'd be in so much trouble there. And the cops would probably be so confused, because instead of a car full of teenagers, they'd be pulling over a married couple in their 50's playing Pokemon Go
blusfn03@reddit
These people have clearly never done a DIY project at home that requires no less than five trips to Home Depot.
year_39@reddit
I was actually thinking of exactly that. It's officer's discretion.
jorwyn@reddit
I'm going to sit over here and pretend like I didn't make so many trips to a hardware store to buy fasteners recently that I drove further to a different hardware store because I felt ashamed eventually. Lol
Capsfan22@reddit
You see this in beach towns, where kids will drive up and down the main drag where there is already a lot of traffic, and the ones that get pulled over end up being the ones racing people and driving erratically. I see this enforced at times in Ocean City, MD.
crickettu@reddit
It so funny seeing Ocean City, MD. I live in Sacramento, CA and there is a sign on the freeway saying how many miles till Ocean City, MD. As a kid I always wondered about Ocean City. lol
Big__If_True@reddit
You probably know this already but for everyone else, US 50 starts in Sacramento and ends in Ocean City
ryguymcsly@reddit
I lived in a tourist area where all of the businesses were on one stretch of road called “the strip” which was the only place for 50 miles in any direction that had traffic.
“Cruising the strip” is why it had traffic. As a teenager we’d do it because all the other teenagers did. You’d run into friends and then park and get up to no good then get back in your car and do it again. Meanwhile old guys were doing the same trying to pick up teenage girls.
jaymzx0@reddit
I miss getting up to no good instead of getting up with a sore back.
Murdy2020@reddit
Probably a lot of police discretion and more often than not the result was a warning to stop.
RandumbStoner@reddit
"Stop driving your car you paid for, on the roads you paid for, using the gas you paid for to get a little bit of joy from it"
lmao
Finnyfish@reddit
If cruising young people are noisy and disruptive to a neighborhood and businesses, the neighborhood gets a say in it too. Those people also pay taxes and want to enjoy their property.
The law must always consider competing interests.
TheyVanishRidesAgain@reddit
Then they can pass noise ordinances if the actual problem is noise.
cans-of-swine@reddit
It's loitering more than anything else. I use to do that all the time in the early 2000's, and looking back we were very disruptive to people just trying to go about their day. We'd basically take over a section of a busy road, just cruising up and down the road, groups of people pulling into businesses parking lots to hang out and talk. Then as the night goes on and most people are home the racing and various other shenanigans start to happen...
Zarzavatbebrat@reddit
Yeah but should we all hide away so that we would never commit the grave sin of slightly annoying someone? I also get frustrated by that sometimes, but in my opinion it's more important than ever that people are interacting in person and with the lack of third spaces, what exactly is everyone supposed to do? When you're older, you may have your own space to hang out, but when you're younger especially it can suck. So if I'm ever bothered, I just sigh and move on.
KevworthBongwater@reddit
uhh, actually, fuck em?
RandumbStoner@reddit
Well yeah no shit
h4ppysquid@reddit
More likely, they’re looking for people who are drinking as well.
cptjeff@reddit
Bought a six pack at the liquor store and we drank it in her car.
John_Barnes@reddit
Tomorrow we can drive around this town
And let the cops chase us around
The past is gone, but something might be found
jlt6666@reddit
Man I can feel the freedom
CoeurdAssassin@reddit
I’m a DoorDash driver that mostly works at night, thus I’m usually chilling in shopping plaza parking lots/strip malls at times waiting for an offer to come through. Police in this area aren’t pricks and it’s also an extremely safe area to the point where they really have nothing to do but to go harass people in empty parking lots. Like the other week I kinda got “chased out” of one. Sitting there, see a cop car on the main road slam on their brakes and suddenly decide to just turn into shopping plaza I was at. I got up and left and they tried to get closer to me when I was getting to the exit and they just let me leave without flipping their lights on.
Rancisv2@reddit
But why? My poor european mind litterally cant comprehend that, sorry.
ReporterOther2179@reddit
‘In the car’ is a place, maybe the only place where they can be alone with their friends.
Rancisv2@reddit
No, i totally understands that. Im talking about no-crusing law
complete_your_task@reddit
That is absolutely insane.
The_Law_of_Pizza@reddit
It's not going to make any sense for 99% of the people reading this because they're going to imagine driving on their own local roads and being pulled over for it.
This is not that. It's super contextual.
Imagine a popular nightlife district with a gang problem. There's one major road that runs north and south, on which sits all of the main clubs and bars. Gang members will cruise up and down that road looking for trouble - enemy gangs, lone mugging targets, etc.
So if the cops see the same car with the same guys just slowly going up and down the street repeatedly, this gives them the opportunity to pull them over and let them know they're being watched.
el_pyrata@reddit
I remember as a kid asking my dad why certain streets had signs that said “No U-turns Thursday-Friday 8pm-2am”
jlt6666@reddit
This is still insane.
clearedmycookies@reddit
Through biases of whoever the cops want to put their boot on that day. Could be them trouble some kids. Could be people above a certain threshold of melanin.
Rancisv2@reddit
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes
John_Barnes@reddit
Who has legal liability for those janitors?
HonkHonkTootToot@reddit
Omnes custodes sunt bastardi
ArielsAwesome@reddit
Easy. They pull over some poor looking kids. Nuisance Laws like those are usually just a justification to harass minorities.
msabeln@reddit
“Cruising” usually meant bumper to bumper traffic along the main drag, late at night, and all the drivers being youths. It’s impossible not to notice.
Different-Telephone5@reddit
I guess for the younger crowd they’d have “curfew” so if you get pulled over and you’re smoking weed or something you’re fucked lol. So kids would want to cruise less. But now kids have car meets and stuff too and those get busted all the time now
ContributionPure8356@reddit
My coworkers from Wilkes Barre were telling me that the cops there used to actively enforce anti cruising laws. That was the most absurd thing to me when I heard that.
Regnum90@reddit
Not sure if this is sarcasm or not, but cruising means something very different in certain communities and I'm willing to be anti-cruising laws refer to that definition of the term.
atomicitalian@reddit
Anti cruising - as in policing the main drag, not referencing gay sex - have been a thing since the 1960s.
Maleficent-Hawk-318@reddit
There are anti-cruising laws that refer to the activity of driving cars around aimlessly. My city also passed them when I was a teenager, and it was 100% meant to crack down on kids driving cars up and down certain streets at night. My friends and I got ticketed for it a few times, and we definitely were not cruising in the sense you're talking about. 😂
NoCard753@reddit
The Cruise is almost always in a business district (our alternate way of putting it was "goin' uptown" (or "downtown"), and business owners complained to the city council about empty beer cans, fast–food bags and other trash littering their parking lots, kids peeing on the sides of their buildings, et cetera. So, cities started banning it in the nid–'80s. In recent years, some have brought it back, but it's nothing like it was before.
MortAndBinky@reddit
Are you from Charlotte?
NoCard753@reddit
Heh... no. Other side of the country.
MortAndBinky@reddit
Ok. Charlotte is the only place i know that refers to their downtown as "uptown"
Whatisthisnonsense22@reddit
Where I was a teenager it was the same way. So we would cruise for a bit, sit around until the hour passed and start over.
I got a ticket for loitering one night because we were sitting in a parking lot waiting our cruising time out and had to appear before the city judge.
The judge told the police officer that he couldn't write us tickets as we were on private property and the property owner had not complained. And that if the officer's had not been using the cruising ordinance as a pretext to hassle teenagers this wouldn't even be an issue. He dismissed every loitering ticket for months for teens caught in the same area.
jorwyn@reddit
I got picked up for curfew so many times. I was an adult, but I looked about 12. And then I would tell them I didn't have any ID, because I wasn't driving. So they would take me to this detention center which was a high school gym maybe a half a mile from my apartment. And they had snacks. And then I would suddenly remember I had my ID and be let go after grabbing snacks.
It took them 3 months to start recognizing me, and not hassle me anymore. And that actually kind of sucked, because I only had one friend with a car at the time, and it kind of sucked to be one of eight people in the back of a VW Bug. Especially cuz we always had to push start that thing. He just really never bothered to replace the starter, because he could just make anyone who wanted a ride push for him.
cocococlash@reddit
What kind of snacks are we talking about?
jorwyn@reddit
Usually, fruit roll ups, little bags of chips, and cans of soda.
PraetorianOfficial@reddit
More than a hint. There was a section of town right off the corner of the university that was bar, fast food, coffee, bar, fast food, coffee, bar, etc. Several blocks containing bunches of restaurants and coffee shops and about 12 bars. "Cruising" that was a big thing. People just drove around and around and around the same 3x3 blocks. American Graffitti wasn't just a movie, it was real life.
And yes, the late night food runs. 1am, hop in a couple cars and head for Country Kitchen and everybody ordered coffee and maybe eggs and whatnot and they provided an "endless pot". They just left the carafe on the table and refilled it over and over and over for us for hours. Tip REALLY well so they don't hate us. Next weekend, it's Sambos at 3am instead of Country Kitchen ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambo%27s ).
EuphoricMoose8232@reddit
Not sure where you’re from or what timeframe you’re referring to, but I think the no-cruising laws may have been targeting a different type of “cruising”
Flashy_Flower_7884@reddit
In recent years most cities have cracked down on teenagers cruising up and down Maine drag strips. The cops will watch and if they see the same car pass too many times they will pull them over.
IShouldBeHikingNow@reddit
You think the signs on the main drag in town were referring to gay sex?
jorwyn@reddit
I am very certain that the ones around Metro mall in Phoenix in the early 90s were aimed at teenagers driving the loop in their cars at like 5 miles an hour and thumping bass as loud as they could.
Like many cities, I have noticed, you need to go to a street named after a president or famous political figure if you wanted to do the other kind of cruising.
Tat2dDad@reddit
Nope, there are no cruising signs in LA
i_am_a_shoe@reddit
Those darn kids!
LostInSpace9@reddit
😂😂😂😂 these people so clueless
SlothLover313@reddit
Sex. Targeting public sex 😭
jorwyn@reddit
The big cruising spot in Phoenix was around Metro mall. And they eventually put up signs that you could only go past a specific sign so many times in 1 hour, or it would be considered cruising, and you would get a ticket. That was pretty lame.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
They always claimed it was gang activity in my town. In the 90’s, they didn’t think white kids would drive around listening to hip hop unless they were in a gang.
notabadkid92@reddit
Same! We didn't have a traffic problem, more loitering than anything. That law was retracted later on & now there is a no racing law. We're either going too slow or too fast, lol
4Q69freak@reddit
Decatur? It had been a tradition for decades (since ‘50s) but they started having more fights and businesses started complaining about the kids loitering in their parking lots in the late ‘90s early’00s.
No-Heat-436@reddit
“And their dumb dog!” 🤣
Pkrudeboy@reddit
Scooby is clearly an ESA, not a service dog.
cptjeff@reddit
No, he alerts others to Shaggy's pot induced seizures.
No-Heat-436@reddit
🤣🤣🤣 absolutely savage!
seifd@reddit
So the creepy old lighthouse keeper was elected to the city council?
HavBoWilTrvl@reddit
It's always an old white guy trying to screw someone out of what's theirs.
Character-Solution-7@reddit
Art imitating life
zombie_girraffe@reddit
Yeah, and he still wears the latex monster mask at council meetings.
GaiusMarius989@reddit
We were kids, man! Buckle couldn’t find his legs! We were going to go cruising when we got home! We were gonna go cruising in his Solara, man!
Dylaus@reddit
When I lived in Portland there were anti cruising laws, but it was specifically for neighborhoods with high rates of prostitution and drug dealing.
nobodyinpeculiar@reddit
PDX? If so, I’ve grown up here and never heard of that—not to say that it isn’t a thing, I’m just surprised. Especially because these days that’s sorta everywhere.
Dylaus@reddit
No, this was Portland, Maine
HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit
I was super confused when I moved to a smallish town and saw all the anti-cruising signs and had to look up what cruising was lol
TruthAccomplished313@reddit
Cruising eh
ground__contro1@reddit
Where I live now people have told me this locations anti cruising laws were mostly about adults using cruising as cover for gang activities
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
I genuinely thought movies exaggerated this whole culture until I started hearing people talk about it online.
Repulsive_Client_325@reddit
My kids still do it constantly
Copper-Alchemist@reddit
Come over to Indiana we still do it
TheVentiLebowski@reddit
I saw my first "no cruising" sign yesterday actually.
nn2597713@reddit
Pretty insane hearing this to be honest 😁 coming from the Netherlands.
Just the cost of gas alone...
DangerousHour2094@reddit
When I was the age where this was a thing (teens and twenties, which were 15-20ish years ago) gas was about $1.90/gal before the 2008 recession.
Might be doing the math wrong but I think that’s about $0.50/litre
LilLebowskiAchiever@reddit
It wasn’t driving the whole time. It was driving to one spot, turning off the engine, then another, etc.
kaffesvart@reddit
Surely you're driving most of that time? What with the distances in America being huge (100 years vs 100 miles) you could drive for hours without leaving the city limits?
LilLebowskiAchiever@reddit
Maybe in Texas?
ProfessionalBee4228@reddit
You guys have way more third spaces to make up for this. Most of America does not. Gas was (and compared to europe, still is) cheap.
No-Lobster9104@reddit
I mean… malls? libraries? parks? we have all of that in the US too
Next_Ad_4165@reddit
Malls closed at 9pm, libraries at 6pm, parks at sunset.
jorwyn@reddit
And in my city, you get caught in a park after dark, and you might just be told to move on, and you might get the crap beat out of you by police. Even for just parking in the parking lot of a park.
And sunset in the winter is about the time the teenagers get out of school.
ProfessionalBee4228@reddit
Go to any major city in Europe and you will understand. There are hundreds of public spaces, squares, steps, parks, and there are both residential units and commercial units either within them or on top of them. The US obviously has libraries, malls, and parks, but you have to drive to all of them with the exception of a couple major cities. It's not even close.
HottestestestMess@reddit
The first time I went to France I was 18. My friend there took me out with her high school friends to a tabac where we sat drinking wine for hours. I was still 3 years too young for that in the US. Back home I spent a lot of time driving around and hanging out smoking doobs with my friends in the car.
Blossom73@reddit
And teens are often barred from going to malls in the U.S. without an adult, at least where I live.
ProfessionalBee4228@reddit
Yup. And for that matter, most teens don't want to go to a library to socialize... being a library.
Hazel-Oliver@reddit
Most malls now require teenagers to be with an adult - not to mention a lot of them are just closing down entirely. Libraries are quiet places so not a good place to hang out with friends. Most parks I've seen are basically mini hoovervilles so not exactly the safest place for kids to hang out. I'm sure this isn't true for everywhere in the US but that's why you see people complain about the lack of third spaces. Technically still exist, but not really useable in many areas.
jorwyn@reddit
I have two co-workers in the uk, and last week we were comparing gas prices. It is more expensive for me right now in Spokane Washington than it is for them. We just hit $5.999 for 92 octane. I only fill up once a month, or somewhat less now that the weather is nice, but man, that fill up yesterday sucked.
PiG_ThieF@reddit
I used to do this as a teenager in the mid to late 90’s. Gas was under a buck a gallon and my car got 35+ mpg. So driving around was a cheap way to hang out away from parents.
jorwyn@reddit
Damn. I am envious of that mileage. Younger me also would have been. I didn't have a car until I was 21, and that was an '80s fastback mustang. It did not get the greatest mileage. And it was funny, because my first roommate had one of those, too.
Legend13CNS@reddit
A big difference I've learned from my European coworkers seems to also be nightlife opportunities, they would've been teenagers/20-somethings in the time ranging from the mid 80s to late 00s. With rare exceptions US teens can't participate in nightlife at all. Nobody is going to a warehouse rave, clubs and bars are 21+, concerts that aren't family events are 18+ or 21+. So depending on your area and what you and your friends what to do you get your license 2 or more years before you can join the adult nighttime activities.
Oreo_Cow@reddit
Don’t have to drive far to find a place to park to talk, or more….
HMonster224@reddit
My best friend's parents are from the UK and when we were in high school my mom had to have a whole big talk with her mom to explain teenager car culture in America and convince her mom to let her ride around with me
amythist@reddit
Yeah it was a common thing for younger people as it was the most reliable way to get privacy from parents/siblings though it tends to drop off as people go to college/get their own places
Foreign_Plan_5256@reddit
Absolutely did it as a teenager and in my 20s, solo and with friends.
However when visiting my grandmother as a little kid the Sunday drive was a thing. She didn't do church, but we'd get in the car and drive around the countryside. I have no idea what the purpose was, because we rarely stopped anywhere.
WVildandWVonderful@reddit
Sometimes we’d drive to parks (nature spaces, not parking lots) and then get kicked out by the cops when it was late
Auquaholic@reddit
We called it shooting the loop. Sonic was on one end of town and a drive in theater was on the other end.
Chimpbot@reddit
The small, rural New England town I grew up in also had a loop. One end was the parking lot of a local restaurant, so I feel like they inevitably had to involve some sort of eatery.
Auntie_Venom@reddit
Our loop was past the baseball diamonds across town into McDonald’s with optional pit stops in the drive thru, then back to the ball diamonds. Where we’d park and get out and chat to see who was out before shooting another lap.
huazzy@reddit
Summer night. Windows down, music blasting. Headed to Blockbuster. Pit stop for a Slurpee. Core memories.
huazzy@reddit
With that said. Gas was also under a dollar. I remember many nights when we had to chip in to fill up the gas on our buddy's Honda Civic. It was like $11 to do so.
jorwyn@reddit
We used to go through couches looking for a change. I remember there being a point where a gallon of gas, a gallon of milk, and a pack of Marlboro Reds were all 95 cents each. And for $1.50, you can get a box of Kraft mac and cheese, a can of chili, and a package of hot dogs. So we would feed four of us, put a gallon of gas in my roommate's 80s Mustang, buy a pack of smokes, and go hang out in the parking lot of the local mall, because that's where pretty much everyone else from 14 to 20 years old was, too.
And then if people tried to bum cigarettes off of us, we would charge them a quarter apiece, and then just go buy more smokes and put more gas in his car.
cocococlash@reddit
A quarter?! The smoke shop would sell singles for a dime.
jorwyn@reddit
I know, but the smoke shop didn't come to you. Also, they carded.
Aggravating_Finish_6@reddit
This. We never even thought about trying to conserve gas back then.
jorwyn@reddit
Oh, for us it was Little Caesars pizza that was on the same parking lot as a supermarket. Or if you wanted to get away from the crowd you saw every day after school, it was the closest mall.
Biff2019@reddit
Same here
Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit
I also did that a bit in my youth.
mburucuja@reddit
When I was 16-21ish, yes. You’ve got a car, can’t go to the bar, and most restaurants and stores closed by 9. I don’t think we really did this ever after all my friends were 21 though.
Sandshrew13@reddit
Two parts to this imo
America is an enormous country, with an unbelievable interstate highway system, and almost this whole damn place is designed not for people but for CARS. It's become a huge part of our national identity. When you have a car, you have freedom and independence and status, to oversimplify it. Like a gateway to adulthood.
If you're young and you wanna hang out with friends or a date, you often either have to spend money someplace (movies, mini golf, whatever), or tolerate your mom being around, or goof around at a store until they throw you out for not spending money. Cars are a mobile hangout spot that's all yours.
stinkywizzleteatsmom@reddit
Definitely did this a lot as a teen
ElasticShoulders@reddit
I'm 30 and still do it sometimes. Until very recently, girlfriends and I used to meet up after work and go get coffee and fast food and sit in the car eating, drinking and talking. Or we'd be hanging out shopping or something, go to drop the other person back at their house/car and end up sitting in the driveway talking for another hour before going our separate ways.
When I was a younger adult, we would go to this one local bar til closing time and then we would either sit in the parking lot talking for a couple hours, or go to Sheetz and get food and do the same thing.
DoubleFamous5751@reddit
Some of the deepest conversations happened in a car when it was time to say goodbye bye. Instead it turned into a long lovely talk. Never a bad thing to deeply connect with people
StorytellerPerson@reddit
Yeah. We don’t have many third places that are open outside of school or business hours. Gas prices are a lot so it’s more sitting.
Sometimes people sit in cars to avoid going in to work or home.
an_optimistic_egg@reddit
I did in high school to get some privacy, but now I only do that if I'm driving a long way.
Fluffy-Mine-6659@reddit
Yes it was like this in the past because young people had few places to “hang out” without out getting in trouble for loitering. Now kids just stay home apparently.
That-Television-4856@reddit
Oh absolutely it is, especially if you're in your teens or 20s and still living at home but have a car. Sometimes it's nice to hang out with friends in your own space but if you still live with family then it can be hard to do it actually at home, so a car is perfect. Plus, there's a really big lack of "3rd spaces" in the US to hang out at, and those which do exist usually require you to spend money.
InsideAd732@reddit
We went on smoke and drives in high school where we would get stoned, go to taco bell or McDonald's, then go drive around and do shenanigans. Once we went "ghost hunting" at the cemetery and another time we drove to the lake, "borrowed" a canoe from the rental shop after hours, and went night canoeing. All with shitty beer in hand. Most of the time we just went to someone's house or a park or something. It was so damn fun.
acnh1222@reddit
When I go back to my hometown, my friend will drive me back to my house and then we just sit in the driveway until one of us realizes that the “getting up early in the morning” time is quickly approaching
TitleOk4749@reddit
As teenagers, there aren’t many safe places where we could exist without adults. We would drive around, eat, talk, listen to music.
Glassfern@reddit
I used to drive to the park and just sit there when I didn't have any more patience for my family.
I still sit in my car at work because my boss doesn't understand lunch break is break and don't interrupt my lunch with work things. She will literally find me in either lunch room. So now I park far and sit there. She won't walk that far
Cold_Ad2766@reddit
It’s for the kids whose parents have money. I’m poor, it doesn’t happen in my realm.
Ciskakid@reddit
Watch the wonderful AMERICAN GRAFFITI (1973) directed by George Lucas. It’s a reminiscence of his cruising days with lots of young actors who went on to success, like Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfus, and Harrison Ford.
Unlikely-Cockroach-6@reddit
My friends and I are 25 and still do this maybe one night a week. Will probably be taking a break since gas is crazy right now lol
FunkMastaUno@reddit
Typically a thing you do before you're 21 or before you get your own place. I also remember hanging out at fast food parking lots.
Ok_Wait_4268@reddit
17-20 this was a thing. Lived in the middle of nowhere. There were no teen hangouts, it was a way to be with your friends away from parents. And gas was cheap AF (under a dollar a gallon) so driving around without a destination was a normal thing.
theryman@reddit
For teens/young people, sure. As you get older, not really for most people.
ascaffo@reddit
Yep. Once I was married this rarely happened. Occasionally, if I were heading out to see my brother we'd drive to nowhere and chat about life.
horatio_corn_blower@reddit
Because when we were younger we did it to get out of the house and chat in a private place. Maybe do some drugs. Being older, you have your own space, you don’t have to hang out in cars anymore, and you can do drugs in the comfort of your own home.
KlutzyConfection6421@reddit
There was a neighborhood in my hometown that teens called “the bog”. Partly bc it was hilly and wooded, so the low-lying areas would sometimes get foggy at night, and partly because that’s where everyone cruised and smoked lmao
Independent-Win9088@reddit
Exactly this. When I got my license and my car at 16 you couldn't KEEP me in the house. It was the place to listen to what we wanted to, do what we wanted to do. Cruise around, talk, listen to music, underage cigarette smoking, go to the mall, whatever. It was true privacy because back then there was cheap gas, no tracking apps, no tracking devices attached to your car, and no parents. This was the late 90's to the early 00's.
WonderingMichigander@reddit
Same in the late 80’s and early 90’s for me.
MasterOfBothWorlds7@reddit
Yep and not everyone had a camera and video recording device in their pockets so it was hard to prove that Mrs johnson really did see me making out with the neighbor boy behind the cumbies. Plausible deniability was a HUGE thing
castlenutjob@reddit
Woo! Get it neighbor boy!
awmaleg@reddit
Gas was cheap (I remember 99) and stuff was open later. The best time to be a teen
theonlygurl@reddit
Unless you have kids. Then it’s back to drugs in the car. 😂
okeverythingsok@reddit
My husband and I visited my in-laws last week and stayed at their house for about 10 days. We definitely reverted to this. Drove to the park just to sit in the parking lot. Long aimless walks around the neighborhood. Running out for ice cream and late-night grocery store runs. So funny to be doing this married, pregnant and in my mid-30s but honestly it was fun and anything to get out of the house and be alone for a couple hours.
jorwyn@reddit
My husband and I went to realized neither of us had never done the classic sex in a car thing. So we went and found a pullout in the National forest, and found out it is very very awkward. We put a pause on that and went home to our nice big bed. Lol
But we were laughing the whole time, because imagine being in your forties and doing that.
horatio_corn_blower@reddit
Ha! I do the same thing whenever I visit my parents, or go on vacation with them. constantly sneaking away to aimlessly wander. I went to London and Dublin just me and my mom and a couple times I’d just walk around in the evening until I found a quiet pub. Then I’d leave after a couple drinks and find a much louder pub. Really nothing has changed since I was younger, just more money and less friends
Washpedantic@reddit
And typically when you're older you have more spending money so you can do activities that cost things more often.
caramelswirllll@reddit
My husband and I still frequently do it haha. We love listening to music in the car at night, or just going to a pull off spot and sitting there talking for hours. We definitely save the drugs for behind the closed doors of home!
Opening-Bandicoot859@reddit
Yeah, I grew up in Jersey and this was pretty much my experience, minus the drugs. You need to have a car to get anywhere in NJ for the most part. It was really all about having freedom and getting out of the house.
PabloPicasshooole@reddit
This is the way.
Delicious_Award7315@reddit
This is the truth and the light
WhoaFee1227@reddit
This is really the answer.
slantedsc@reddit
yeah when I was in high school the minute any of my friends had a drivers license and a car we were driving around in it constantly just to be away from our parents. before that it was hanging out in a park. anything to just not be home because generally the parents were so nosy and we didn’t feel like we could fully relax.
kinetic_cheese@reddit
When I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, I remember older people going on Sunday drives, usually after church or Sunday dinner. It's a tradition that has seemed to die off, though.
Foreign_Plan_5256@reddit
My grandmother and step grandfather did this, so we joined when we visited.
TheMapleKind19@reddit
My family did that some weekends, and my parents still do. We'd drive to other towns on the back roads, or explore different parts of our city. If we were going somewhere and had time, we often took the scenic route: not the fastest and most direct, but one that offers something new to see. Even if that something is just cornfields and a run-down town.
And yes, as a teenager, my friends and I went out driving a lot. Fond memories.
French_Apple_Pie@reddit
Indiana represent!! I was just moseying through the countryside last Saturday going from obscure nursery to obscure nursery in the rolling hills area of NE IN.
It’s even better moseying around someplace like Brown County or French Lick. I find our state to be utterly beautiful and enchanting.
EloquentBacon@reddit
In my area Sunday drives are still alive and well. I can tell by all the super slow elderly people on the road causing traffic delays every Sunday.
robertwadehall@reddit
I’ve done that for years. A Sunday drive out in the country. Especially in nice weather I like taking my Mustang out
HMonster224@reddit
Yeah, my grandpa used to love being driven around. My dad still loves going for long drives.
majandess@reddit
I'm one of the not most people then. My late husband and I did this all the freaking time. We'd just go get lost and end up someplace new. And when we had a son, we just included him. When he turned 13, he was allowed to sit in the front seat of the car, and since the front seat no longer had my husband in it after he died, my son looked forward to turning 13 the way I looked forward to turning 21.
For his 13th birthday, I threw him in the front seat with paper maps and we drove all over the state while he learned how to navigate. We had a great time, and going on random drives in the car and chatting is one of his favorite things to do.
It also caught on with my friend group, and my closest friends will message me and ask if we can go for a ride. Where? We don't know. But we go there and talk for hours.
vanwiekt@reddit
What great memories to have. My husband and I do this also, we’ll just get in the car and end up in another state. I don’t have kids but when he’s out of town sometimes I’ll take my nieces or nephews and do the same thing.
jorwyn@reddit
The state I lived in when my son was younger allowed younger than 13 in the front seat if they were at least a certain height. I cannot remember what that height was, but my son hit it at 11, and he was very excited about that.
And we celebrated that by grabbing some maps and going on a long road trip to wherever seemed cool.
The only problem with him is, if he is not the one driving, car rides always knock him out. He's 29 now, and it still happens. Give him about 5 minutes on the highway, and he is asleep.
send2steph@reddit
My husband and I still go out for drives and just hang out in our car. Sometimes we find something to do (like a local bar has a live band), but usually we end up back home after a few hours. We're in our 50s.
MaritimeDisaster@reddit
It’s definitely age-limited. Teens are too young to go anywhere but too old to be tucked in bed at 8:30 p.m., so you drive around, go to Taco Bell, group together somewhere.
lainlow@reddit
Until you hit the older yet young kids that fight sleep inside but driving makes them pass out and not be cranky gremlins the next day so you and your bestie whose having a weekend sleepover cruise around for a few hours talking like the old teenage days while listening to a toddler breath in the backseat.
jorwyn@reddit
My son was like that, and a friend bought me this little plug-in device that went on his crib that mimicked the vibration of a car. It was a godsend. But I have to admit, randomly driving around Phoenix in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep was kind of cool.
fieldyfield@reddit
There is a lack of public space in general but it is especially challenging for teens who don't have nightlife options like adults do. They can't go to bars for instance and there really aren't many places to gather that don't require spending money.
I always admire when I've traveled to other countries the way they have things like city squares people gather out socially. Seeing people of all ages just enjoying being outside at 8 or 9 pm in a public courtyard is really nice.
Americans doing this at night who are not actively patronizing a business would be considered a nuisance. Even public parks close around sunset and walking aimlessly around a neighborhood might be seen as suspicious.
Teens can kind of just hang out in parking lots or their cars if their parents don't want their friends in the house.
jorwyn@reddit
We did have one after hours club when I was young in Phoenix, but he was like 35 miles from where I lived. That city is huge. So I couldn't always get there. Plus, sometimes they would shut down and kick us out before 5:00 a.m. when curfew was over, and the cops would be waiting right outside that door.
It was also only on Saturday nights, well I guess technically Sunday mornings, so we had the rest of the week to find places to be. There was a coffee shop near Arizona State university, but that was also difficult for me to get to. I lived in North Phoenix. And North Phoenix is just suburbs and a mall and parks you're going to get kicked out of after dark.
So we would go out in the desert, but we had to get far enough out people wouldn't notice us, and that typically required a car.
HrhEverythingElse@reddit
It's also a symptom of our lack of third spaces. Teenagers and young adults don't want to hang out with friends/dates at home under their parents noses all the time, and there are very few actual places they can do that. It turns into cars being the only option
VividFiddlesticks@reddit
Yep, when I was a teenager we either hung out in the mall, or in someone's car.
Cars were like mobile living rooms.
165averagebowler@reddit
Where I live it was quarries. Don’t know why old quarries were the place to hang lol.
jorwyn@reddit
At one point as a teenager, my friends and I found this housing development that they had started in the desert north of Phoenix, but they had only put in the roads and just abandoned it. That became the hangout spot. Cops didn't seem to care as long as nobody drove away drunk. It was far enough out, being loud didn't disturb anybody. And of course we drag raced on those roads. LMAO
But it was just like this whole gated community, except the gate was never put up, and a bunch of paved roads in the desert. It was the perfect place for teenagers. Especially since one of my friends and I were both crazy about trash. We would take trash bags and meet people out their trash in them, and if they wouldn't, we would get really threatening.
HrhEverythingElse@reddit
I grew up with the nearest mall being an hour away. It was cars or literally just the woods
TheCastro@reddit
lol or people don’t want to hang out at a restaurant. I mean we’re talking about at night and being a teen. It’s not like you can go to a bar or library
HrhEverythingElse@reddit
We didn't even have any restaurants as an option. Small town with the nearest mall an hour away (and I graduated high school in 2002, so mall culture was still happening just not here) and zero diners or other casual restaurants that weren't fast food. We could sit in cars or the woods.
TypePuzzleheaded6228@reddit
lol i'm old and i still do it. just at 2pm instead of 2am.
penni_cent@reddit
Exactly. My best friend and I totally did this for my 40th birthday; we just started at 11am.
jorwyn@reddit
For my 35th birthday, I was just sick of everybody, and my son was away for a school trip. So I got in my car and drove all the way around Lake Pend o'Reille, over into montana, back to the silver valley, which is where I'm from originally, and then back home. It was an entire day to myself driving wherever looked interesting, stopping wherever I felt like it, and not having to talk to a damned soul. And by the time I got back, I didn't hate people anymore.
Auntie_Venom@reddit
I still do it, I love driving and it’s my “me” time to be alone and think or decompress from the day. I don’t stay out long, maybe an hour.
Final-Marzipan3184@reddit
I was so tired of it by the time I was 17. So like 2-3 years and I was like "either fucking tell me where we are going and what we are doing or I'm not going anywhere. Get your own cars." Turns out that's not the way to make friends but my god it was annoying. Was so happy to move out of that town and meet people who weren't constantly late and indecisive.
Next_Ad_4165@reddit
We did it as a family during covid. We’d ride around, grab some ice cream, and eat it as we drove back roads! Just to get us out of the house for a bit! It was lovely!
knight1096@reddit
My husband and I do it occasionally in the winter for Pokémon Go events when we can’t walk around or when we need to drive to Illinois to buy weed. Find a secluded parking lot, make some sexy eyes while you’re catching Pokemans, spin some stops, spin his stops, make sure my stops are spun, throw a few balls. Grab a fountain Diet Coke from McDonald’s for hydration (maybe share a fry if stops were spun well enough).
My brother and I occasionally cruise when I fly out to visit and when we need a break from our mother who is also visiting and my brother’s teenagers — we invent some errands to run (buying weed, browsing the liquor store even though none of us really drink anymore, sometimes we go for a hike, etc).
Auntie PSA: Don’t smoke and drive kids. Use the car and cruise to purchase the weed and return to a safe space to smoke the weed with ample snacks, tunes, play some ranked League of Legends if you want to harsh your vibe. For locomotion, use your feet only after smoking the weed.
tonna33@reddit
I was going to say that PokemonGo got my husband cruising again.
Now he's obsessed with it, though. He has been pulled over for driving slow through a certain area in our town (a very dead area with no traffic at all). He just tells them what he's doing. He wants to get those hearts for his buddy for "walking" 2km.
knight1096@reddit
Hell yeah! We’ve been playing since 2016 and it’s a favorite vacation time activity. Never too old for Pokemans. If y’all haven’t already, get TCGP on your phones, you can open Pokémon packs and card battle. Scratches two sides of the same itch.
Formal-Telephone5146@reddit
I’m 45 soon to be 46 I still do it. I never stopped
Heykurat@reddit
It's one of the few ways teens can really be with their friends without a grownup hovering nearby.
NickCharlesYT@reddit
When you get older it all gets replaced with five trips to Lowe's for a single DIY project, 3 trips to various grocery stores to make sure you get all the coupons and bogo deals for your weekly groceries, and ferrying the kids to and from every after school activity imagineable...
TorturedChaos@reddit
As a teen/ young adult you really don't have a space of your own. Once you get a car that is your space. So naturally you hang out in the car.
Once one person in the friends group gets their own place it becomes the hang out place for the whole group.
TheRateBeerian@reddit
yea and its mainly because there's fewer places to go as a teen. You can't go to bars or clubs, so you improvise with your car.
tandem_kayak@reddit
When we were first married we loved to just go cruise around, listen to music, grab a snack. I just love wandering and exploring.
Odd-End-1405@reddit
Because we have to adult unfortunately and don't have the joy of extra time.
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
Yess ikr!
sandman8727@reddit
Yeah, once you/your friends start to have their own apartments/houses it kind of stops.
Intermountain-Gal@reddit
Driving around has been a popular teen activity since the 50s. I never cared for it. I thought it was silly and a waste of gas!
It seems to still be popular. I can hear cars traveling down the street in the middle of the night. I still think it’s dumb and wastes gas.
Konradleijon@reddit
Yes
Next-Adhesiveness957@reddit
I have sat in the car and talked to ppl in my own driveway. This has always been a way for me to speak without having to worry about my child eavesdropping. I did this alone with her daddy after we split and we were dating other ppl.
When I was younger and gas was cheaper, we would ride around back roads and smoke pot. It was illegal ba k then. So, ya really didn't want to just sit somewhere and do it. Good times.
Remote_Agent_8391@reddit
Yeah I do this multiple times a week
2PlasticLobsters@reddit
There's not much else to do when you're a teenager. But if you have music, a buddy or two, and maybe some nachos, what else do you need?
Ms-Metal@reddit
Absolutely, but mainly when you're a kid or a teenager, maybe young adult but beyond that we get too busy to do it.
Familiar_War_1803@reddit
I still do this
Fantastic_Fly7301@reddit
Back when gas was $0.99 a gallon, yes all the time, but was also in HS so if you didn't want to hang out woth someone's parents. Car we drove around also got good gas mileage. Did some driving around in 20s but was usually had a destination in mind.
nannerooni@reddit
As an adult most of this happens when I give someone a ride and then we don’t want to quit yapping for a while before they get out of the car.
Gloomy_Junket9364@reddit
Yeah—there’s nothing else to do in rural communities.
ThirteenOnline@reddit
Yes it is very common. Especially when you are younger you might not have your own place or a space you feel comfortable bringing someone to. So when you get a car you have freedom of movement and the car itself in a way is your own space. At least while you are using it.
waywardflaneur@reddit
America: where the third space is… your car.
Brave_Garlic_9542@reddit
The lack of 3rd space for people now is so crazy to me.
DespisedIcon1616@reddit
Our third spaces in the 2000s was parking lots, parks, malls, IHOP, Applebee's, the boardwalk, movie theaters, backyards.. etc etc etc I don't know why people don't hang at these spaces anymore, it's sad.
ThirteenOnline@reddit
You guys fucked up those places so now there's no soliciting signs everywhere. And then your generation made social media to sell to my generation. And used dark patterns and gambling psychology to make them as addicting as possible and get people to spend time money and attention there. I think that's what happened
DespisedIcon1616@reddit
The boomers got mad at us for having fun and did that.. millennials didn't ruin them. As for social media.. that's not a generational thing. EVERYONE is hooked on that poison.
ThirteenOnline@reddit
Yes but it's the previous generation that created it in the way it is now. And yes millennials did ruin it. And boomers ruined idk sadie hawkins dances or whatever their elders had. Not you specifically but everything that happens after is caused by something before and that's okay. But it's not a mystery.
Why go to the mall when Amazon has everything I could want in every size and color? Why be confined to whatever is at the food court or movie theater when every movie ever made is online. Every food can be ordered to my house?
rfresa@reddit
It's not a generation divide. It's the corporations and billionaires against all of us.
DespisedIcon1616@reddit
I'd argue it was more of a gen X creation than ours. Most of us didn't even get to 30 until 2020. But I see your point and agree, yes. Enshitification of society has taken hold over basically everything now. Ease of access has ruined social spaces for sure.
Brave_Garlic_9542@reddit
My son and his friends (13yo) get ran off by police/security when they hang out in parking lots of businesses during their off hours. They’re also not allowed at our mall without adults.
DespisedIcon1616@reddit
That sucks man. Time have changed.
TranslatorBoring2419@reddit
We had malls, they were popular when I was a teen, but so was cruising after the mall closed. They aren't really the same activity, especially since you can have sex in the car.
yloduck1@reddit
Did you not have sex in the mall like the rest of us?
National-Pressure202@reddit
This… this is it
ground__contro1@reddit
We have a lot of rural.. but you can go to cities where the third space is a train car and urban park landscapes, if that’s your preference we do have that also
yloduck1@reddit
It’s been like this since the ‘50’s at least.
Ever watch American Graffiti? That’s a fairly accurate portrayal
HMonster224@reddit
I love that movie. Haven't watched it in years. Thanks for the reminder about it!
Prudent_Passenger296@reddit
Wish I could upvote this a hundred times!
forgotwhatisaid2you@reddit
For teenagers it is. Having a car is a taste of freedom. Especially, those that don't live in big walkable cities and don't have public transportation. Every place is designed to get money out of you so meeting up in cars and hanging out is a way to socialize when you just don't have a lot of money to spend. It was much bigger in the past as kids now are in constant contact through the internet and cell phones.
SailAwayToTheMoon@reddit
Yeah, it’s because third places are either dead or have been monetized to extract profit. Plus, most towns are designed around cars instead of people.
Tag_Cle@reddit
Man this was all we did from like 2006 - 2010
NotNotACop28@reddit
Yeah this is peak small town activities
coffeebeanwitch@reddit
God no
cstar4004@reddit
It used to be extremely popular, especially in the 70’s and 80’s. Gas was $0.37/gallon in 1970’s, $1.31/gallon in the 80’s. It is now $4/gallon.
When I grew up, (90’s-2010’s) we did not aimlessly drive around for fun, because no one can afford it. Our parents were able to do that. They drove around just for fun, and hung out in the parking lots of Diners, malls, and movie theaters. That is not a thing for the Millennial generation or younger, in my area. We are too poor.
deemarie1223@reddit
I'm 46 and this was a BIG part of my life. I've had some of the most important, life changing, heart breaking and powerful conversations sitting in the car while driving around with friends, and later my kids. I grew up in the Northeast, near the ocean and the mountains. We would often drive to one of those and sit and talk for hours. I haven't read others comments but I would say, as an overall answer it probably depends where you live. People in NYC won't do it because there is a million people and cars and driving it a nightmare. But people like me, who grew up rural or even suburban yes, it's a big part of life!
MiaLba@reddit
Yep! Grew up in a smaller town in KY. We’d drive/ride around in backroads for hours. Just driving with no particular designation in mind. Usually drinking some natties. Or sitting in Walmart parking lot on the back of truck beds.
Brilliant_Phoenix@reddit
In your 20s, yes. My niece is 25 and she does it all the time with her friends
InsertRadnamehere@reddit
As a teenager living at home with parents, sure. Once I got an apartment? Not as much. Though friends and I would go on roadtrips a lot. But that involves destinations.
Spirited_Concern_800@reddit
Yes
CorrectCondition9458@reddit
Royal farms shout out. They have tables outside so you can talk and eat their famous and super good tater wedges. Rofo also has great tenders. They’re my choice for stops on my monthly trip to Md eastern shore.
TheKiddIncident@reddit
Ya, for kids who live at home, this is totally a thing.
If you can drive, but you're not 21 and still live at home, you have limited options. You cannot go to bars. You cannot go to most clubs. After about 9pm most other businesses are shut. Where do you go to hang out?
You drive around with your buddies.
AliveAndThenSome@reddit
Funny this came up. I'm old and one of my lifetime buddies who I only see every few years went to a football game together a while back, and afterward, he just started driving across the rural countryside with no expectations other than to just hang out while driving. I had never done that before, in that context.
So, yeah, I guess so!
Probably less so with gas as expensive as it is now...
shin_malphur13@reddit
My roommate does it w her friends like 3 times a week lmao
MiseEnSelle@reddit
Years ago I lived near the ocean. Not a lot to do there when there was a big storm but drive to the scenic spots and watch the waves crash in. With or without the beers, it was glorious!
44035@reddit
Sometimes the only option for getting out of the house is to get in the car. This is especially true for young people living at home. And there's only so many coffee shops or fast food places you can go to before you get fat or go broke. So you simply drive around.
Randolpho@reddit
Maybe it’s because I’m old, but it feels like it might be less of a thing these days, but when I was a kid in the 80s and 90s it was huge, and I think that way in the 60s and 70s as well. “Cruising” it was called then.
Sometimes hanging out in the car driving, sometimes while parked, sometimes standing around next to the car in the parking lot (car park if you’re British) of some store like a drug store (chemist) open late, or a grocery store or fast food restaurant. That latter is usually if you had a large friend group with multiple cars
bathyorographer@reddit
Oh yeah. All the time.
Welpthatsjustperfect@reddit
Absolutely, even older generations did this when they were young.
Illustrious_Code_347@reddit
Absolutely, as a teen my friends and I would just get in the car and go, and sometimes not even have any destination but just drive around and explore and listen to music and smoke and all sorts of stuff. Getting a car as a teen is one of the best feelings ever, to have such freedom at 16. Great times.
madison618@reddit
Yeah of course....but gas was a hell of a lot cheaper at the time. Everything sucks these days. I want out of the states soo badly
Hebrews_1035@reddit
We pay a lot of money for our cars, so yeah, it’s a thing. My car is more reliable than some boyfriends I’ve had.
Aggressive_Eagle1380@reddit
Yeah as a teen in the 2000s we did that all the time
sublimesting@reddit
Absolutely is. It’s not just America either. I was just listening to a podcast and the English host was describing how much he missed doing that very thing
WellWellWellthennow@reddit
Yes every weekend - we called it cruising as a teen. Older people called their outings going out for a Sunday drive.
For teenagers that give you a sense of hour own private space.
hawthornetree@reddit
At a place I rented in NH, there was often a big shiny pickup truck sitting in the parking lot with its lights on and engine running much of the night. I asked one of the other neighbors about it and he explained that the owner likes to sit in it and drink to enjoy the AC, but since he drinks "maybe he fell asleep".
It's a "lack of third spaces" symptom - there's nowhere to go and nothing to do.
Stefferdiddle@reddit
It’s more an activity for younger folks still living at home. The car becomes a third space for them.
lucysucks@reddit
Yes I loved doing this from like 16-19 y/o
bmccooley@reddit
Alright, Alright - Let's talk more about my life in the 80s and 90s.
Emily_Postal@reddit
Look up the Volkswagen “Milky Way” commercial featuring Nick Drake’s Pink Moon. It’s a young person’s vibe but definitely a thing.
ZestyMuffin85496@reddit
Sometimes in small towns this is the only thing to do. Unless you have a four-wheeler or a dirt bike then you would just do the same thing.
Klutzy-Dreamer@reddit
When you're young (teenager) and you're not in a major city. We used to go the beach and just drive up and down the blasting music talking, watching the crowds and vibing. We also used to go sit in Walmart/grocery store parking lots just on the hood of cars and in the back of trucks just hanging out for hours.
UnderdogDreams@reddit
Teenagers yes, adults no
Dianag519@reddit
This was not common at all where I live but I’m by a major city. We just went into the city for entertainment. We would drive to get coffee and things like that but not just sit on the car. We hung out in diners that were open all night sometimes drinking coffee and chatting. We hung out in parks of just went places.
infinitefacets@reddit
Some of my favorite memories are chilling in cars with my friends. By lakes, in mountaintops, in the country. We’d stay up all night just vibing. Good times.
Kayki7@reddit
When I was a teenager, this was our Friday nights!
mightbesinking@reddit
Growing up in a city with public transit, I’ve never done this. However, I can guarantee my friends from rural areas did when they were teens.
LustfulEsme@reddit
It used to be. I have not done it in years. I do not know if it is still done.
Professional-Pin6455@reddit
One of my first dates with my now husband was just us sitting at the lake talking on the tail gate of his small truck.
Butter_My_Butt@reddit
It is with one friend of mine. We would want to catch up and talk, but not bother anyone in the house, so we'd go hit Sonic for a couple drinks and drive around or find someplace peaceful and just talk for hours.
theoutrageousgiraffe@reddit
Yep. It’s a pretty normal thing to do.
ajcwrongs@reddit
Had more than a couple nights where me and a carful of friends took to the streets of our college town in a beat-up Cadillac, flipping a coin at each intersection, exploring where chaos took us. Hopping out of the car by a random stretch of river with some greasy burgers from the local drive-in that's only open in the summer. Chatting about everything and nothing at all.
SqueakyRat1982@reddit
Yes, it was a great time to kill time in a time when gas was 97 cents a gallon and making $8 an hour.
Cold-Channel-5341@reddit
It’s because if you have a car as a kid or young adult it’s your one true safe space that you can do whatever you want in
Sleepy_mosquito799@reddit
My roommate would sneak out like every night to go sit in a car with a guy bc I didn’t like him and he still lived at home (30yrs old and we were 23) and they would go sit at this one spot from like 10 to 3-4 o’clock in the morning. And then she would complain to me about her sleep schedule. He just came off as so desperate to me bc he was tryna get with this other girl and be stepdaddy to her kid and then my roommate stopped talking to them and he immediately turned his attention on her. Anyways they would do that but that ended quickly thank god.
tea-wallah@reddit
I remember doing this in a friend’s van that had swivel seats so we could all face each other. So nice in winter or at the drive in.
spoopy-soup@reddit
Oh definitely. Especially when I was younger in the 90s-2000s when we didn't have social media or personal phones to be with each other on.
lisasimpsonfan@reddit
It really depends on your location. I grew up in rural Ohio and there wasn't much to do as a teen. One thing we did was once one of us had access to a car was to drive around during the summer nights listening to music. It was a fun way to spend an evening when you didn't have much money.
grandmillennial@reddit
America in general lacks 3rd spaces (somewhere not your home and not your school/job) but we're especially deficient in these spaces for young people. In the US historically teens have been excluded from many aspects of society. It's a difficult age for sure, but many municipalities treat teens gathering in public spaces as criminal until proven otherwise. If you don't have access to a car in rural or suburban areas you are quite literally stuck at home because "town" or even the next house is many miles away. I grew up in the suburbs and we definitely drove around a lot as teens to get away from our parents and other adults. I was lucky to be comfortably middle class and live in a university town so that I could also afford to regularly also hang out at restaurants, coffee shops, the movies etc. that also offered later hours to accommodate the college students. I'm actually glad to hear that kids are still hanging out together in person at night rather than just texting each other alone in their rooms.
Prize_Jicama2905@reddit
The actual right answer.
Where I went to high school there was a curfew of 10:00 p.m. for anybody under 18 and we literally got harassed by cops for driving home after going to see a movie...
Of course it was also a way for us to smoke pot but we would also drive to woodland trails and do that there, too
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
Honestly this whole thing became interesting to me because I was randomly talking to Americans on Vooz and so many people mentioned doing this like it was a universal teen experience 😭
SnuffMuhGruff@reddit
The United States is very spread out for the most part, so driving around with nothing to do is kind of a thing. ESPECIALLY if you are not in a city.
Boring-Community-100@reddit
I think this may have something to do with it. The sheer vastness of America.
I cruised as a teen and young adult, we'd pool our pocket change and have enough for gas and snacks and you could literally drive for hours and not go "far" from home.
Even in New England (small states) we could go for 4 hours and stay entirely in the same state (I'm thinking Southern to Northern NH and back). Or you could just drive up and down Elm Street 25 times.
The music was good, the friends were good, conversations ranged from boys to politics to the environment. No adult breathing down our necks. There was not as much awareness/surveillance of "loitering" so nobody had a problem if you parked at Cumby's for an hour or so. Looking back, it seems pretty wholesome. 🙄
AineDez@reddit
Also in the early aughts wasn't gas like $1.25 per gallon? I don't know that "hey come run errands with me, we can go to the bougie target across town and look at cute stuff" works as well at $5 a gallon...
iamunableto@reddit
entirely unrelated but nightmare on elm street was so aptly named, there are soooooo many streets in america named elm street
ferret_80@reddit
There used to be so many elm trees in America until the beetles came and Dutch Elm Disease killed most of them.
jorwyn@reddit
Elms are the only tree I am allergic to. And I used to have a place with a bunch of elms in front of it. People kept asking me why I didn't cut them down, because I would be so miserable every spring, but they didn't have Dutch elm disease. They were somehow resistant to it, because all the neighbors lost theirs. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.
not2interesting@reddit
I’ve been so mad over the loss of Ash trees for the almost exact same reason (different bug) that I totally forgot about the elm trees before them.
ferret_80@reddit
Ash, elm, hemlock, chestnut,. And those are just the ones off the top of my head from the NE. So many native trees are endangered.
iamunableto@reddit
that reminds me of the virgin suicides, theres an elm tree in the yard that the youngest was obsessed with that ended up getting chopped down because of that
jiminak@reddit
I think I once read in an interview with the director, that he said he chose the name specifically because it felt universally American, so audiences everywhere could imagine it being in their own town.
HMonster224@reddit
ETA II: I did this the other day and realized I usually don't take the time for it anymore.
Zestyclose-Beyond780@reddit
Is this a weird ad for Vooz?
PowerfulWorld1912@reddit
sure feels like it!
babassu_seeds@reddit
"omg since everybody's asking." No one has asked.
(But 200k monthly users after launching 6 months ago is impressive, OP. Oh no, now you've got ME doing it)
TypePuzzleheaded6228@reddit
is this not a thing in Europe?
jkvatterholm@reddit
Big subculture thing in rural Norway. Drive around, hang out in various places like gas stations. Do a drive around the town, go to the next town and hang out at a gas station there, etc.
PatchyWhiskers@reddit
No, because cars and gas are more expensive and licensing more stringent. A teenager that owns a car of their own and can drive it for hours is probably a rich kid who has other options for hanging out.
The UK driver's license is so stringent that few people pass it before 18 (17 is the earliest you can start learning)
Fogsmasher@reddit
It was up to a certain time. I think within the last 10 years a lot fewer teenagers do it. Partly because fewer teens have drivers licenses, fewer teens have access to cars and parents don’t let teens just roam around (especially at night) like they used to
WinterOfFire@reddit
Some states tightened laws too so teens under certain ages can’t drive with other teens in the car.
Fogsmasher@reddit
That’s definitely a problem too. They often patrol your town’s “inspiration point” more than they used to as well
jorwyn@reddit
I noticed this about our County deputies. We have a very small parking lot at a beach on the river not far from my house. And I was down there parked one night just because I wanted to be by myself. And, I wasn't really thinking about the other vehicles there. I wasn't really thinking this was probably the make out spot. This is cop went through knocking on all the windows, making teens clean off their steamy windows and leave. He got to me, and he was really surprised to find a middle-aged woman by herself, and then he started him flying that I was some sort of pervert peeking on the teenagers. I was just watching the moon on the river, thank you.
kn1144@reddit
Also so much of kids socializing is online now, they don’t need to physically be together to hang out.
2xtc@reddit
Compared to basically the whole rest of the world, Americans on average:
When you add all these things together, you can start to see why it's so much more common there than other places
UDK450@reddit
Historically 😂 just made me realize one gallon of gas now costs over half an hour of minimum wage.
EloquentBacon@reddit
Wow, I hadn’t thought of that before. I’m in a state where minimum wage is almost $16 though in many states it’s still only $7.25. If you’re only making $7.25 an hour and gas is around $4.50 a gallon, you’re not bringing home much of anything.
jorwyn@reddit
It's over $16 here, but 92 octane is now $6 a gallon.
My son has about a 50 mile round trip for work, and he's driving my old Land Rover. I worry about him sometimes. I think he makes $22/hr, but he's also got a mortgage to pay. So, I decided that I am paying for the 100,000 mi service he needs right now. Because I can't imagine how he would afford that on top of gas.
chappel68@reddit
I would add near total lack of ‘third spaces’, ie somewhere you can go and just BE without having to pay a fee, buy something and leave, obey someone else’s rules (like ‘no loitering’) - a car becomes a ubiquitous ’mobile hangout’ for no more than the cost of gas to get to a secluded parking lot you can stop at until someone notices and you move on, especially when you are too young to get in to a bar or can’t afford drinks. I’d say it mostly ends once you are old enough to get your own apartment or place to be without having your parents there.
My personal experience checking out ‘cruising culture’ as a teen in our VERY small town was hanging out downtown one night. It was just the 3-4 of us standing on the empty sidewalk watching a few kids in the one car driving back and forth the four blocks of the otherwise completely dark and empty Main Street. It got old pretty fast and we didn’t bother a second attempt. All the real action at school was at keg parties held in random fields, but dorks like us weren’t cool enough to get invited to those.
topsecretusername12@reddit
You don't want to go to your parents, you don't have a lot of money for fancy outings, what else you gonna do?
Traditional_Trust418@reddit
It's a universal teen experience if you don't live in a big city. It's a small town country kid experience
ComprehensiveBad5548@reddit
It most definitely was for myself and those in my town/surrounding towns!
PuerSalus@reddit
FYI - I also did this and saw others do this in the UK. I grew up in rural England so there wasn't much to do unless someone had a car.
As soon as someone in my friendship group a licence and had a car available we'd try and head out somewhere. Partly it was the novelty of having that freedom. Partly it was finding stuff to do (go to the cinema or friends further away). Often we'd just drive to get food then hang out in the car afterwards.
There were also other teens in my village who hung out in their cars so they could smoke/drink/have sex away from their parents.
So it's not just a US thing and comes down what's available to teens at the right time.
renegadecoaster@reddit
I want to add, because I haven't seen it mentioned yet, and because I just had the experience of driving on roads in the UK:
Driving in the US is a MUCH more mindless task than in Europe. The roads are wider and straighter, there's way fewer blind corners, fewer pedestrians and bikers to watch for, etc. When you drive in Europe you have to focus on the road basically 100%, but in the US, it's easier to have your mind on a conversation while driving.
Cathode335@reddit
Yep, I think it was unless you lived in a big city with public transport.
audioaddict321@reddit
I grew up in Chicago and that wasn't a thing for us. None of my good friends in high school had easy access to a car, so we relied in public transit, rides from someone, or borrowing a parent's car, all which required advance planning. (I'm older, too, so pre-rideshare) I mostly heard of it from people in rural areas.
TranslatorBoring2419@reddit
It's not universal for teens in the US but very common.
hnglmkrnglbrry@reddit
Fellow Ohioan. Me and one of my best female friends would drive around for hours in the corn and soybean farm areas doing the exact same thing. Good times.
HMonster224@reddit
Cornfields of NJ; same
freshmaggots@reddit
I was just gonna say this! I’m from Rhode Island, and because we’re so small, we do this, except we mostly just drive to Mystic, CY
Initial_Fill_2655@reddit
Was that the town from Julia Robert's Mystic Pizza movie? Hmm - recall seeing her in that movie and thinking life would be kind if every young woman got to feel she were that pretty at least once -to someone in her life- no matter what she looked like.
Vulpix_lover@reddit
Rhode Islander here, I just drive around the state sometimes
Intelligent-Art-5000@reddit
I'm also from RI, and we'd do it just around our small town.
archtopfanatic123@reddit
I'm Polish. I've never seen people do this almost ever and only online.
DrywallAnchor@reddit
I do this with someone on a regular basis but it's always a spontaneous decision.
barredowl123@reddit
I LOVE that you’re hearing about this! That was the thing to do in the 90s. I hope its still happening 😄
seahorseescape@reddit
When I still lived with my parents we did this allllll the time. I still did it actually as an adult before I had kids
Shag66@reddit
It is to teenagers. They "talk" for hours in cars.
daniegirl21@reddit
Denny’s and Speedway for me. Dirt road driving as slow as you can go, listening to music and a lot of times throwing beer bottles at the road signs, if you hit it, you got to choose the next song.
theevilhillbilly@reddit
I've done it a few times with my friends when we were you ger and we always had like really deep conversations. It wasn't a super normal occurrence tbh.
Fun-Spinach6910@reddit
Only during high-school or possible hookups.
Stimpisaurus@reddit
Yep, especially years ago. When I was in highschool gas was a little under a dollar a gallon. Could drive all night, anywhere we wanted to go or nowhere at all. This was also in an age before cell phones and social media, so going for a drive was privacy and freedom.
WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit
When I was younger - when gas was under $1 a gallon - we did this all the time.
aerox3plane@reddit
Yes I did this so much in my early 20s
PartyCat78@reddit
Those were the best nights.
LilacOn_Green57934@reddit
I can’t afford to do that. Couldn’t afford it in the 2000s and still can’t in the 2020s
Secret_Word4108@reddit
Did it all the time as a teenager
grey_canvas_@reddit
Husband and I are in our 40s. We still do this a lot.
twila213@reddit
Extremely common for teenagers. Likely, in part, has to do with our drinking age being so high. By a certain time of night bars are the only places still open, and if you're too young what do you do if you don't want to be at home?
Silver_Breakfast7096@reddit
As a teen yep.
kccolorado@reddit
Growing up in Hawaii we called it “cruizin” and we would cruise by the beaches at night and play our favorite songs in the car. It was so much fun and I have great memories of it.
Joolset@reddit
I did it with my friends when I at the university. I usually had a roommate and didn't want to bother them or I wanted it to be private. Even now when I am an adult I do it after a night out with friends. My friend is dropping me off and needs to get back home so they are not coming in. But we want to extend the conversation too. It can go on for quite awhile.
GrundleTurf@reddit
As a teen in a very rural area, “burn runs” were the best way to smoke weed without getting caught.
Level-Fig-7964@reddit
Yeah I did this a lot in my teens. No one really had a space for the group to gather so we would cruise around. Sometimes we would race, often pull into a parking lot to talk about modifications and specs.
glitterandgrime@reddit
Yes did this from ages 16-23 all the time.
NotEnoughHotdogs@reddit
I did this a lot more when I was a teenager. But when I go visit my old roommates out west or my friends that live out of town within a driving distance, we'll spend a lot of time talking and doing nothing in particular.
dapperlonglegs@reddit
especially in rural or rural adjacent areas
gingersnap919@reddit
Yes, riding in the back of a truck with some friends & drinks from the dollar store
Diasies_inMyHair@reddit
It was when I was a teenager.
Cjtorino@reddit
My dad owned several gas stations, therefore driving aimlessly with my friends ( but no more than half a tank away from the closest dad-owned gas station ) In a musclecar that got 8 mpg was the norm. Getting baked and listening to 8 track music on repeat. Sometimes we'd just cruise up and down the boulevard and holler to people know a la American Graffiti.
blackhawk905@reddit
Yeah, for many people it is. Back in college some nights I'd just go out late at night and drive around for an hour or two on back roads with the windows down and music playing to decompress.
Jorgenreads@reddit
Not in coastal California in my experience. You wanted to go to the beach or the mountains or “up the coast” but it was always to a destination. I guess where you go could take an hour or more to get to…
selchie0mer@reddit
Not with gas at $6.25 a gallon
LordofDD93@reddit
More of a broke young person thing - did this more as a teen and college student, and early 20s, now we just go to each person’s house/apartment and chat on the couch. Still will go get some McDonald’s fries and munch on em in a parking lot if we don’t want to drive off right away.
Sure-Coffee-8241@reddit
When gas was cheaper sure
RingAroundtheTolley@reddit
Off Route 66 in Cali. People would look for change. We’d drive around and to the hat, splitting chili cheese fries between 4 of us. Drive some more. Maybe up the mountain or to the golf course after by slurpees or neopolitan shakes form in n out
RingAroundtheTolley@reddit
Some of my favorite memories. I’d love to do that again but with these gas prices, no way!
FunJackfruit9128@reddit
somewhat, usually just for younger people. it’ll definitely be less common as gas prices are so expensive here though
oneislandgirl@reddit
As a teenager, it happens a lot...especially when gas was cheap, you had all the time in the world and nothing else to do. We called it "cruising". Today, probably not as common especially now that gas prices have nearly doubled. Most people who want to sit around a talk will do it at someone's house or maybe at a planned event.
vovinvritra@reddit
When I was a kid, and things would get bad at home, my mom would take us for a drive and we'd talk while we waited for the danger to quell back at the house. Now I live in a very peaceful home but sometimes I'll still grab some fast food and park somewhere for a while. It always felt so safe, like a little cocoon.
Also: car chats can be weirdly cathartic. At night, it's kinda dark so you can't see each other well, but even in the day, the seats have you facing forward, so sometimes it makes hard conversations a little easier because of you struggle with eye-contact, you have a natural out. Something about that quiet, isolated little space away from everything makes you feel connected. Idk. It's nice.
-ASkyWalker-@reddit
Definitely a teenager thing. Driving around smoking weed and going to Taco Bell. Or hanging out outside of your car at fast food joints or gas stations
mrcub1@reddit
Yeah, when gas wasn’t $5.20/gal
jesuswasaturd@reddit
Me and my best friend usually go for a cruise every time we hangout. Just drive around for house smoking talking and jamming to music. I feel like it's pretty common in the US
magaketo@reddit
I don't know about driving around, but my mail lady is on the phone all day every day while she is on her route. I just cannot figure out who I would want to talk to or who would want to talk to me that much every day.
cupidsavedpsyche@reddit
Driving around doing nothing was the most fun activity my friend and I could come up with in highschool. When a stop sign or light was coming up, I’d ask her “left, right, or straight?”. We would usually get Dunkin beforehand and just drive for hours. Sometimes stop at McDonald’s to get a box of cookies.
My mom would text me asking if I was at my friend house at like 2am. We weren’t but she doesn’t have to know that. My dad would also ask where we went but we genuinely had no idea because my friend would give me random directions.
yankeescrewdriver@reddit
We have so few “third spaces” that we need to invent them. Police and others will harass you for “loitering” if you’re just sitting around in public. Parks often close at sunset (if you’re lucky enough to be near one). We don’t have piazzas where you can just sit around and not be told to leave. Most places are horribly unwalkable. So we are left with the car.
NecessaryLight2815@reddit
In high school, we did that all the time. As an adult, never.
TheCatMadeMeDoIt83@reddit
Yep. Sitting in the truck as we speak. My husband and I practically live in our vehicle because of the work he does.
Deep-Hovercraft6716@reddit
Yeah, sometimes people would talk and sometimes talking is a euphemism...
primalnatured@reddit
It is.. or maybe was before gas prices went through the roof
Transit0ry@reddit
Yeah. We don’t have many third spaces here that aren’t bars. Being the car is a different vibe than hanging out at home but more so it’s just about enjoying each other’s company with no distractions.
esotologist@reddit
Can confirm, sometimes we drove to wallmart just to hang out in the parking lot and never went in lol
LaujoBear@reddit
Yes. My fella and I have been doing this fairly often since our second date, four years ago.
It can hard to find someone you can talk to for hours, so when a good conversation happens, you can take advantage of the ease of solitude that a car can give.
bbii511@reddit
Teens and young adults do a lot
SmallBicycle2503@reddit
We cruised Orange Avenue in Orlando to see and 'be seen' then either Planet Pizza or go to Altamonte to the Waffle House by the bowling alley
landsharkmark@reddit
For some of us. Getting out first car as a teen turned into a life in the fast lane, wrench throwing, knuckle busters, and friendship.
My friends and I still go on drives with no destination, listen to music, we don't sit in our cars anymore for hoursanymore. However we park our cars and sit on the hoods or stand around and talk about everything for hours. We spend so much time helping each other fix and build our cars. A lifetime of headaches and frustration, but I would not change a single moment of it.
HearingDue2119@reddit
It’s called cruising and is becoming a thing of the past
the_zac_is_back@reddit
For hours? I don’t think so as much. For a few minutes? Sure
Robot_Dracula@reddit
Driving through the country with some good music and a snack is a great way to clear your head. I just wander aimlessly sometimes
Revolutionary_Gas551@reddit
We used to have cruise routes in high school. Everyone drove the same loop and you’d stop, pull over, hang out with people, or just keep driving to see who else was out.
Many-River-1064@reddit
Same. Back in the 90's we had to drive 15 miles to the next town over to cruise with anybody else. Main Street was about 15 blocks long and you went from one end to the other for hours -- stopping only to swap out friends in the car, borrow a music CD from someone or to get something to eat. The end that was by the downtown shops was for flirting, fighting or disbursing alcohol (or weed) if you were lucky to have a friend with some. We were pretty good at having at least one person that would be a designated driver so even the cops just told us to keep the music down if they saw us uptown drinking and/or dancing.
I'm now almost 50 and I still cruise around occasionally but its because I have a Jeep Wrangler that my friends love to ride around in with the top & doors off. Those are more drives out of town to scenic areas or across town to get something to eat at a restaurant. Our kids are grown but we are teaching the grandkids the joy of cruising Main Street and enjoying the moment of just being together, listening to cool music and riding in a bad a$$ car.
Euphoric_Ease4554@reddit
I love that you’re passing it on!😁
Revolutionary_Gas551@reddit
Same. I went to school in a town of \~400, so we’d always go to the bigger town about 10 miles away.
Choice-Marsupial-127@reddit
Same. Grew up in a small town with one main road, so we’d all find each other by cruising Broadway. The parking lot behind the high school was the perfect place to pull up side by side and flirt or make plans for where to head next.
Euphoric_Ease4554@reddit
Yes! This. In a small town, high school age carloads of boys waving and talking out the car window to carloads of high school girls as we all went to “drag Main” (cruise up and down Main Street), which had 3 stoplights.
IrianJaya@reddit
Where I grew up we had a "loop" that teenagers would cruise in a circuit that extended from a big park on one side of town to the railroad yards on the other side of town. My parents used to drive the same loop when they were teens. We didn't have phones back then, this was the late '80s, so if you were looking for someone your friend would say, "let's do a loop and see if we can spot them" and there were several places along the route other kids were stopped and hanging out such as the movie parking lot. But often we'd just drive around listening to music and seeing who was around. A big part of it was also complaining how there was nothing to do and how much we hated where we lived and couldn't wait to turn 18 so we could move away.
VinRow@reddit
I did that. But I was alone listening to music.
miaoumaiden@reddit
Definitely a rural thing, folks in cities have no need to do this (other activities are available) and it would be impractical/frustrating (busy traffic, lots of stop lights).
naniegrace861@reddit
Random car trips was a frequent pastime with the combination of my dad's PTSD and siblings rowdy behavior. We'd regularly drive to the beach, Whittier blvd, Sunset blvd 🥺
ProfSquirrel25@reddit
The car can be your own world. You set everything personal, you invest the best car stereo system, you know where exactly your things are inside the car which nobody else can get into it.
The best part of it is: you can move your own world to anywhere you like and nobody can look for you to bother you when you need time for yourself.
If you talk to Americans and notice something like that, I think you soon will ask “why do you spend so much time in your bathroom everyday?!…” and that’s the another private world to recharge the energy depleted throughout the day.
wieldymouse@reddit
I occasionally do this as an adult.
Forward_Tank8310@reddit
My friends and I did that every night when we were teenagers, but that unfortunately was a very long time ago.
morphousgas@reddit
Yes, back when there was 99¢ gas, I would do this all the time.
VendablePenny48@reddit
I do this all the time. Its a nice way to waste time and money
ag207@reddit
As others have said as a teen we did this all the time. Everyone referred to the senior parking lot at my hs as "the lot" and we would all go hang out there on fridays and saturdays, sometimes an occasional weekday and hang out or look for something to do with other people hanging out there.
We would drive around, listen to music, smoke pot, go to tim hortons and get something at 1am. Fun times.
Oldy_VonMoldy@reddit
It’s because so many people in America live in housing developments away from cities, where there is literally nothing to do and nowhere to go. So if you don’t want to hang out at someone’s house with their parents lurking about, you have to drive around.
TemperMe@reddit
Lmao never thought about it but yeah. When I was younger I’d do this. Get off work, wait for my friend who worked next door and we’d go get a frosty and fries across the street. We’d sit in the car for 1.5 hours or so hanging out and talking about whatever.
socabella@reddit
Yes. Especially in your teens and 20s.
Appropriate_Park313@reddit
This feels like an ad
SnooStrawberries2955@reddit
Yeah, that’s a thing here.
RemnantSith@reddit
Yes for hotboxing smoking weed
Any-Instruction-3373@reddit
Yes, in the 80’s we did it - listening to music and driving around. Some of my favorite times with friends.
Choice-Marsupial-127@reddit
As a teen, this is what we did. Cars were our fourth spaces.
myheartisstillracing@reddit
As a teenager (late 90s, early aughts for my experience), your car was one of the few places you could hang out that felt entirely yours, with no adults and no prying eyes or ears. And, beyond gas money (which could be handled communally), it was cheap.
We absolutely spent time driving around various places, parking and just talking for hours, heading to a late night diner for snacks, etc.
I get the impression it is not nearly as common nowadays. The kids spend a lot more time interacting online and don't go out as often as they used to (there are studies revealing this general trend), and many are delaying getting a driver's license (there are studies that reveal this, too).
If we go further back in time instead, the freedom that cars gave young people was even more pronounced. My friend said she and her best friend spent many, many nights in the 80s cruising the local strip (which is a way of saying driving up and down the same local road) along with many other people her age. Sometimes they would see someone and stop to interact with them for a while, and then go back to driving. It was part showing off your car, part people watching, and part socializing.
fartbutt4209@reddit
in my teens, definitely
GoalStillNotAchieved@reddit
Which anonymous video chat site?
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
Vooz
Slight_Manufacturer6@reddit
Very common when I was young.
It seems less common these days but maybe that is just my kids.
HonoredDiplomat@reddit
If your teenage years didn't involve riding around in a car smoking weed & freestyle rapping . Your not american
castlenutjob@reddit
When you're a teenager, yeah, as an adult, nope.
blah_saidtoad@reddit
It's due to the US' lack of third places. The only place for teens to hang out is in the car.
On_my_last_spoon@reddit
This has more to do with there not being anyplace for teenagers to go. We have very few options for them. They get chased out of restaurants, told to leave parks, etc. I recall this happening to me a lot and I was a good kid that got all A’s and never did drugs or drink booze.
If you have a car you can at least sit with your friends someplace.
Dangerous-Variation@reddit
I used to get in the car with my friends and drive around all the time. We’d just drive and talk and listen to music and drive some more and talk some more. I’d get home in the middle of the night and crash then get up, go to work/school get home, change and do it all over again. It was a good time.
happyfaceowl@reddit
yes very common
parkz88@reddit
In my day we would call them cig runs. We would drive around smoking weed and cigarettes looking for something to do. Maybe we'd get a text or follow a rumor to a party. If not, We'd make our own fun racing on the narrow backroads shining deer for points. We had a point system that was over complicated due to all the arguments. Dumb times but fun.
AggressiveResolve207@reddit
Something about serious conversations hit really hard in the car for me.
Pale_Space_4144@reddit
Yeah, pretty much. When you're a teenager just looking for somewhere to hang out, the car will do.
ExtraSpicyMayonnaise@reddit
Oh yeah. This is definitely something we did all the time. The beach, parking lots, driveways, parks, Dunkin Donuts…
IthurielSpear@reddit
I do love sitting in my car in a parking lot at the park or river whenever I can. It’s peaceful and I don’t have to worry about bugs lol. I wish I had more time to just sit and relax like that, but I always have to be somewhere whenever I’m in my car
CPA_Lady@reddit
I totally sit in my car for a bit before coming into the house to have a little more me time before I’m back to being mom.
IthurielSpear@reddit
Mom’s understand
leahish@reddit
One of my favorite things is taking a long road trip, the kids fall asleep, and my husband and I just talk for hours about everything and nothing. It is always a reminder of how much I actually LIKE my husband (obviously I love him) as a person.
Flashy_Flower_7884@reddit
Some of the best dates I've had were just long drives out in the countryside both during the day and during the night. Also teenagers just aimlessly driving around or hot roding for fun or cruising up and down the strip back and forth has been an American pastime since at least the 1950s. Probably before the 1950s but I know for a fact at least 1950s. Even now kids will congregate in certain areas with all their cars just hanging out even if it is just a parking lot somewhere.
Flashy_Flower_7884@reddit
And listen to music
Ferruolo@reddit
Even the current fuel prices are still a third of that in europe... Cruising is a cheap passtime.
Whole_Macaron_2488@reddit
Literally my first date with my partner lmfao
idrinkchocomilk@reddit
yes! i did this so much as a teen, multiple times a week for years. there’s not much to do in the midwest.
Elemcie@reddit
Pre-Starbucks, we had few hangout places except the mall. So yep, riding around or sitting at a park was where we solved the world’s problems.
RecoverAgent99@reddit
It's easier talking to people when you're sitting side by side and don't have to look at each other. Music sounds better in cars, too.
DjLexHenry@reddit
Me and my friends would “chase the sun” as teens… just drive from 8pm to 5am when the sun rose… just bullshitting the whole time.
Dazzling-Climate-318@reddit
I guess it’s common amongst those who don’t have any place to go.
Illustrious_Sock@reddit
This is just an AI advertisement right? OP added P.S. mentioning the platform, even tho the post wasn't edited, so that "P.S." was there from beginning. And OP mentions the platform in each reply.
Dead internet indeed
Nofanta@reddit
Couldn’t drink at home so yeah.
Smokinsumsweet@reddit
Oh man what I wouldn't give for another blunt ride on quiet back roads.. Back when gas was 1.89
Knox_the_Boxer@reddit
As a teenager we rode around in the car then stopped at the beach where everyone hung out. Now with gas being $$$$ idk how kids could afford to.
Puzzled-Nobody@reddit
Yes. It's more common amongst the late teens/early 20's age group than others, but it's a pretty standard American experience, especially in rural areas. The US doesn't really have many places where people can go to spend time that are cost effective or aren't subject to loitering laws, so we make up for it by cruising around with a few friends and some cheap eats. You're either talking, or you have the music cranked up and you and your friends are belting your hearts out.
Once you age out of that young adult age range, you still spend a lot of time in the car, but you're more likely to have a destination in mind. A few years ago, my sister and I had a craving for WaWa subs, so we took a couple days off work, hopped in the car, booked a one-night stay at a hotel on the way up, and drove almost five hours to the nearest WaWa. Had WaWa for dinner and breakfast the next day, went to the local aquarium, then drove back.
majesticalexis@reddit
This is what we did when I was a teenager in the 90’s. I lived in a small town and there wasn’t much to do. We drove around a lot.
WokeUpIAmStillAlive@reddit
I love a good drive around at night. Don't get to as much as I'd like to nowadays
Logical-Recognition3@reddit
Watch the movie American Graffiti. It's about "cruising," driving slowly up and down the same street with a group of friends, interacting with groups of teens in other cars. I never participated in this but my older sister would often go cruising on Friday nights.
Reliable_Narrator_@reddit
My friends and I did this during our teen years - late 1980s through early 1990s. I grew up in a fairly rural area without much to do.
Popular_Ordinary_152@reddit
Core aspect of my teenage years. Just not a lot of places to actually hang out, so we drove around or parked places.
Only-Candy1092@reddit
Gas is too expensive nowadays to really do it, but i when i first got a car, i did it regularly
Sylent09@reddit
Used to when I was a teen and in my early 20's. We'd hit the backroads and just keep driving. I remember one night in particular we were just riding around out in the country, we seen the Alabama state line so we turned around and kept driving around. Some hours later we crossed into Kentucky. Seeing as how the sun was starting to come up we decided to start heading back home after stopping and getting some Waffle House.
AtheneSchmidt@reddit
It was a very normal thing when I was a teen/in college, back in the 2000s
The-Entire-Thing@reddit
1000% is a thing
Vicky-Momm@reddit
Absolutely, and end up at tte 24 hour diner at 4 am for pancakes
NekoMao92@reddit
Back when gas was 99 cents a gallon that was what we did. Now a days, unless something is needed, not going anywhere.
SpiroEstelo@reddit
Yes.
Fearless_Garden618@reddit
The best conversations I've ever had were in my busted old car. I practically lived in that thing from HS thru uni.
aquay@reddit
we used to call it cruising. i don't know how popular it is anymore, but yeah it was a thing when i was young.
icrossedtheroad@reddit
We'd drive from our town on the northern Central Coast of California to San Francisco, at night, just cause. Damn car leaked so much oil we'd have to stop a couple times each way. We'd just drive up, drive around, and drive home.
chobap_masterr@reddit
Yeah nothing hits like a starbucks run + 4+ hour catch-up in the target parking lot with my bestie
JetPixi13@reddit
As a teen and early 20s person, yeah. Not much else to do that’s acceptable or accessible.
mozzieandmaestro@reddit
yes
Last-Radish-9684@reddit
I'm 73 and it was a major thing in the late 60s and early 70s. Sometimes less talking, more music on the AM radio, and "making out"!
chef-chouette@reddit
This is pretty much all there is to do in small towns
LongInfinite1837@reddit
Cars are a huge part of American culture and represent freedom and privacy. For a lot of teenagers and young adults, they don't have their own house or places that they can go to hang out. There is a lack of third spaces, places you can just go and hang out without having to spend money.
deafinitely-faeris@reddit
Super normal here. When my boyfriend and I first got together there wasn't much at all to do in my small town so we'd just get in the car and drive. We might stop at a gas station for some drinks or snacks or see if there are any shops or parks we haven't been to or we'd just drive around then go home.
I did it solo on my days off all the time, just seeing what I could find, but not anymore with gas prices.
SkyerKayJay1958@reddit
Watch American Graffiti. That is how it started. Growing up we piled in one car on Friday night to one area and a different one Saturday night. Either that going to the drive in movie or the burger stand , all very car centric
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
Okie sure ❤️
hatex_xcake@reddit
Me and my best friend would steal my mom’s car steal her mom’s alcohol and drive around all night having fun doing crazy shit. Lots of topless nights flashing people and causing a ruckus. Me and my boyfriend when we first met would sit in my car in front of his house smoke weed and talk for hours.
Far-Street306@reddit
I can't say that I relate to any of those scenarios, but when I was younger, it was not uncommon to drive for 10-15 days at a time for a trip to sight see or visit family.
Even in my older age, I will spend 9-10 hours driving to check out fire lookout towers somewhat regularly.
I am quite attached to my truck and work hard to keep it clean and functional.
Owl__Kitty88@reddit
Yep. Most Americans doesn’t live in cities the way Europeans / other countries do. So when we are teens, our first taste of real freedom is driving around ourselves (not having a parent drive us around), especially if we live in suburbs or rural areas with not a lot to do/non walkable places/everything is spread out.
brian11e3@reddit
When I was a kid, before driving age, we would ride bikes around for hours. Once we got cars, we would drive around for hours.
Now that I am in my 40's, we mostly sit in Discord and occasionally play PC games together.
sam-mendoza@reddit
YESSSSSS
BulkyRip7631@reddit
I remember when I was in high school people would do this a lot because when you get your drivers license you just want to be able to drive around and it’s always more fun to do it with a friend
signguy21@reddit
No its not
maybach320@reddit
Yes, but it’s kind of the younger you are the more it happens. I also didn’t just sit in the car I’d would drive and talk with my friends but my dad never seemed to care how much I spent in gas which is somewhat different from most parents. Before I get accused of being a rich kid my dad drove a ton for work (given he wasn’t a truck driver, or delivery driver), at one point his yearly average was 28k miles a year so I think fuel was just a sunk cost for him so me needing 2-3 tanks at $40-50 was likely a rounding error in his mental fuel budget.
avocadoreader@reddit
Yeah this was a thing when I was a teenager/young adult. I’m almost 43. I have an 18 year old and I don’t think he does this. I don’t see how he would afford the gas and also he doesn’t go out a lot. He goes to visit his girlfriend and stuff but until he gets a job he won’t have the money to just drive around randomly.he gets a small allowance for his chores that gives him enough money to drive to school and do a few activities. He’s graduating high school soon and I’ve told him we’re not going to let him take the car except for looking for a job.
ProofPrize1134@reddit
As a teenager, yes
theravinedisc@reddit
You should watch the movie Columbus. The two main characters drive around town looking at architecture and talking
That movie is awesome
Defiant_Ingenuity_55@reddit
Yes. Going places and having long conversations are two very enjoyable things to do.
Ok_Nectarine_4528@reddit
Yes. I spent a lot of time doing this as a teen-late 20s, still do it occasionally- ya know, when gas prices aren’t so high.
spiniton85@reddit
Everything you described was high school for me. And it was so fun.
Desperate_Platypus34@reddit
No love for QT? Lol Wawa is basically the same thing tho and just as awesome, still need to see what the hype is on Buc-ees tho
Bland_OldMan@reddit
I'm in my 40s and this was a thing when I was a teen. My kids in high school less so.
Everything is built around cars here. So to hang out and do stuff you're going to be in a car anyway. And if you're a broke teen all you might be able to afford is driving around.
Edelweisspiraten2025@reddit
Guy on my team currently has about a 1.25 hr commute each way. We have a pool to see if he has a 2+ hr commute in any given month.
Outrageous_Report_31@reddit
Yes it’s pretty big here.
Zivata@reddit
Definitely did this in the late 90's early 00's. Now? Who has that kind of money?
jj_grace@reddit
Yeah, this is very common for highschoolers, especially in rural areas! I’d imagine there are several factors that contribute to it, both positive and negative- like a lack of third spaces or places for teens to hangout and also teens getting their licenses at 16.
LA_Nail_Clippers@reddit
Even for suburban and city kids it was pretty common. It's just a bit different for really urban locations where people don't own cars.
When I was growing up near SF, some of my friends who lived in SF proper didn't have cars at all, so I'd pick them up or they'd take BART (subway) to me and we'd drive around in my car. My parents did basically the same with NYC in the early 70s since they lived outside the city and had cars.
A lack of third spaces that catered to the under 21 or under 18 crowd and cheap gas and cars all added to it.
claireapple@reddit
Yah I still did this when I grew up in Chicago but I grew up in an outer neighborhood and some of us had cars at 16.
Slight_Literature_67@reddit
My ex-boyfriend and I did this all the time in college. It was always fun, especially during warm spring and summer nights. This will always be such a core memory for me because our conversation ranged from the emotional to the humorous to absolutely unhinged.
ManiacalMalapert@reddit
Oh man I just got rocketed back to my college days. Yes this is a thing 😅 Especially when you have a drivers license but still live with your parents or in a very controlled dorm or apartment with thin walls.
Nikkinot@reddit
In college in a small town in the 80s we did something called rolling . We would load up a car and hit the back roads...at idle speed. Like slow enough that people would get out and walk and then get back in. Deep conversations, frivolous conversations and drinking games all happened (driver didn't drink). We would sometimes get pulled over but as long as the driver was sober the cops were cool and left us alone. We always assumed they knew we could be up to worse.
Had a ton of fun in college and that is the best memory.
Few-Pineapple-5632@reddit
We are a car-centric country due to infrastructure and distances. There are no cafes, plazas or other places you can sit and talk. Our houses are far away from parks, restaurants, shopping centers and each other.
So, yeah we sit and talk in cars. We drive around aimlessly, get food at midnight, take spontaneous road trips to nebulous destinations. When young, sometimes we sit for hours.
casapantalones@reddit
It was a big thing when I was a teen in the late 90s/early 00s. There wasn’t much to do in my hometown.
jbenze@reddit
When I was younger, definitely. Now I just want people out of my car as fast as possible
Person7751@reddit
this weekend spent hours with my wife and grown kids driving around
Playful_Question538@reddit
That was me at 16 when I got my drivers license.
Footnotegirl1@reddit
Yeahp. Absolutely normal part of growing up. Once a friend has a car, all the other friends will occasionally pile in, and you just drive around until you get lost, hit up a late night restaurant, and then drop people off along the way. Add in occasionally stopping at places like parks or empty fields to look at the stars, etc.
UltimateWerewolf@reddit
My first real boyfriend and I had our first kiss after talking for three hours in my car. Very common
stalagit68@reddit
I had a friend in college that I did that with. We were in a masters program together. We both worked odd hours so it wasn't uncommon for us to go 'find food' after evening classes. Then just sit and talk for hours.
I really liked this friend, but I never said anything because I didn't think he felt the same way.
Found out years later (after both of us had gone on to marry other partners) that he considered me to be "the one who got away" 😢
Glum-Welder1704@reddit
For young people, it's a way to get some space and privacy from parents or roommates. In less car-centric cultures, I suppose people would just walk.
New_Acanthaceae7718@reddit
Yes. I enjoyed late night drives with my friends, snacks and much more😊. Miss those days..
Open-Committee-998@reddit
Genuinely one of my favorite activities. 24 hour stores aren’t very common anymore, but there’s been more than a few times my friends and I sat in an Arby’s parking lot just shooting the shit until 3 am. Things just hit different at night.
DanteRuneclaw@reddit
Are the people you’re talking to in the 16 - 19 age range?
mattcmoore@reddit
The car culture runs deep. We're like the ancient Mongolians who lived, ate and slept on horseback, except we're in our cars.
Hell yeah I used to drive around aimlessly and still do to this day.
Lillie-Bee@reddit
My parents took us on Sunday drives all the time. America is really big, there’s a lot to see. There are certain times of year I like to drive around to see the sights, especially fall foliage.
ElmoZ71SS@reddit
We basically live in our cars. sometimes literally. As a teen it's the first taste of pure freedom, and you can go do dumb stuff without judgement. For living out in the sticks a four wheel drive pickup was freedom/vehicle/love shack. Because if you grew up in the bible belt you can't just go hang out at your sweetheart's house (Her dad wants to kill you) and you can't take her home because your mom won't let you two be unattended or behind closed doors. So a truck, a dirt road out to nowhere and some alcohol that was stolen or scored some other way becomes a great friday night date out in the sticks....or you could go hang out at the walmart parking lot lol.
Necessary_Echo8740@reddit
Oh hell yeah especially for teens. We would just drive around eating fast food, visiting Walmart at midnight, or spending all night down by the river and just hopping around town. Like many, we were enjoying our new freedom
Resplendent-Sun@reddit
Maybe for some, in the past, but not so much anymore
Premium333@reddit
I had a scouting event at a local park today with my family and when we arrived we larked next to a giy who was sitting in his running car listening to music and playing phone games.
We were there for 2 hours and when we left, he hadn't moved an inch. Still sittig in his running car, listening to the radio, and playing games on his phone.
So, yes. I wouldn't say that everyone does it. That was a rare sighting in my life, but there are 300 million of us. Lots of stuff can be rare and still be performed by 10's of millions of people.
parkinsonblack@reddit
I thought this was a troll post from r/Suburbanhell for a second.
LopsidedGrapefruit11@reddit
Very common for under 21s.
BrazilianButtCheeks@reddit
Well yes when you’re a teen it’s a thing.. there’s always parents or siblings at the houses .. you can say whatever you want and play whatever music as loud as you want in your own car.. it’s literally independence
pimientosneeze@reddit
In high school mostly and sometimes in college yes
dadsgoingtoprison@reddit
Yes. It’s also a way to have a cheap date with your hubby and you have small kids. It’s also a way to enjoy a quiet evening with your SO when you’re older and an empty nesters.
lucylucylane@reddit
Americans just spend more time in in cars as it's how their cities are designed
OlderAndTired@reddit
Cars are often the only “private” space teens and young adults have to just hang out. This was a large part of my youth, growing up in California.
BlueDemeter@reddit
Yes this is completely normal, especially when we're younger (old enough to drive, but not old enough to go to bars or have disposable income). It's honestly really enjoyable, and creates great memories.
lousyredditusername@reddit
This is how I got to know my husband, when we first became friends back in college. He'd pick me up from my dorm and drive us out somewhere and we'd just sit and talk.
It's like your own little private world. No pressure to spend money, no physical exertion from walking, relative comfort from the elements.
Able-Sheepherder-154@reddit
This has been an American teenage activity for many decades. Great way to get away from the parents, especially before cell phones. Out of sight, out of mind.
travelinmatt76@reddit
yes, at night we drove a loop. As a teen in the 90s we would drive around the mall yelling at friends then we would loop through the fast food places and back to the mall again. Many of us had CB radio too and we would meet in a parking lot and then play cat and mouse. You send 1 car out in the town to hide and the rest of us would try to find them as they talked on the radio. Gas was 48 cents so it didn't matter how much we drove around. I was driving my dad's van which got like 12 mpg in the city.
Kittymeow123@reddit
Yes for sure except rn I don’t think most people can afford the gas to do this lmao
kahlilia@reddit
In 1990s Detroit, it was Belle Isle and Jefferson people would cruise and hang out at. https://youtu.be/yq1bLN5If2o?si=V5AjfzAY8-2K5g7O
Well, not me bc my mama wouldn't have let me if I'd wanted to and I didn't want to bc, well, I'm a nerd and always have been.
HottestestestMess@reddit
The grown up version is you sit outside your friend’s house when you’re dropping them off and you end up talking for another hour because you had too much to catch up on!
SkiMonkey98@reddit
Yeah. As a teenager the car is one of very few places where you have almost total independence -- a lot of more suburban areas don't have a ton of parks or other spaces for teenagers to just hang out unsupervised, but you can drive around as much as you want and nobody will stop you. I think this is somewhat less true now than when I was growing up though -- not as many kids are getting their driver's licenses, gas prices are crazy, and I think a lot of socialization has shifted online
_handlemewithcare_@reddit
I guess for kids in some areas.
Remote-Property-339@reddit
Pretty normal
meggielim@reddit
Oh yes young adulthood was full of hanging out and smoking in my friend’s cars
CyanCicada@reddit
When my good friend and I had just gotten our licenses at around 18, we would just drive around through the hills at night after work. We'd go into cities richer than ours and just enjoy the diverse natural and artificial beauty of California. A couple of times we drove until the sun rose. Good times.
GasFartRepulsive@reddit
It’s a teenager thing
bipolar_capricorn@reddit
I wasn’t voted “Class Cruiser” for nothing. 🤣 (2000)
N2Shooter@reddit
It sure is!
My wife and I do this a couple of time a week, and even more in the middle of summer.
OkManufacturer767@reddit
Absolutely. I miss those days.
I grew up in a town with a river running through it and mountains all around. We'd drive to the woods and a spot on the river or lake, or a place at the top with a view of one of the valleys. And yes, meet up in parking lots.
Sigh. Good times.
CloudCumberland@reddit
We call it a driveway moment.
Kappy01@reddit
I used to do that. High school and college, we’d go to the local diner and sit around for hours… when it got late enough, we’d drive around. Sometimes go park in the country and walk for miles through the orchards.
But sitting in the car, cruising… that probably accounted for like 30% of hanging out.
eeff484@reddit
Not hours but 20 mins or so before I come into the house. I do this every now and then
Dothracula@reddit
I spent my late teens and early 20s doing this several nights a week. Too young to go to a bar, too broke to really go anywhere. So we’d get some energy drinks and smokes, and just cruise and shoot the shit for hours with good music on. Sometimes until like 4am. In the summer it wasn’t uncommon to hang out in the convenience store parking lot either. Then we’d leave, go get Taco Bell, and sit in their parking lot eating and talking. Guys, girls, single, couples, we all did it. Back when gas was cheap and we had no responsibilities!
devilscabinet@reddit
My friends and I did that a lot in high school. I haven't done it nearly as often as an adult.
DueLingonberry3107@reddit
This can’t be Americans only
IneffableOpinion@reddit
It’s mostly high school kids without anywhere to go for nightlife. Many towns don’t have anything open except bars at night, and Americans can’t go to bars until age 21. We don’t have public squares full of people in the street at night the way European cities do. If you sat in a public space with friends at night, cops would tell you to stop loitering. It’s easier to drive around “cruising the ave”. A lot of kids will park cars in a store parking lot until cops make them leave.
BelligerentWyvern@reddit
Sure. Much more common in rural and suburban areas though.
Summer time especially. Nowhere to be in the morning, no responsibilities, don't want to go home. So just chill with friends.
Probably more common before wide cellphone use but I bet it's still fairly common.
EloquentBacon@reddit
I did it a lot with friends in high school and still do it frequently now with my husband and/or our teen & adult kids, too.
As a teen, gas in the early 90’s was 69 cents a gallon so we’d drive up and down the beach from Sandy Hook, NJ to Seaside Heights, NJ and back again many evenings stopping to eat whenever at Denny’s, 7-11, Wawa or one of the many 24 hour diners.
As an adult, we still live very close to the beach so it’s still really nice to take a drive to see the beach. It’s nice in the summer when it’s too hot outside as our car has A/C and great in the winter as we can stay warm in the car. We live near a National recreation area that has a beach facing east on the Atlantic ocean on one side and a beach facing west on the western side. They have the most gorgeous bayside sunsets there in the winter so we’ll often take a ride there in the evening. In the summer we take a drive and stop to see the sunrise at the beach. We also live near many different lighthouses and historic sites so those are more great place to take a drive to.
Previous-Amphibian94@reddit
Cruising in our small town (plain city Oh ) in the 70s/80s was called the Amish 500
bryku@reddit
Yes, this is very american.
You and your friends get in a car and drive around and do nothing for hours.
CoachOpen1977@reddit
That’s literally what my friends and I did for several years of our lives. Living with parents/roommates it was often the only way for semi privacy. If you wanted to hang one on one with your partner/best friend and other people were home at both parties’ homes. Also before cell phones we would find our friends by cruising around and stopping at all the places you commonly would hang until you ran into your friends or found a “happening” scene.
abukeif@reddit
Worth pointing out that this was a lot more feasible for American young people when gas cost <$2/gallon.
Cyber_Punk_87@reddit
I did it a ton as a teenager. I don’t take as many aimless drives anymore (gas is expensive and has been for a while), but I used to love just driving around for hours.
tiggipi@reddit
A lady who lives in a duplex behind my house has friends over every day and they sit in their cars and talk.
Ceasar456@reddit
I don’t know if it was social but I used to do this by myself when I got my first car. If I was stressed or sad I would drive up and down PCH. Maybe stop and get out and watch the the waves for a little bit. Sometimes I’d even do this late at night. A couple of days before I moved from Cali I did one last one of these drives at night and I pulled of to like a place to park next to the ocean and flickers by son lux was playing. It was probably like 10pm and you couldn’t see anything but the waves where crashing on the rocks and it was a sound I always over. I got out of the car and sat on the hood of my white 2000 mustang and just chilled for a bit. A stranger pulled up and did the same thing. We sat there for a bit and he offered me a cigarette and I didn’t smoke but I took this one and we talked about our lives for hours. It’s one of my most vivid memories
salty_mate@reddit
Yeah, all the time. Sometimes we just cursed from spot to spot like beaches, drives thru’s, and random views just to talk. Usually those talks were funny or deep.
TedBundylol@reddit
Definitely. Where I live, if it’s winter time and you wanna hang out, but you don’t wanna go to a bar. It’s essentially your best option when it’s cold AF out.
MerpeMerpeMerpe@reddit
Still do it. Bought a convertible for this exact reason. We live in Austin and it’s beautiful out west. Sometimes we just drive west and meander around the hills and neighborhoods of mansions.
goodwraith@reddit
Oh yeah. Started driving late 90s. We would aimlessly drive for a few hours all over. Explored so much of our surrounding area. My 18 yo son does not do this and I feel a bit sorry for him.
gemmy-five@reddit
oh man, i do this currently and have been for a while! take my lunch breaks, doomscroll & listen to music, or even just park & read in my car. Sometimes nothing beats a good car sit
venturashe@reddit
My high school crush, all the time. Every weekend at the local 24 hour donut joint. I have to stay I still miss him, we could talk about something and nothing for hours. I’m 60. lol.
tcspears@reddit
There’s a period between 16 and 21, but especially 18-21, where you don’t have many options. You are probably doing (or talking about) things where you don’t want to be around your family, you can’t legally drink or go to bars/clubs, and there aren’t many places to go.
So you’ll hang out with the one friend that has a car and drive around, or go hang out somewhere.
I grew up in the 90s in a city, so most people I knew didn’t have a license, but the friends that did would just drive up and down the main road all night, and we’d see all different people we knew. We’d listen to music, drink/smoke, talk. Often we’d meet girls in the next car, and try flirting, or find some place to meet up for a bit and talk. Honestly, we used to meet up in different cemeteries half the time, because there were no police or adults, so we could just do whatever we want (as long as we did make noise, litter, or cause damage).
sensualhoneyy@reddit
Yes especially living in an area where there’s not much to do and minimal third spaces
Kollin111@reddit
Yeah, nothing clears my head better than a nice midnight drive with the windows down and a friend to chat with. It can be a very zen moment.
Relative_Specific217@reddit
Yes, especially in high school and college. Some of my absolute best memories are from night spent driving around like this 🥹
Melgel4444@reddit
Mostly people did this as teens / young adults but if the car was just parked it was usually so you could drink (car bar) or smoke lol
Luckyangel2222@reddit
Yes that was my life
NoCaterpillar2051@reddit
Y’all love to talk about third spaces, this is the closest we get.
witchhearsecurse@reddit
I have a mattress in the back of my hearse for hanging out in. It is way more comfy than hard wood. Spend a lot of time hanging out and driving in America is pretty common at least where I live.
Shot-Presence3147@reddit
As a European that lives here, yes it is unfortunately true.
From my observations mainly because it is a culture devoid of third spaces and that doesn't value or encourage green behavior. On top of that people tend to live quite far apart from each other and someone ends up having to get in a car, because the US is also missing public transportation.
spidermans_mom@reddit
This was when I was paying less than $1/gallon of gas, but yeah it was like therapy, especially around sunset on a weekend on the highway with the windows down and the music up. Good times.
Character-End77@reddit
Absolutely.
sai_gunslinger@reddit
The majority of dates my fiance and I went on when we met were driving dates. We'd go to dinner somewhere at a sit down restaurant sometimes first, other times we just went to the gas station for snacks and drove. We didn't drive the whole time, but we'd pick a spot near a body of water to drive to within about an hour's distance and park. Listening to music, talking, stargazing out the sunroof with the seats laid back, holding hands... It was great. Miss those days. We have a 7 year old now so driving dates are few and far between these days. But when kiddo was still a baby and would sleep in the car, we just brought him and his diaper bag with us.
But yes, driving and parking somewhere is a great American pastime. Good tunes, climate control, sunroof for stargazing, tasty snacks. Classic good times. Especially if you live somewhere picturesque. We're in the Adirondacks so there is no shortage of spots to park near lakes and rivers where you get good views of the moon reflecting off the water and low light pollution so you can actually see the stars. And if you pull up to a spot and there are other cars there, you just keep driving to the next spot.
CunnyMaggots@reddit
This was a huge part of being a teenager for me.
pinaple_cheese_girl@reddit
Until I was in probably 19 or 20, yeah. Especially high school. America lacks “third places,” so if your home is not private or your parents are strict, a car may be the best place to talk to someone for hours.
Samibechill@reddit
My best friend and I (both 33f) just spent a weekend at a water park together. Before we left to go home on Sunday, we spent 3.5 hours sitting in the parking lot talking in the car.
It just feels more intimate than talking elsewhere.
DragonflyOnFire@reddit
I always had a destination in mind, but I didn’t care about how far it was.
Constellation-88@reddit
Yeah, when you’re young and don’t have a lot of money and or live in a place without a lot of things to do then absolutely.
One sad thing about America is that we don’t have a lot of third spaces where you can exist for free. Even sitting in a coffee shop people will yell at you if you’re there for more than an hour on one drink because “ they need the table.” so your options are to walk around in insane amounts of heat or cold because it’s almost never just comfortable or drive around as you have mentioned.
SpectralGalaxy@reddit
I'm almost 30 and almost without fail when I get a ride from my friends and we're parked outside of my house we end up chatting for 20 extra minutes. Early 20's was the Era of "yo, everyone in this car but the driver is drunk, we're driving with no aim until 4am, getting shitty 7-11 food and slushies then finding a random parking area and dancing until someone falls over." We wake up at home the next morning with disappointment from our parents and a "yo that was awesome" text the next morning
TheJokersChild@reddit
Only on the videos that TikTok tells you to watch.
UrbanGhost114@reddit
Once you get closer to bar age, this goes away.
We don't have spaces for teens to go just be teens.
Mbrassilmurphy@reddit
That’s funny, I’m about to leave my house to do exactly that with my sister.
I do it all the time and grew up doing it as well. You get into some fun times.
Fabulous-South-9551@reddit
At first I thought not really. But I’m in my 40s and don’t do they *anymore*. 16-19ish?? Yes! All the time. Every weekend. Sometimes we had a destination, sometimes we didn’t. Sometimes our destination was just to get out, walk around, and go back.
cautiously-curious65@reddit
Very much so..
“The whale” was my friends giant SUV, and when we were 17-19 we’d go to the gas station and get an icee, then Walmart, then the woods and just hang out in the car.
There were like 15 people and 7 seat belts…this whole experience started at like 11pm, and ended at 4am.
There was also pool hopping and stargazing on a trampoline involved.
So.. At least for my area, it’s a thing.
907scratch@reddit
My friends and I used to make day trips to a town 4 hours away because it had the only Dairy Queen in the state.
greenmtnfiddler@reddit
We don't have much public transportion, or many third-spaces where you can actually talk.
With the demise of fraternal organizations, without truly quiet daytime cafes or nighttime pubs/bars or really any way to get to and from them if you've had a drink or two, cars are the option we have.
BlowFish-w-o-Hootie@reddit
For kids.
SleepyD7@reddit
Probably not today with the gas prices we have now.
DonMn763@reddit
I grew up in the late 60s and we did it all the time. Well, not ALL the time, but every weekend; both Friday and Saturday. (It wasn't fun ignoring dad's curfew, either. You had to start paying for groceries and shit.)
Optimal-Hair-7888@reddit
My mom said we can’t do that now bc of the gas prices
Individual-Aide-3036@reddit
I don't know if a majority of people do it, but it's absolutely common. I even sit in my car by myself for a little while before I go into the house.
famousanonamos@reddit
Until you have your own space and privacy (no parents or roommates) it is absolutely the thing to do.
bridgeloop1937@reddit
When I was much younger, absolutely.
Now I see younger people doing it too.
It doesn’t seem odd to me. Especially in small towns when there isn’t much to do.
Itisthatbo1@reddit
Sometimes I take the long way home and just talk to myself the entire time.
irishpunk62@reddit
Back in the day, one of my roommates and I both got off work around the same time. By the time we made it home, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, our other three roommates were either three sheets to the wind or already passed out. Having missed out on the fun, we often changed clothes and hopped in his truck and did midnight road trips. No destination, just a random direction, preferably on backroads out of Los Angeles that we'd never been on before. We'd drive for a few hours until we found a Denny's. We'd sit there, have some coffee and dinner, then jump back in the truck and drive home and pass out. It was a very memorable time for me and really got me into exploring California more.
indifferentunicorn@reddit
Yes. Sitting in a car in the cemetery talking for hours is also a common thing.
indifferentunicorn@reddit
And driving around for hours everyday going nowhere, yes to that too lol.
Bright_Cattle_7503@reddit
Yes. As a teen I would drive around 20,000 miles every year. I had like 250 burned CDs my friends and I would rotate. After school I frequently enjoyed taking a 30 minute detour to smoke a couple of cigs on the way home
Aisling207@reddit
With these gas prices? Not since Katrina, but especially not right now.
Adventurous-Exam-719@reddit
When I was a hiring manager, after the first and second interview for an important position, I would take the candidate to lunch. But we would go to the next town over for a special restaurant. That would give us time to talk in the car. That’s Real Talk. There’s something about a road trip that brings out the truth.
cheywarren@reddit
I live in a very rural area. As teenagers, my friends and I did this often. Especially in the summertime. There just isn't a whole lot to do, so we would just hang out, listen to music, and chat. Now that I'm an adult, no, it's not as common. More to do, I work a full-time job, I own a home where friends and I can hang out, etc. Just no need for it anymore really
CheeZ8519@reddit
smoked alot of blunts drivin around back in the day
Justdomeasolid@reddit
If you’re a kid and you live somewhere where there is not much to do, then, yeah, it is a thing.
Prestigious-Craft251@reddit
We used to hang out in our trucks for hours after our shift making pizzas. Maybe hit a vape store, Waffle House or Walmart parking lot
4Q69freak@reddit
When I was a kid (mid-late’80s) cruising Eldo (Eldorado Street, Decatur, IL) was what you did on hot summer nights, especially on weekends. Youd turn around at Hardee’s on the west end and McDonald’s on the east end. You’d stop and get a coney dog and a root beer at Elma’s Drive In, then park at Dairy Queen and get some ice cream and talk to people.
bigredroyaloak@reddit
Not with these gas prices. 🥺
Individual_Speech_10@reddit
Not driving around, but when I was younger, sitting in the car talking for hours was definitely a thing.
Angel89411@reddit
As a teenager, yes. Gas was also less than $2 a gallon. Honestly, when gas prices aren't astronomical, I've sat in the car with one of my kids to talk or to just get peace.
Not-a-Russian@reddit
It's so crazy to me that American kids are allowed to drive yet not hang out at malls on their own? I'm 25 and just learning how to drive - never really had to, just now getting enough money to pay for lessons (you can't learn to drive with parents in my country by law. You can't be behind the wheel at all unless it's with a licensed instructor and a vehicle with a secondary brake pedal)
deterioratingflesh@reddit
Yesss especially as a broke young adult
justaredneckboy@reddit
Oh I used to do this allll the time. It's a huge thing here
Chemical-Mix-6206@reddit
It's very popular with kids in high school who don't have many places they can go at night, and who have limited privacy at home. You drive around and talk out whatever is on your mind, stop for snacks, listen to the radio as loud as you like, and maybe find some cuties to flirt with. It's a small taste of adulthood and freedom for the low price of a tank of gas. And the nostalgia holdover means we still do it as adults, but less often. It's hard to get your best friend all to yourself. When you're driving around with an iced coffee, just the two of you, talking about nonsense or having a serious discussion without the husband & kids breaking in, it's such a gift. We also like driving around to look at holiday decorations.
therese_m@reddit
When gas prices are low yeah we do this for fun
flippythemaster@reddit
I saw a Tweet that said that the American Third Space was the car, and it upset me so much because it's not even as though it's not true
Empty-Cycle2731@reddit
Yes. I do this all the time as a mid-20s guy. I do it with friends, as well as for dates. "Cruising" was the older-school term for it, now we generally just say "go for a drive."
One-Bother3624@reddit
I’ll tell you this as an New Yorker no one sitting in a car I can guarantee New York City is huge and massive. It’s even bigger once you’re really in the heart of it I mean, I would definitely say there are people who have sat in cars and had conversations usually it’s because of the cold weather because New York does get some frigid cold temperatures, especially the northeast sections of the United States like New York Boston and just keep going north. It’s very very cold. Hell even going towards Jersey and Philadelphia gets really cold as far as sitting in a car for hours on an yakking and talking away, I would say is an American thing kind of sort of, but I wouldn’t say it’s exclusive to only and specifically only an American thing or only America, but there are people in America, who have done it personally the only time I’ve done it was to get out of the cold. I didn’t grow up with us doing that we went indoors in the home and someone’s department someone’s condo or whatever some urban dwelling now when I relocate more rural and more country type settings, people may tend to do that because in the vast openness of the United States because you gotta understand the United States is really freaking huge and there’s a lot of land out there people in those areas it will be more common, especially like suburb areas but again me being a city guy no but it doesn’t mean that I’m the exception to the rule. It’s just saying that there are some of us that have and there are some of us to have it but answer your question is an American thing I wouldn’t agree with that. These people have known from other countries who have done similar things, but again usually is because of a situation they’re going to an event maybe going to a club maybe they are visiting somebody or they were just having a conversation and he wanted some privacy and quiet.
But allow me to say this as well because I lived in many many different destinations. Generally, America is a pretty safe place far safer than some other countries and and forgive me for saying that what I mean is, I know there’s a lot of wacky and scary looking videos on social media that may describe America has some like wing nut nut CASE these people affiliated online with this type of political affiliation or these people support this or these people are about this and if you step into the territory, they’re gonna like sacrifice you a crucify you listen that’s a lot of sensationalism and it’s nowhere near the CASE. They are pockets in America where their people have like-minded mentality, but as a hole in general, no America or rather Americans enjoy a sense and taste of independent and freedoms that sadly and I say respectfully again that sadly a good 80% of other countries around the world do not even get a an eighth of that and I’m not even joking. America is a very, very independent and free country, however, to a degree, don’t let that fool. We still have very stringent and very strict laws and unfortunate. There are people who like to play around with our laws and try to get over sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t but the idea of America is freedom independent sometimes independent thought again tour degree basically is generally the thought process is our nation leaders what the people of the nation to fill that they can express ideas have creative ideas, express their thoughts and express their feelings and worship whomever, and whatever they can while being protected as citizens at the same time, they welcome people from various different walks of different nations. Now the landscape has changed, and when I say landscape, I’m using that as a reference as in geopolitical and politics as I was saying, the landscape has changed and therefore things have shifted from different angles, but it’s still America as a hole so don’t let that dissuade you or distract you from the meat and potatoes of America, which is its freedoms and it’s independent but yes answer your question. They are people in America. Who do that but also a word of caution doing that, regardless whether you’re in America on another country, you have to be careful because they are unsavory people who will use this to literally arm robbery, your wallet, your phone, or whatever they think of value so you have to be careful doing this in the 1990s and the 1980s was different hell even the 1970s but even in the 70s you had to be careful because the 70s had a stringent of tons and tons and tons of cereal, killers and cereal reapers Unfortunately and that wasn’t just specifically secluded to America 🫡💯
cnation01@reddit
I need some alone time after work. Doesn't mean I dont love my family or dont want to talk with them. I work two jobs, I work my ass off.
Sometimes I just want to sit and listen to music or play a game. I call it decompression time and I need it before lets make dinner and how was your day.
I dont do it everyday. And I dont feel guilty for doing it.
Esmer_Tina@reddit
As an adult I still drive around aimlessly as a leisure activity, alone. I like my car speakers for music.
Aquarius_K@reddit
That was my favorite thing, but I think it's less popular now? I had an alcoholic cousin who always wanted somebody to ride around with him and volunteered every time. He had great taste in music and all the best CDs lol. And he would let me pick a destination within the county sometimes. Other times we'd go as far as we'd been then go some more. Had so much fun but it's a miracle we're both alive. He started letting me drive eventually.
Alarming-Chemistry27@reddit
Not at my time of life, but as a teen-early 20s we did this frequently. Weed was often involved in this activity too if that helps your impression of the activity.
Unhappy_Clue701@reddit
I’m in the UK, used to do this regularly back in the 90s. You don’t actually burn much petrol if you get some snacks and then sit in a car park. Besides, at that age it’s not like you’ve got a mortgage or utility bills to pay. I used to play snooker or pool, or go bowling with two or three friends, then we’d go to KFC or whatever to get some food and then on somewhere to eat it in the car. The city was hilly, so plenty of car parks with a bit of a view - it was quite nice just seeing the town below and ships on the sea, chatting nonsense for a while. Then maybe cruise around for a while before the driver would drop the others home.
BoBoBearDev@reddit
Yeah, I did that, and potentially monkey business when no one is around.
posierahraaa@reddit
This is something I used to love to do, but since a leg injury a few years ago I can't stand to be in the car for longer than nessecary anymore
Smileynameface@reddit
It depends when and where you grew up. In the 80's and 90's suburbia you would hang out at malls. As many malls shut down teens needed to find alternate activities. With gas prices I'd be surprised if anyone is driving around aimlessly. Also city kids would likely walk or bike. Rural kids probably ride dirt bikes. Suburban kids might drive but where? The town i grew up in had nowhere worth going at night.
montanalifterchick@reddit
I grew up in the '80s and early '90s but we drove up and down main Smstreet and stopped in parks to meet our friends or drove around looking for keggers. We also drove around in the mountains just for fun. We still drive around in the mountains for fun but we don't drive up and down main street anymore. You might have heard that called cruising the drag.
kcdashinfo@reddit
You should watch American Graffiti or Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Those movies capture teen culture in America from the 50-60s and 70-80s. Yes, America, in small towns and rural areas is very much around cars, cruising. Gas use to be cheap so you could drive around for hours. Then in the 90s it changed to tailgating. Every town has a spot or a place teen go to hang out. Then sometime in the 2010s, everybody was on their phone.
Will_White@reddit
This is something my wife and I would do up until the Cheeto in Chief decided to get in a pissing match with Iran. Not cruising the strip, just getting Panda Express and driving in a vague direction seeing what we could see, talking, and listening to music/ audio-dramas.
KiraDog0828@reddit
For my wife it is.
goldentalus70@reddit
We did it all the time in the 1970s because it was the only way to get out of the house and away from parents. One summer we figured out that this one drive-in movie theater always left their back gate open. We all piled in my friend's mom's Pontiac Bonneville station wagon, seven or eight of us, and waited until the movie started, then drove in with the headlights off and parked in the row right near the screen. We'd always have a case of Budweiser and were there every night that there wasn't a keg party somewhere else. They showed Jaws all summer long, we knew every line by heart, and never got caught. Man, those were the days. It was a blast!
troopersjp@reddit
As a teenager I didn't do this. I grew up in San Francisco and my family was poor so we didn't have a car and neither did any of my friends. Instead, my friends and I hung out in the third spaces that I guess only existed in San Francisco in the 1970s/80s by the way people in the thread describe it.
We walk to each other's houses to meet up, then we'd walk around. We hang out at the neighborhood playgrounds, or we'd go to the 7-Eleven and play video games, or we'd go to Round Table and eat a pizza or the Baskin Robbins and have an ice cream, or we'd go to the beach and hang out, or we'd go to our middle school/high school and hang out. There was only one mall in San Francisco at the time and it was very far...the Stonestown Mall...never went. We might go to the library and hang out there. Or the game store and look at the new Dungeons & Dragons books...or that one coffee shop, where we'd get one drink and then hangout, or browse the comic book store, or hangout on the local university campus, you know, we just walked around a lot and hung out at various places.
The kids in the nearby suburb all had cars and they would cruise up and down Castro Valley Boulevard all night...taking time out to go to the McDonalds (we had no fast food places in the outer Richmond at the time...but we did have burrito places we'd go to), or the mini golf place.
Hanging out in car was more of a grown up thing for me...you know, when I ended up knowing people with cars (I still don't have a car). But often we wouldn't just go driving. We go somewhere to hang out (movies, coffee shop, museum, the local square, etc)...and then when one of them would drive me home, we'd just hang out in the car talking for a while.
RogerRabbot@reddit
I did it all the time. Never even thought it was strange. Drive around, explore some places, try out some random shop to eat or a taco truck. Sometimes, wed go out around 9 for a drive, come back at around midnight to 1am and just hang out in the car in front of the house for another few hours.
tmorg5@reddit
Soon as my friends and I got our drivers licenses at 16 that’s what we did every weekend night. “Cruising” was still a thing. Cruising is driving from one end of Main St to the other end of town. Turning around and doing it again. And since everyone did it, we clogged the streets and inched along at walking speed, windows down, radios blaring, yelling to friends, etc
jojokangaroo1969@reddit
Yes. Especially when dating or wrapping up after a movie outting
Klutzy-Reporter4223@reddit
We called it high rides. Everyone piled in and we just drove around! I know every back road in my state.
katarh@reddit
Teenagers don't have any valid "third spaces" to hang out in any more.
When I was a teenager, I was at least allowed to hang out at the mall!
Hellmer1215@reddit
Well. Back in my day (born 1960), we’d just take drives along country roads shooting the shit (talking ) and smoking weed. For hours. Gas was 40 cents per gallon or something like that.
plzhelpIdieing@reddit
I don't really know but I wanna do that when I get a car.
Cold_War_Radio@reddit
Back when I was in high school/college in the 90s, my friends and I did this all the time. We’d usually end up at Walmart because it was open 24 hours back then.
I’m missing that 99-cent gas right now.
Aromatic_Buddy_9931@reddit
Yes.
AnnieCamOG@reddit
Cruising; a time-honored American tradition.
WentzWorldWords@reddit
1/5 of American meals are eaten in the car, if that shows you anything
thebreeze97@reddit
It’s a high school, young adult thing. I’m 28 now the last thing I wanna be doing is driving unless I have somewheres to be.
Kiki-Y@reddit
Yes, I did this a couple times as a teenager.
Sibby_in_May@reddit
Yes. Especially now that a large number of people live in them because rent is usurious. People also hang out in them to listen to music. Friends used to go on drives but gas is too much now for frivolity. When I was a kid we’d pile in the car, get ice cream and drive through the mountains looking at deer and trees and meadows and cabins, windows open, radio on. It was freedom. We also tailgate in our cars. Parking lot, radio with the game, open hatch, cooler with drinks and a grill for dogs, hang out with food and friends. Make new friends too.
Bonch_and_Clyde@reddit
Watch the movie American Graffiti.
Level_Working5084@reddit
Ok so who did anything else as a teen/young adult with a car or friends with cars??? When I watch shows/movies from other countries I see all of them drinking and popping mollies in some rich kid’s house. In the US we don’t have rich friends 😂.
thatthatguy@reddit
This was very popular for kids in my highschool 30ish years ago. I guess the more things change the more they stay the same.
superkt3@reddit
I spent a ton of time driving around aimlessly with friends in the years between getting my license and being able to drink. It's an easy way to be alone, pass time, chat, listen to music etc.
Dapper_Tap_9934@reddit
As a teen and early 20s yes-as a married person and mom-no
eldritch-charms@reddit
Yesss all the time. Even as an adult I do it with my kids
Inessence4@reddit
We called it "The Gut" it was a major street everyone would just drive up and back and stop in various lots for food and conversation.
KitDaKittyKat@reddit
Yup. Loved them than and love them now.
There’s nothing like driving in the country, smelling the night air with someone you love and talk to.
glendacc37@reddit
OP, there's also making out or having sex in cars, going to the drive-in movies, drive-in restaurants (though no longer quite as common), and other drive-thru activities, such as fast food restaurants, wedding chapels in Vegas, and in Ohio at least, probably elsewhere, convenience stores...
As a kid, my parents would drive us around just to look at Christmas decorations and lights. A holiday tradition.
Lots of life happens inside a car here...
Particular-Access223@reddit
There is no experience more american then having sex in cars
whitedogz@reddit
Pretty common. We used to drive back and forth through town again and again on Fridays.
Next_Ad_4165@reddit
Yep. Loved this. Wandering in my car. Standing by the car with a crush and neither of us wanting to actually leave. Loading the car up with friends/family and going to get ice cream. Windows down, music up. Cruising in high school.
Next_Ad_4165@reddit
My grown kids were talking about thinking a girl they know has a crush on a guy…cause they stopped outside of their cars after an activity, and stood there talking for forever. Ahhhhh.
My daughter loved to go for drives on her own, as a teen. She’s grown with a family, but we still usually go out and about on adventures together…we just take the kid with! (Anything to do is a 30 min drive for us.) And we love to take roadtrips to see friends/family!
BatLikeOvercoat@reddit
I mean, yeah we did that. But I wouldn’t say it was aimlessly. We were on a mission to get weed. And then once we got the weed, we had smoke spots all over the city so we were basically going from one to another, to another. The city I grew up in was very spread out and beautiful so it was a pleasure checking out all the views, or getting out and going down by the river. Also, we had awesome sound systems in our cars and they were the best place to listen to our music.
Fappy_as_a_Clam@reddit
Car guy here. And here is my explanation.
Yes, we do this. A lot.
Driving to a lot of Americans is a very visceral experience (hence EV's not really catching on with a lot of people). The sound of the engine, the feel of the car on the road, the acceleration, the smell of the gas, the wind coming in the windows, all of it. It works to create an experience that speaks to many, many people on a very deep and familiar level.
So when there is nothing going on, yea man...go take a drive. If it's in a car you love, even better. I spent countless hours driving around going no where when I was younger, and still do it occasionally.
gaytee@reddit
I’m a car guy so it might be a little different but that’s basically what I do every weekend. Drive around, grab a coffee or a beer. Drive somewhere else, see some friends, go to a car meet, drive home, hit a scenic overlook, smoke a joint, drive home.
Accomplished-House28@reddit
It was a thing before gas prices spiked.
ancientastronaut2@reddit
It was more common in the 70's through 90's.
Nowadays not so much.
Nickvv52@reddit
Used to do this often with my best girl friend. We'll still ride around and just talk when she visits home. If we grab food, sometimes she'll want to eat in the car before we go wherever or just keep riding around.
cool_person13246@reddit
as a teen we do this a lot. I reconnected with a friend after not talking for a year and some and just hung out in her car for a couple hours, woulda gone longer but it was a school night.
Electronic-Gas3354@reddit
There wasn’t much to do in my small town so my friends and I did this as soon as we were able to drive, and we did it all night.
nomadschomad@reddit
Yes.
But I think teen/young adult culture of "going to any place you're allowed to be without your parents" is more universal. I walk through the parks of Mexico City in the evening or weekends and the benches and grass areas are full of young people just hanging out. Same for the pleins of Amsterdam, the Platzes of Munich, and the stairs along the Left Bank of the Seine.
tattedgrad@reddit
Mine and my partners first date was a 5-hour stationary car conversation
NoHorseNoMustache@reddit
Not with these gas prices.
But when I was a teenager gas was a buck a gallon, at that time yes, we drove around a lot. It was a way to get around curfew, back then most of the towns around me had 10pm curfews for teenagers so you couldn't hang out in the park or...well, outside in general. But you could drive around back roads all night if you wanted.
ThinVeterinarian5423@reddit
Some of my favorite nights were spent like that. It still happens, but not as frequently. We're all busy and in different towns now. When there's a good show or something, we try to all get together. We saw Kraftwerk, and I ate mushrooms. Luckily, none of us had to work the next day. The driver didn't eat any. He waited until we got back to his place to get fucked up.
hops_on_hops@reddit
For sure. As a younger person, a car is one of the first spaces a lot of people get that is just their own. Many people live with parents or roommates through their teens and 20s. Your car can be a nice little escape.
KittyVonAsshole@reddit
Yes, we did this a lot when I was in high school. However, gas was $1 a gallon back then.
WhatAmIDoingHere05@reddit
Yes. Was a thing many kids did when I went to high school and college.
Dalinar_Stormwagon@reddit
Yes. you stop doing it as you experience your 20s and people get their own places
Also used to make more sense when gas would hover between 2-3.99.
PinkBlood42@reddit
in america a car is the most universal third space that most older teens/ young adults have access to
mothsuicides@reddit
When I was a teenager and young adult in the late 2000’s early 2010’s I absolutely did this all the time. I used to think of my car as a living room on wheels. Sometimes my friends and I would drive around back roads just cuz it was fun and something to do since none of us wanted to stay at one of our homes. We really do have a culture around our cars. Cuz cars = freedom. As an adult now I do not hang out in my car anymore.
ImtheDude27@reddit
Pre-internet, absolutely. Yeah, I'm old. Current day? Not really done as much, there is far less in person meeting with friends just to shoot the bull. It's far easier to just jump into voicechat now and do the same thing.
Codykville@reddit
Around here (and I assume a lot of the rest of the country), the main Friday/Saturday night and summer pastime was “the drag.” In my hometown it was basically two main roads, maybe a couple miles total.
You were either slowly cruising around or parked in a lot right off the drag. We’d make a few laps until we spotted somebody we knew, then either pull over and hang out or they’d jump in and keep making circles with us.
Also a good way to find a drag race or figure out where the party was that night.
This was late 90s.
OGMom2022@reddit
There really weren’t any places to go when I was under 21 so that’s what we did.
Leverkaas2516@reddit
People like to talk in private.
Cars are warm and dry in winter, cool in summer. You can park in the shade.
Driving is fun.
Changing scenery is stimulating, especially if you go to the beach or a ridgeline overlook
The sound system in my car is awesome.
These are all true, but pick any two and it would be reason enough.
Isurewouldliketo@reddit
Maybe as a teenager with less things to do.
Also probably less of things with these insane gas prices lol.
AllPeopleAreStupid@reddit
I haven't done shit like OP described since High School.
whatzthatusay@reddit
The car becomes a clubhouse or conversation pit.
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
Definitely a teenager thing.
There's not a lot of places for kids to hang out. Being at home you have to deal with parents and their rules or just presence. Restaurants don't want teens loitering. Parks close at dusk.
Hanging out in cars is private, safe, and used to be pretty inexpensive.
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
Okiee dokie I'm really fascinated by thiss
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
I feel like it's a real issue with our culture. There's nowhere for teenagers to just be teenagers after dark.
TheSearch4Knowledge@reddit
Oh absolutely. I did this in my teenage years with my crush.
Were both single now and it’s the first thing we did when we got back together 😂
Medical_Revenue4703@reddit
Not a "big thing" but most Americans probably did that in their teens/20's. We don't have a lot of third spaces in America so if you don't have a home you can entertain in, you often find yourself hanging out in a car with a bunch of friends or with the person you're in love with.
When I was in my 20's every weekend was finding my buddy Jesse at a club and rolling around after the club shut down in his hearse packed full of people looking for adventures in the middle of the night.
officeoflies@reddit
Did this a lot as a teenager; we’d get a group of friends together and drive the country roads for hours late at night, because we didn’t really have anywhere else to go. Nowadays, I’m still very likely to sit in a car with a friend and talk for hours. Heck, I just did last night!
SpazzyKaz2@reddit
Yes. Last night 2/4 people in our friend group had to be home at 12am but me and the other friend didn’t want to go home so we just drove around for about an hour, sat in the Walmart parking lot for another two hours, then got home around 3:30am.
Astro_Birch_317@reddit
Even when I couldn't afford gas to drive around for hours, I definitely stopped to grab snacks and drove to a scenic spot and we would sit in the car or on the curb just listening to music, talking, and eating our snacks.
Now I'm in my 40s and if my spouse and I are stressed out and struggling to communicate, we'll grab snacks and drive around while we talk. There's just something about sitting side by side in a car watching the passing views that makes it easier to talk.
ByWillAlone@reddit
It's called 'cruising' and it's what youth do. I've never known anyone over 25 who's still into it. I think I was still under 20 the last time I did that with friends.
From what I can tell, this is a thing in just about every country and culture on earth where there are a) youths and b) access to cars
Hey-Bud-Lets-Party@reddit
Definitely. I love to drive and hanging out in a car can be fun.
Traditional_Trust418@reddit
Yeah, my car is my safe haven. It's where I can go to be alone. I can drive for hours if the road is straight and long and I have good music to listen to. It's actually therapeutic for me. I go driving when I'm sad or angry
Actually10000Bees@reddit
I’m 34 and still sometimes do that when I visit my best friend in Florida. Going up and down A1A is a beautiful oceanside drive. Sometimes we pull over to an ice cream stand, have a little treat, and chat while we watch the waves.
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
It's soo refreshing isn't it?? I really feel it's soo like freedom
funklab@reddit
There’s not many third places where you can hang out without paying.
Arkansas_BusDriver@reddit
Living in the middle on nowhere, sometimes cruising around town or along some backroads can count as a date night, especially if its the within the first few dates. Cruise around little bit, stop, park, talk for a little bit. Then go cruise some different roads looking for another spot to stop.
ApprehensiveWin3020@reddit
Yeah unfortunately.
BoysenberryUnhappy29@reddit
It's pseudo-free, so it's popular among teens, yeah.
lefindecheri@reddit
We just recently rewatched American Graffiti. It was all about cruising endlessly.
American Graffiti (1973) is a coming-of-age film directed by George Lucas, set on the last night of summer in 1962, following four friends cruising in their hot rods before heading to college.
EaglesFanGirl@reddit
As teenagers, our cars are often our private space. It's the place where we can talk, hang out, and control who comes in and out. This is totally normal in the US. It's covered in several movies -
American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused are two examples of this kind of teenage life.
-make-it-so-@reddit
Yeah, when I was a teenager, we did this all the time, we wanted what freedom away from our parents we could get. As a full grown adult now, I don’t do that anymore. I don’t know if it’s as common now, I see a lot of teenagers now that don’t want to drive or get a license.
onyxrose81@reddit
My niece is 15 and she's absolutely scared to learn how to drive. I plan to teach her this summer to at least move the car a bit in case of an emergency. But she doesn't have any kind of interest in driving to just drive.
HMonster224@reddit
My best friend has a much younger cousin who was this same way about driving. I do NOT understand it. I can still remember how desperately I wanted to drive and counting down the days to getting my license.
Aachaa@reddit
I think it depends whether you’ll have access to a car as a teenager. My friends that had parents that promised to gift or lend them a car were stoked to get their license, and they made good use of the cars once they could drive them. I put off getting my license until I was 18 since it meant that I didn’t need a learner’s permit. What’s the point in being able to drive when you have nothing to drive?
HMonster224@reddit
Your POV makes total sense, but the specific kid I mentioned in my comment has rich parents and I am SURE she would have not only had access to a car, but probably would have received one of her own when she got her license. The way my friend described it, the reluctance to drive seemed to be partly due to fear / anxiety, and partly co-dependence (pretty sure her mom continued to drive her around even once she was in college).
mechumechu@reddit (OP)
Ngl Americans on Vooz made me realize half of teenage life there is just sitting in cars listening to music 😭
Plow_King@reddit
were these current teenagers, or old folks like me (60+) remembering their youth? we drove around a lot in our teens, but these days i'd be surprised if it was a common hang-out activity.
chickpeas3@reddit
I’m pasting a slightly edited comment I made in a private subreddit (noting it in case anyone tries to find it in my comment history- it won’t appear) that might help give some perspective on why people like it beyond “there was nothing else to do as a teen.” I don’t think my experience is unique among Americans, or anyone from a very large country tbh.
> My car [is my safe/happy place]. I moved around a lot as a kid, bouncing between the east and west coasts of the US, and we drove every time we moved. The road is as much home to me as anywhere else.
> I’ve been in the same place for 15 years, but when my real home isn’t cutting it, I hop in the car and go for a drive. I just drive aimlessly, generally preferring darker, more winding roads, and listen to music. Or rain sounds. Whatever I’m vibing with at the moment.
> It makes me feel warm and safe while also letting my brain do whatever it needs to do. It also gives me perspective, both literally and figuratively. I live an easy drive from a mountain range, and once you get into the foothills, you can see down into the valley. Even at night, the lights make it obvious. I have the literal perspective of my house being a tiny spec down in the valley among thousands and thousands of others. It’s a reminder that I’m just one person in a sea of people with similar problems and concerns and helps me get out of my head a bit. It’s also beautiful, and makes for some stunning sunrise/sunset vistas.
The US is also abundant with untouched nature. Even in the more populated areas, there’s usually something you can easily drive to (by American standards—a short drive to us might be a long drive to Europeans) that is just nature and no people. It’s awesome.
avicia@reddit
We have a lack of community spaces to be in that don't need you to spend money. And when gas prices are more normal, it becomes not a bad way to spend time. And depending on where you live, might be the most interesting option. There's a LOT of roads and little else in some parts of the US, without transit, and with gas prices that typical years are a lot cheaper than most of europe. Dumb add for the chat site, though.
ljculver64@reddit
I did this in my teens
OakCobra@reddit
For teenagers typically. But we are kinda fucked right now with insane gas prices cause a dumbass reality tv star decided to start a pointless war over a fake “imminent threat” so my favorite pastime is not happening when it takes me like 80 dollars to fill up my tank.
ukihime@reddit
Yup
Important_Chef_4717@reddit
We have 5 teenagers (15-23) and we live in the rural south.
My gas bill is higher than a house payment because ALL THEY DO IS DRIVE AROUND.
It’s great. I haven’t run errands since before covid. Idc how high gas gets.
Separate-Amoeba-455@reddit
As someone who was in high school in the late nineties/ early 2000s, we didn’t “sit in the car talking for hours”. There was some talking but we usually drove around smoking cannabis for a few hours listening to music and then would follow up with a Wawa run and end at a friend’s house party.
youprt@reddit
Canadian here, did this in the 70’s, drinking, driving, smoking dope, listening to tunes trying to pick up “chicks” it was a different time back then. Living at home with parents ya kinda had to cuz you couldn’t do this shit at home.
RonPalancik@reddit
Yes, when we were teenagers. Loses its appeal when you have your own place.
shaggyscoob@reddit
I grew up in the inner city. Went off to college where a lot of rural kids attended. Almost every one of the rural kids have a story of rolling their cars in high school. Going too fast along a corn field, take a turn too fast and roll it.
We hung out in our cars in the inner city. But we seldom rolled our cars because we seldom got past 30MPH. Hanging out in cars was definitely a thing. We had to find a place like a cemetery or in a van down by the river to have an opportunity to just sit for an extended period of time.
When you're younger than 21 there are very few places to actually get out of the car and hang. When you're 21 or older, money is tight and hanging out at a pub is prohibitively expensive. So you get a 12 pack of Busch Light and get drunk at a cemetery or a beach.
Chance-Ad197@reddit
It’s because cities are designed for drivers, not foot commuters, some are sort of made for bicycles but it’s always an after thought (they will probably make mobility scooter accessible cities before they make walkable ones) so in America driving around with your friends is basically equivalent to taking a walk with your friends in the much more condensed and compact areas of urban Europe.
HurtsCauseItMatters@reddit
When I was in high school? Yeah this was super common but I mostly did it alone. I also had a song/anthem I played when doing it. RHCP, under the bridge.
DespisedIcon1616@reddit
I was the first one with my license in our friend group. We would spend HOURS driving around aimlessly listening to burned CDs.. Blunt rides, man. Good times. That all stopped when we started moving out and getting our own places though.
RhymenoserousRex@reddit
This is basically my wife and I's Saturday when nothing more interesting is going on. We wander around.
TyraNotBanks5@reddit
There's not much to do where I live and I also am mildly agoraphobic so I do this often lol I love just sitting in the car or driving around in the car, not so much a fan of actually getting out of the car to go places though
uhhseriously@reddit
I did it as a teen all the time and it was glorious
lfxlPassionz@reddit
We did this more before gas prices went up but yeah, it's common.
Right now with a lot of people becoming homeless there's also a large increase in the number of people living in their cars.
Rancor_Keeper@reddit
I grew up in a small New England town, and the best time we did this was in the vicinity, or on the way to/and or back from the diner.
Also, for the young-ins, yes we used to drink lots of coffee in the diners and smoke cigarettes, because as high schoolers that’s all we could have done at that time.
Darkrose50@reddit
America is big. We have lots of roads. Lots of the roads are straight and go on forever.
As a teenager, my girlfriend and I were just drive around, explore and talk.
Teenagers like to get our way from their families and adults. They can easily do that in the car, without going to a strange place with strangers. A car is a location where there aren’t any adults or strangers.
Sad-Macaroon9067@reddit
Absolutely a thing in the rural USA
outdatedelementz@reddit
I think it is becoming a lot less common now. But 25-30 years ago, “Cruising” was extremely common. When I was in high school me and my friends would go cruising around town every weekend. Just basically driving around seeing people and being seen. Once I was old enough to get into bars and drink alcohol I stopped.
I have two boys in high school and neither one of them has any interest in driving around unnecessarily.
GrumpyRaven613@reddit
This was not a thing wear I grew up, but I visited a cousin in rural North Carolina and it was a thing they did all the time. I think it highly depends on the area
sandmandjay@reddit
Yes. Especially for young people who don't have their own space because they live with their parents. And don't have money to do things. Free public space is limited, especially after dark when parks are closed, and weather plays a factor too. I have such good memories of doing this with friends in high school.
-Moose_Soup-@reddit
This was a big thing when I was younger, but I also grew up in a rural area. Driving around on country roads with a cooler of beer in the trunk or truck bed was also really common where I come from. I don't know if that's still common or not. Attitudes around drinking and driving have changed a lot, but rural areas are usually a little behind the rest of the country when it comes to those kinds of cultural shifts.
GrowlingAtTheWorld@reddit
We like to drive. If you ain’t got a lot of money, driving is cheaper than clubbing and drinking.
thr-owawayy@reddit
Depends where you are, but I’ve found in the suburbs it’s much more common. Not much else to do out here for fun other than drive around and get fast food and talk. Personally I don’t tend to sit around in parking lots, especially at night. But if I find a nice park in a safer area, I might stay there for a little while, or when I was younger, in the driveway. The car is the best place to talk shit about people or talk about some really vulnerable stuff that you don’t want anyone overhearing. Some of my best conversations were had in a car after coming back from a 10 pm gas station trip. I personally don’t drive around too much (because gas is expensive and I don’t like driving), but I know a lot of people who go for drives just for fun or to clear their heads. There’s a lot of fun back roads you can take.
BensOnTheRadio@reddit
Some of the most magical nights of my 20s… I miss it.
miketugboat@reddit
Very highschool. Not a thing in your 20s or later.
Derwin0@reddit
That’s mostly limited to teens, because it gives they a place away from their parents.
Equivalent_Road_9043@reddit
More so for teens and young adults who don't have a place of their own. But even as an older adult, yes. Some of the best conversations I've had have been car chats.
TheGreatPatriot@reddit
Anywhere else you’d hang out, you’re going to be trespassing or loitering eventually. You can’t just pick a building and sit on the steps like I saw young people do everywhere in Germany.
Tall_Perspective_941@reddit
yes omg. when i was in high school the only way you could really hang out after 9 pm was just drive or sit somewhere talking. it was cheaper than any of the things to do before 9 too
pizzaanarchy@reddit
We drove around from junior high to well into college. Just drinking around getting stoned, constantly.
ssinff@reddit
Are they yt? Black man here....driving around with nowhere to go and randomly parking with no purpose is not something I would do at any age.
Ok-Equivalent8260@reddit
Yes, totally normal
Porcupine-in-a-tree@reddit
As a kid, yes. It was a staple evening activity for teens in rural America.
Jbooxie@reddit
I feel like this is definitely a thing for teenagers
Q-Money1985@reddit
When I was a teenager basically my entire social life revolved around driving around with my friends smoking weed. We would stop often for gas, coffee, food etc but we would drive aimlessly, smoking and listening to music for hours at a time.
andmewithoutmytowel@reddit
When I was 16-18 we did this all the time. A gallon of gas was cheaper than a 20oz coke, and there weren't a lot of places in suburban America where you can just hang out with friends. I lived in Texas, so the summers were brutal outside, so we ended up driving around, hanging out at a coffee shop, or going to the mall.
ophaus@reddit
Absolutely, when I was in high school and gas was about a dollar a gallon.
Upset-Win9519@reddit
Oh yes.. a lot of us still do it on occasion as adults as well. Over the weekend, a friend and I went out for Wendy's after eleven thirty. Sometimes we eat in the car as well just talking or listening to music. I would recommend as long as you're in a safe area. Sometimes, after a long day, you need to relax, have fun, and just exist!
SUCKITGRANDPA@reddit
I still enjoy roadtrips because I do think it's fun. But without a destination/goal, its not nearly as fun as an adult as it is for the first few years after you get your license and finally have the freedom you’ve been waiting for since childhood.
As an adult I would rather just go for a walk together. In terms of American cliches, we graduate from talking for hours in the car as teens, into Long Walks on the Beach.
AffectionateValue232@reddit
Yep, about five dollars to fill up my Ford Escort. Sorry if you don’t like it, but that’s how much it cost me. You asked zero questions, just stated my reality for me. No thank you! You didn’t ask what part of the country I lived in, what kind of car I drove, nothing. Congratulations, here’s my goat.
codenameajax67@reddit
Yeah. My kid just got his DL and every evening he wants to go out.
Itsworth-gold4tome@reddit
Totally a thing
yummyjackalmeat@reddit
I didn't do it much growing up in a bigger city I avoided driving as much as possible. When I lived in the mountains I did it a lot more.
CertainlyNot1Moose@reddit
It's normal when gas is reasonably priced.
Admirable-Apricot137@reddit
This was definitely a thing when I was a teenager in the early 2000s. It was especially important for me because I had very strict parents that tried very hard to shelter me so I wasn't allowed to go anywhere with friends from school. So sneaking out and driving around with my friends was pretty much the only way to have a social life outside of my cult.
Efficient-Panic3506@reddit
i kinda get the appeal honestly. late night conversations hit different when there’s music quietly playing and nobody has somewhere they need to be.
stitchcraftry@reddit
I'm Venezuelan-American, we did this in Venezuela too 🤷
Relayer8782@reddit
That was pretty normal when I was a kid.
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
It’s common. Not sure if it’s a ‘big thing’. I used to smoke with my friend and chat for HOURSSSSS.
Ok-Possibility-9826@reddit
Some of the most precious times in my life involve driving around and sitting in a car with my friends for hours. It’s the little things. Peak bonding, tbh.
XrayGuy08@reddit
I think for younger people yes. As you get older, you tend to want to just go home man. (Also, with gas prices right now 🤣🤣).
NoContextCarl@reddit
With younger people, getting your driver's license and a car is seen as freedom, and for many they enjoy that freedom for many years...or at least until driving feels like a chore. 😏
But yeah, late night food run, gas station stop, bouncing around to different friends houses, meeting up in parking lots...all common here.
Suppafly@reddit
It's a thing among teens. Adults can afford to go places that cost money.
Jcamp9000@reddit
Between ages 16 and 18 this was all I did besides going to school
hypomaniacmeg@reddit
100% all of that, yes, at least in my eexperience
Tough_Tell441@reddit
Yes but it may not be as common nowadays with gas prices how they are.
ghoulthebraineater@reddit
When I was in high school gas was maybe $1 a gallon. I could fill my tank, get a burrito, a soda, and a pack a cigarettes with a 20 and have some change.
WARitter@reddit
If you were in high school in the late 90s gas was the cheapest it has ever been, adjusted for inflation.
SentimentalLady1@reddit
Plus kids aren't getting their license when they turn 16 as much anymore, either. They'd rather stay home and play video games or spend time on social media.
BeepCheeper@reddit
This is a big one. I have several nieces and nephews old enough to get their license and only one of them has it. None of them have money for a car or gas, and they just don’t feel the pressure with group chats and Discord. I think it’s also a job-avoidance thing, but I don’t blame them on that one. They have plenty of time to work after they graduate high school.
WARitter@reddit
Gas prices are up a lot lately but are about what they were in the early 80s adjusted for inflation. Last year they were basically at the level they were in the very early 70s pre gas crisis or the 90s.
AffectionateValue232@reddit
That does not seem accurate. In the 80s, I could fill up my tank for five dollars. With inflation adjusted, that would be $13-$14 today. Today it costs about $40 or so to fill up my tank and even if my tank were doubled in size, it still would not compete.
getElephantById@reddit
They are roughly correct. Here's a historical chart showing gas prices over time in blue, with the inflation-adjusted cost above it. It only goes to 2023, but for reference the average cost for a gallon of gas today (according to AAA) is $4.52, which is about what it was in 1981, and less than it was in 2012.
PaleCryptographer8@reddit
You weren't filling up your tank for $5 in the eighties, my friend. A motorcycle, maybe. In 1983 I was driving about 550-600 miles every week. A tank of gas lasted me a week in my little dodge colt and cost me right at $10, cumulatively a big portion of the $96 I had to live on each month.
_NEW_HORIZONS_@reddit
That's what parking somewhere and hanging out is for. Slightly more risk of a police or Karen encounter, but when you lack money, it's practically free.
Trinx_@reddit
Nah, we still did it in college in 2008. I will never forget $4.30/gal and my beast of a van ate up $112 of my $160 I had. That was Bush priced gas. With inflation that would be $6.59/gal today.
Cathode335@reddit
I was a teenager at a time 20 years ago when gas prices were as high as they've ever been, and we still drove around all the time. Gas was the main reason we all had part-time jobs. You would ask for gas cards for gifts. Kids whose parents paid for their gas were spoiled, and the rest of us were jealous. When you're 16 or 17, the freedom you get from a car is such a priority, we would spend every last cent on gas.
The first date I went on as a teenager, the guy ran out of gas halfway through and had to spend his last $40 on gas. He had no money to take me anywhere else, so we ended up just driving around window shopping.
r2d3x9@reddit
THIS!!
mcculloughpatr@reddit
I definitely did this, but wouldn’t really do it anymore.
Financial_Emphasis25@reddit
Yes, used to do that as a teenager. Not sure how popular it is nowadays since lots of young people don’t even want to get driver’s licenses (at least the group of young people I know)
Extra_Routine_6603@reddit
Lived in rural area would do that sometimes everyone just pile in and we'd run wherever. Others would even sometimes go ridge running basically fast driving back road/ridge roads dumb at the best of times and dangerous as hell at the worst since one sharp turn or an unexpected truck and you're crashing into them or going for a ride into trees and down a hillside
Astronaut6735@reddit
I definitely did that a lot in my teens and twenties, but I don't know anyone in their 30s or older still doing that. A lot of it has to do with having lots of flexible time and fewer obligations when you're younger. Career and family take priority later.
Different-Telephone5@reddit
Yes lol I grew up going on cruises around the country in the evenings with my dad and as I got older and got my license or if my friends got theirs before me, we would go driving around late nights doing exactly what you described lol. Some of my favorite memories tbh!
This-Reindeer6063@reddit
I'm seeing people say teens do it, but I never have. Sometimes if I'm hanging out with a friend we'll drive around, but we have actual destinations we're going to.
No_Importance_750@reddit
I do that with my friend sometimes actually.
ryguymcsly@reddit
In my teens and early 20s? Yeah. Everyone has roommates and/or lives with their parents. Third place businesses cost money to hang out at and you can’t go to the bar until you’re 21, and what if you don’t drink?
In most of America our cars are our third places for young people. You have your music, it’s a semi-private space, and it’s mobile.
You might go on a date with someone and it goes well and you don’t want it to end but you don’t have a private place to go to or money but you *do* have gas in the tank. So you drive to a place you can park with a nice view and keep talking instead.
thuaq@reddit
Hell yeah, especially when there's a good place to look out over the city. I live on a ridge about 1000 feet above the valley floor and my wife and I will drive up to a viewpoint and look out over the twinkling lights and talk for hours
IJustWorkHere000c@reddit
Riding backroads is a core experience of growing up in rural areas. Especially where I did in the rural Deep South.
verminiusrex@reddit
I do it all the time. I don't always want hangouts with friends to be centered around food, so there are a couple people that I'll just pick up and we'll either run errands together or do a big loop around the city while catching up. Being in the car gives privacy to talk about anything we want and the driving is an activity to keep us entertained while talking.
Amazing_Divide1214@reddit
It's normal for teenagers/young adults. You might want to chill with your friend but might not want to invite them over to your parents house.
Alg0mal000@reddit
I grew up in a large city where we had a lot of places to hang out and socialize. Car culture was not as prevalent as it was in suburban or rural areas.
mandatory_nosejob@reddit
For virgins too scared to do anything else. Yes.
KaitB2020@reddit
As teen & young adult still living with my parents, yes. My friends & I would go anywhere & everywhere for privacy & freedom. My parents had rules about what went on in their house. I can respect that, but I also needed my own space to be myself as an adult. My friends were all in similar situations.
Finding a quiet spot in a park somewhere was the best way to have the really important conversations with regular friends & boy/girl-friends. At home you never knew who was going to barge in & interrupt you.
As an adult with my own home I do try to give my stepson the privacy & freedom he needs. But it is my house. I’m responsible for whatever happens inside of it. I also don’t want anyone getting sick or hurt because of something stupid they did while hanging at my house because I wasn’t paying attention. If they wanna do stupid, go someplace else. I still don’t want them getting hurt. But I can’t stop them from making their own decisions/mistakes either.
Besides a spot in the park or, even better, on the water is just awesome to sit & relax in. My favorite local spot overlooks the ocean & I can watch the tide come in while having lunch. I sit in my car so the seagulls don’t try to steal my sandwich. The car also provides shelter when the weather isn’t so nice.
Also. Where I used to work I used to take my break in my car. Mainly because the break room inside was typically blocked off & you couldn’t get to it. But I preferred going out of the building & away from the noise of my job. I’d sit in my comfy car seat. Turn on the radio. Prop my book against the steering wheel & enjoy my sandwich. People would ask me why I took my break in my car. “Seats comfy, music is always good and everyone leaves me alone for 15 minutes.” It was just a good way to decompress for a few moments.
theresuscitator@reddit
You just took me back 45 years. God I miss those days
Major_Enthusiasm1099@reddit
With these gas prices, hell no
SpecialistBad3329@reddit
When I was a teen cruising was definitely a past time. Specially in smaller towns. However, when I'm able to afford gas I still will occasionally joyride through windy roads when seasons are changing. Specially when my health can't support a hike.
Pitiful_Bunch_2290@reddit
Cruising the drag as a teen kept me sane. It's fun, it's a way to get a little independence while hanging with friends. Now I drive a lot for work and it's not as fun.
Available-Egg-2380@reddit
Oh definitely. I miss having the time based freedom to do that. Maybe once a year we still do it, hubs, son, and I will be up for whatever reason and decide to go for a drive, grab something to eat at 3am at Denny's or IHOP. It's always a very wonderful time and good memories.
angrygirl65@reddit
ALL the time!!
DependentSun2683@reddit
My favorite vacations are picking 2 cities and flying to one of them and then renting a car to drive to the other. So i guess americans like vacationing in cars sometimes.
Altruistic_Relief189@reddit
It was a favorite thing to do as a teenager with my friend group. It's not something that's easy or affordable to do now
thetonytaylor@reddit
As a hs kid and even early 20s we’d do it all the time. I can’t remember the last time I got in a car and just drove around just to talk to someone now. I’ll just call a friend and have them come over, grab dinner and talk these days.
Dalionking225@reddit
For people who don't have their own place, it's where they cna hang out
Communal-Lipstick@reddit
As a kid when you live with your parents and you want to get away from them, yeah. Especially if you live in a smaller town.
LA_Nail_Clippers@reddit
It's a real thing.
Cheap gas, cheap cars, a bunch of bored teenagers, living with parents meant it happened a lot. I know I did and I'm in my 40s.
If you have access to it, go watch the film "American Graffiti." It's by George Lucas of Star Wars fame and it's an excellent example of the all night in cars concept from the early 1960s. Also one of Harrison Ford's first notable roles. It may be a 50 year old movie about a time 65 years ago but a lot of the concepts still echo today.
Freaky_Deaky27@reddit
I think its because most kids want to hang out, but not at home? Lol Do teens in other countries not hang out or just hang out at home?
Bloodbndrr@reddit
It’s from a lack of third spaces.
Timely_Maybe479@reddit
yeah it’s definitely a thing, but i think it’s primarily gotten popular recently (especially with young people) because there really aren’t that many third spaces for people to chill at for free.
generally, most places require you to buy something to be in there and the places that don’t (bookstore, park, beach) are generally regulated in some manner. after like 8pm there’s really nowhere to go so sitting in your car with friends is kind of your best bet.
i’ve had plenty of great smoke sessions in cars as well just because you can’t really smoke weed outside where i live, legally at least
log0n@reddit
all the time when I was a teenager.
AdjectiveMcNoun@reddit
This was THE thing to do as a kid in high school, unless there was a party somewhere. Watch the movie "Dazed and Confused." It is basically how my high school days were growing up in a small town.
Your car is a place you can be with your friends that is your own space. Your parents or siblings aren't going to walk in any minute. They don't make you leave the door open. You can drive anywhere you want, listen to any music you want and as loud as you want. Smoke if you want. Drink if you want (not the driver, obviously, but everyone else in the car). It is your first real taste of independence.
Gas was also under $1 per gallon when I started driving so that helped a lot.
Hash_Tooth@reddit
Used to be huge
TheGaujo@reddit
Most of America is missing "3rd spaces" like town squares and other public meeting places made convenient by city design, as most of our infrastructure was built around the car, thus, cars become 3rd spaces.
flyingsquirrelpaws@reddit
I did that with my daughter when she was age 1-3 and didn’t nap. Only time she would sleep was in the car. Awake at 5a and no respite for mom. I’d drive 30 mins to target, slowly creep into a parking spot in the shade and close my eyes. When she woke, we would go inside for a coffee and impulse buys.
20ears19@reddit
We had the giant food 500. Drive through the parking lot to see who was there then down the street through a different parking lot and back. Some would do this all night. Most just went to see where a party was or find someone who wanted to go do something.
XXXperiencedTurbater@reddit
I grew up in NYC so I didn’t have this experience as a young kid but I went to college in the suburbs with friends who grew up there and it was absolutely a thing we did.
Old-guy64@reddit
From age 16 to 18 yes.
I grew up in Marina, CA. We’d cruise to Monterey to hang out on Cannery Row. Or Alvarado Street and if we weren’t going to or coming from the movies or food, we could stand around for hours shooting the breeze.
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were considered Cruise night. It was like a car show on Main Street. Classic cars, Hot Rods polished to a shoe shine rolling like thunder.
The big parking lots packed with wars and people just hanging out and talking cars.
seaburno@reddit
As a teen, we did that all the time. Relatively cheap, quality time with your friends. Some of my favorite memories from being a teen came from doing that. I was a part of the goody-two-shoes crowd, so we weren't doing any hijinks. We rarely stayed in a parked car, particularly at night, because the cops would show up and assume that we were up to no good.
As an adult, my wife and I will still occasionally go on random drives (sometimes of several hours), but we tend to do it with more of a: "Lets go to _____ and see what's up over there" attitude.
IRegretBeingHereToo@reddit
There's not really any place to go for teenagers at night. So yeah, you kind of wander around
bizoticallyyours83@reddit
Don't you talk in your car too?
Oreo_Cow@reddit
Until you move out of your parents’ home it’s the only private personal space teenagers have. So a lot goes on in cars.
LogicalAd2334@reddit
Yes, due to the lack of third spaces most likely. That and the U.S. as a whole is so car centric.
7thAndGreenhill@reddit
Gas is too expensive to do this now. But when I was younger and the years began 19xx we did this a lot
xRVAx@reddit
Literally the rationale for the phrase "Dashboard Confessional"
TheAzureMage@reddit
It's a thing. It used to be more of a thing. Growing up rural, late nights didn't really have a lot of places open. At nine, pretty much everywhere shut down except gas stations and maybe a late night diner if you were lucky.
So, people hung out elsewhere. Cars were a huge enabler for those who otherwise would not have had much in the way of social options, and so cars became a huge part of our social life. Going for a drive isn't as common as driving to a destination, but it's still a thing people will understand.
letsgobrooksy@reddit
When you're a kid/young adult and none of your friends have their own place
FineUnderachievment@reddit
It’s definitely a thing here, especially when you’re a teen. We used to drive around smoking weed, all hours of the day. We’d even park in my driveway and hangout in the car for hours. Of course as an adult, I’ve got a house to relax in.
slaughterfodder@reddit
My neighbor who owns a fuck off huge truck likes to do it for hours at a time
zgillet@reddit
I live in NW Arkansas, and I've noticed that WAY more people just... hang out in their car here.
parkerino24311@reddit
yes very much so especially in rural areas. now that I live in a city, I take my friends on walks instead of drives. but I suspect as gas gets more and more expensive this activity will become less popular, also I think it originated in the 50s as a way to have a private date along with the novelty of any car at the time, so as car novelty is pretty much extinct along with the gas thing, this is on its last legs imo.
Aware_Acanthaceae_78@reddit
I never seen anyone do any of this.
WhoWouldCareToAsk@reddit
People share the youth behavior, so let me tell you about adults ))
When we first moved to a quiet town in Idaho (I was 40 years old) for the first four years me and my wife drove around for hours every Saturday morning drinking coffee and watching people outside of our town live their life. We’ve explored and mapped out in our mind every major and half of the minor streets in a 3 hour driving distance from our home (about 120~150 mile radius centered on our home). We have favorite dining places hours away. The best coffee shop is 45 minute drive from our home. Funny thing is that the best Ruben sandwich is still made in a diner in our town, and trust me, we’ve tried dozens of places so I can say that with confidence.
And then it died off. Now we drive around aimlessly once a month, maybe, and only within 1 hour driving distance from our home.
pikkdogs@reddit
Kids do drive around aimlessly, yep.
And yeah adults do just sit in their cars on their phone or have meals in there. It’s weird, but they use it as an office.
AliceDawnParadox@reddit
The car is basically the only affordable /available place to hang out for teens. They get chased off everywhere.
Sweat_Tea888@reddit
There’s just very few places for young people to just exist in the US. There’s a law about “loitering”, where if you are just hanging out somewhere you’re not wanted the police can arrest you. So hanging out in a car is a way of being somewhere where you won’t get in trouble.
In the same way, most young Americans have their first sexual experiences in cars.
ButterscotchOdd8257@reddit
Bored teenagers in small towns or rural areas and adults with deadend lives might do it. Most don't.
Speaking of this, bored teenagers in small town will "cruise" around in a loop in their cars, over and over, just to look at each other.
Calradian_Butterlord@reddit
Cars often have much better subwoofers and speakers than people have in their homes. If you want to listen to music with friends then cruising in a car is the best way to do it. You might also run into another group of friends.
caramelswirllll@reddit
As a teenager, we’d fit 8-10 of us into a car sometimes and just ride around listening to rap and laughing. It’s very common, especially in cities/towns like mine where there isn’t much to do. As an adult, it’s less common for some. But my husband and I still regularly take drives with no destination, especially at night, just singing along to music & talking about life.
AuggieNorth@reddit
It certainly was a big thing when I was growing up in the 70's. Having a car was at least some independence, so most kids I knew would go out quite often to do something, usually driving around smoking weed, often parking in the woods with some beer, listening to music, and talking for hours. Sometimes we'd do things like bowling, or see a movie, but most often cap off the night with pizza at this one place where $1 per person was more than enough. The $4 and $5 combo pizzas were huge, and the $6 one was massive.
grahsam@reddit
I don't know about now, but when I was in high school and college in the 90s, it was definitely something we did. Mostly because we were getting stoned, but still, it was just hanging out.
Livvylove@reddit
Back when premium gas was under 1 a gallon but now... absolutely not
afdawg@reddit
It's common enough still, and used to be even more so. Chuck Berry sang about it: https://youtu.be/xm3jthxADyo?si=CzguiD2RHqrtCNEK
boixgenius@reddit
it's mostly young people who don't have a place to hang out with friends so the next best thing is your car
RobinFarmwoman@reddit
Yes. Sometimes the car is moving, sometimes it's not.
Boardgame-Hoarder@reddit
It is indeed a pretty common activity. Great way to unwind if you’re feeling a little pent up after a hard day.
New-Process-52@reddit
Yes amwf
cats_and_tats84@reddit
Yup. Millenial here. Grew up in a somewhat boring town, so we would blast music, speed down abandoned roads, sing/scream as loud as we wanted, and did other dumb things like shopping cart races in empty parking lots. We also stole street signs (never a stop sign!) You gotta make your own fun back before the internet was huge and people were always on their phones.
Various-Major-4221@reddit
Yes!!!! Love getting late night food with the gang there’s also probably weed involved so chill fest incoming. Friday or Saturday nights specifically.
Urfubar12@reddit
We called it “cruising” and we would drive up and down the same street, playing music, talking with friends, looking for other people we knew doing the same thing and looking for cute boys duh! 🤣
UnfortunateSyzygy@reddit
Very normal, esp in rural areas where there isn't much to do , there are few third spaces, and businesses close early.
NoDiscipline4640@reddit
It's hard to convey how much of the US is rural. In these areas we have fast food, and roads. There's not much to do unless you drive an hour or two to get to a place that's more developed.
redflagsmoothie@reddit
Yes. I might be the minority here but I am in my forties and I still do this shit sometimes.
ThirstingMoore@reddit
I drove a 1975 Chrysler Cordoba all throughout my 90's high school years.
We drove it around every night for hours. My buddies mid-80's Malibu got more miles than mine did.
ThorPendragon@reddit
Ive been with my wife for almost 20 years and we still do this. Maybe it's because we live near the rockies and the views are beautiful
Opening-Bandicoot859@reddit
Yes, this was all very normal for me and my friends when we were younger. Very common, especially in the suburbs. I'm in my 40s, so I'm basically down to the occasional stop for a snack and listening to music. Sometimes I'll go for a drive if I'm bored and just want to get out of the house.
Dignam3@reddit
I'm sure this isn't unique to my city, but there is like a 7 mile long large boulevard through town where as kids we'd drive up and down all night (and raced others from time to time). Cops were always a risk, but they generally only went after the real assholes. Usually meeting people along the way when we stopped. The same type of crowd still does it today, mostly on warm summer nights.
Character_Lawyer8017@reddit
As someone from a small town, yeah, definitely. There's not really anything else to do, especially at night. Also, people are saying it's mostly a young person thing, and I think (at least part of it ) is because you don't have your own place, so being out of the house is nice, and you can be sure you're parents/family aren't listening to your conversations
Alternative-Quit-161@reddit
Not an expert on what younger folks do, but taking a cruise, was a regular thing for us. We all worked and all had out own cars. One of my (64f) best friends in the group of 4 girls I hung out with in high school had a 1972 Camero. We all hated where we lived and were all destined to leave town for college ( a rare thing there) We would drive around, smoke pot, see who was parked where, drive out into the mountains or to down the city, just to hang out. The amount of time we spent in cars was significant.
GSilky@reddit
I don't know how common it is now, but yeah, if you didn't have a Genesis or NES available, we spent time driving up Lookout Mountain to see who was around to try and convince to make out.
No_Cartographer5955@reddit
I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my life. I have gone with someone just to get gas station snacks or something like that, and I have been on some scenic highways meant for driving and looking. But spending hours hanging out in the car for fun or just sitting in it to talk and listen to music? No. It honestly sounds really strange to me when you could sit on comfy chairs at home instead, but it also sounds easy to try if you’d like!
BeneficialShame8408@reddit
It's pretty American. I did that in highschool. Idk if kids are doing it now with gas prices being what they are.
ExitingBear@reddit
When you're a teenager, and no one has their own house, but at least one of you has a car - yeah.
At home, parents and/or siblings are around. Cars are private spaces. Where do people from your country go?
SheepherderAware4766@reddit
Depends on who pays for gas. Every time I started my car cost me money, so I didn't go somewhere without a plan. This was true at 2.50/Gal and is especially true at 4.10/gal. It didn't help that I lived in the sticks and my first car was completely bipolar when it came to fuel economy. 36 highway and 9 in town
Only_Jury_8448@reddit
When I was younger and gas was cheaper, we used to just drive around everywhere. Cafes and diners used to be a lot more tolerant of groups of teens smoking and downing endless cups of coffee, so we did that. Being stationary for a length of time in the car was more for amorous activities.
warrenjt@reddit
Teens especially. A car is a private space away from adults and family. Not necessarily to do anything nefarious or naughty, but simply to have your own space with your friends.
Now that I’m an adult, I have an apartment for that (and friends that are also adults and therefore none of us have time or energy to hang out anyway).
Brave_Garlic_9542@reddit
I used to cruise around with my friends when I was a teenager, but gas was $1/gal then.
helikophis@reddit
Yeah this was something we would do as teenagers. There's a notable absence of "third spaces" in the USA, but cars are omnipresent, so they become the third space when that's needed. It's not something we did kept doing once we lived on our own.
Delicious_Award7315@reddit
This post makes me proud to be an American.
100% almost every favorite memory I have is centered around a car. Whether it be riding driving sitting on a tailgate of a truck. Even at 38 years old I still love to just drive and blast music.
YogurtclosetWrong268@reddit
The right to privacy and the luxury of achieving it are two different things. Cars have long provided a mobile version of Get Smart's "Cone of Silence" at least as far as everyone outside the car is concerned.
Effective_Coach7334@reddit
Growing up it was something we did as a family. We'd all get together and spend the day talking, playing cards, prepping for the evening meal, or the kids out riding their bikes. Then we'd all jump in our biggest car and go for a long drive out into nature and tour the area, see the sights. Every once in awhile we'd stop at some place interesting, stretch our legs and take in the surroundings. Then after a while we'd lazily drive home get ready for dinner.
Aggravating-Key-8867@reddit
Yes. It's called joyriding and it's very common in your teens and 20s to do this.
Infinite_Bet_1744@reddit
Driving has become way too frustrating to just go for a nice relaxing drive. People out there actively trying to kill you with their decisions.
Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit
My nieces do this but they're not driving the whole time because gas is expensive. They find parking areas where people won't bother them or tell them to leave.
RaineMist@reddit
For a lot of people, it's just a way to relax or vent to their friends or family member.
DooficusIdjit@reddit
We did it a lot as teenagers.
Adorable-Award-2975@reddit
Very common in rural area I grew up. Not much else to do or many places to go. Idk if it’s still common there anymore.. gas was also 89¢ a gallon back then lol
skspoppa733@reddit
I did this a lot as a teenager. Some of the best days of my life.
_BMS@reddit
Me and my friends would occasionally met up for burgers at In-N-Out at midnight, because it was literally the only place in our boring city that was still open at that time.
Then we'd sit in the parking lot and just talk for hours. In-N-Out closed at 1:30am, but we'd be there until like 3am or 4am before finally disbanding to go home and sleep before the sun rose.
Good times, but as we've grown up we haven't really done that in years.
plated_lead@reddit
Yes. When s/o and I were young, we spent a lot of time having deep conversations in parking lots after going out for broke college student dates. Even now we’ll have what we call parking lot conversations when it’s getting late but the conversation is too good to want to go to bed
MonicaBWQ@reddit
That’s something teenagers do. I don’t think too many adults do that.
Josephcooper96@reddit
Yeah that does definitely happen.
Bluemonogi@reddit
Maybe for teens/young adults. Not so common for 30+ year olds to do.
redjessa@reddit
This was a thing when I was a teenager and still lived at home with my parents. We would go out and often sit in the car and talk because we didn't have our own places. Get food and maybe park at the beach, eat in the car, or lean against the car and chat. I mean, where else were we going to go?
PinkPaintedSky@reddit
So much so that we have a specific street in my city that everyone gathers (used to) to drive up and down on Saturday nights. It is where you used to meet people.
Nothing like a street take over, no broken laws/extreme speeding. Just cruising down Speedway.
Both_Painter_9186@reddit
Its pretty common with younger people (teens/early 20s) especially in rural areas where there might not be as much to do or you need to drive around to get there anyway.
Adults don’t really do this. City people don’t do this. Im in my early 40s and live in the suburbs of a major city. Driving around aimlessly isn’t a fun time killer as their’s traffic like 20 hours a day.
Altaira99@reddit
Mostly kids do this. Once you're legal drinking age it's not as much fun.
EverydayMustard4773@reddit
I never made a habit out of aimlessly driving around, but I often sit in my driveway and let the music play for a while before a gather the will to get up and go inside.
quietly_annoying@reddit
It's especially common for teens who live in small towns or in the countryside, where there's not much else to do.
-Boston-Terrier-@reddit
It's pretty much a rite of passage for young people.
It's a little bit of freedom away from your parents house when you haven't yet moved out. I assume every town in American has a known teen make out spot too.
I used to love blasting music and driving around when I was in my teens and 20s. Sometimes I'd just go exploring hilly, winding roads of the North Shore or I'd drive out to The Hamptons.
SuperPomegranate7933@reddit
Teenagers can't really go hang out places anymore, police & business owners like to accuse them of "loitering"
So burn rides in the car it is.
skadi_shev@reddit
It’s a fun, cheap way to hang out when you’re in high school or college. Even as an adult, going for a drive can be nice.
GenRN817@reddit
Yes definitely a thing. Especially for young people as a place for privacy.
Zealousideal-Lie7255@reddit
My friends and I never really drove around with no destination. But, we did drive to a fast food restaurant, after going to a party or something else, we’d get the food from the drive-thru window and then eat in the car in the parking lot and just talk and joke around. We didn’t go in and eat because a lot of fast food restaurants closed the inside seating at an earlier time but kept the kitchen operating and the drive-thru window operating later.
CasualVox@reddit
I grew up in a rural area, so it'd take like 50 miles to even get to the mall/ larger shopping centers.. My town had a small store and a run down movie theater, so driving around, getting a snack at a fast food place and either driving and talking or parking and talking was pretty much all we could do lol
vermilion-chartreuse@reddit
I did this as a teenager in the early 00s. And IMO as long as they are being safe I think kids should still do it - it really helped my driving and navigational skills in addition to being a good break from my family.
As an adult, not so much. But I do enjoy the rare occasion to blast my own music without the kids in the car lol.
VitalisMan@reddit
Check out the film "American Graffiti”. An entertaining and nostalgic watch of American youths cruising in their cars.
username-generica@reddit
When I’m stressed or upset I sometimes get on a deserted highway and just drive. Just getting away like that can really help.
Adorable45Deplorable@reddit
Yeah, and it always makes me nostalgic for saturday afternoons spent around town hanging out talking in the car in the blockbuster or.kmart parking lot or what have you
tjscott978@reddit
I feel this is a Generational thing. Gen X and Millennials would have this experience, but I don't know if younger generations would.
It's part of that get out of the house and do something mentality that our parents had. They didn't want us at home being loud and obnoxious, but there weren't spaces for us to be out of the house.
So, the substitute was going to a dinner buying a plate of fries and bottomless coffees or sitting in the parking lot of a 7-11 drinking Slurpees and talking in someone's car.
Icy-Mammoth3821@reddit
Yes people do this all the time. Hanging out in vehicles is fun.
CountChoculasGhost@reddit
Yes. At a certain age, your car may be the only real private space you have away from parents.
Fun fact, when cars became more common/affordable, there was a moral panic in America. Because most younger people (teenagers) prior to that time basically were under watch of some adult almost at all times.
Having access to a car gave them freedom and privacy. Dating as a teen went from something that was done under the watchful eye of a parent or parents to something teenagers left the house to do in private.
I believe I listened to a podcast about this at some point but can’t recall where.
Fangsong_37@reddit
We used to go driving when I was a teenager. It was kind of a "we have driver's licenses which afford us some amount of freedom" thing. Gasoline prices were much cheaper back then. It was $1.15 per gallon until 9/11 and not too expensive after that. We'd go grab food, listen to music, talk, and then go back to a friend's house to watch a movie and sleep.
possessoroflimbs@reddit
As a teen, yes, I did this a lot. Something to be mindful of is that the US is very car-centric. Aside from a few older cities that maintained their euro influence, like New York, most American cities and towns are built for cars. Like, as in not walkable by any means. In order to get around, you have to drive. So cars are not just a means of transportation here, theyre a means of navigating the world. Back to teens being the most common practicers of this: a big part of American (upper-middle & upper class) teen culture is getting your car when you turn 16. This is your first taste of autonomy. You pick up your friends, you hang out in your car, you drive around to no particular place, because that’s the most freedom you have
Perico1979@reddit
I’m from the small town fucking south. It was a way of life in the 1990s. I don’t know if it is as much now.
Now it’s not like that everywhere. But we were still going to drive in movies until about 15 years when the drive in theater here closed.
Queasy-Primary-3438@reddit
I did a lot in my late teens from like 16-20. I smoked a lot of weed back then with my friends so we would just cruise backroads talking and listening to music. Cops also wouldn’t arrest us for driving high, we would get pulled over and searched here and there but as long as there were no large amounts of weed or weapons they’d let us go. Good times.
JustaBoyStandinginFr@reddit
When you’re younger and live with parents a car is the only place to yourself. And when you’re too young to drink you can’t hang out in bars. Once you have a place to yourself or are old enough to drink, those become the places where you spend time with people.
PatchyWhiskers@reddit
It's a result of few public places for kids to hang out. If these kids stop in a park or parking lot and start being normal teenagers (talking loud, roughhousing etc) then the cops are going to move them on.
brilliantpants@reddit
Idk if it’s still popular with teens, but this was definitely a common occurrence for me and my friends when I was in high school.
It’s not something I would choose to do now, as an adult, but as a kid it was lots of fun.
DennisTheBald@reddit
Only if it's running
planestrainsandavood@reddit
I do it relatively often as a college student, though the gas prices recently have made it less "cost effective" recently. Even with having my own apartment, being in a new place for college makes driving around to just explore a fun time and I've had some good conversations too with the friends I bring along.
RichInBunlyGoodness@reddit
Rural South Dakota, 1970s. Community softball games a couple times per week. Afterwards, car loads of friends driving around aimlessly. Even did it during the school year after football or basketball games on Friday nights.
unicorntufts@reddit
? do non americans not have friends ?
BAMspek@reddit
Yep. It was a way to get out of the house and have some privacy. Even if you were just sitting out on the street. My partner and I when we first started dating would sit in my car, smoke a little weed, and crack up listening to LoveLine. Good times.
stratusmonkey@reddit
IDK if it's common in the era of smart phones. But in the 90's - 2000's, yeah it was common for people who didn't have their own place to host friends.
Like, even when I would come home from college in the summer, I'd spend as much time in the car with friends from high school as I'd spend anywhere else. Not cruising, like teens in a small town. But once you get somewhere or get in the car to go somewhere, you just keep the conversation going.
Better-Strategy8798@reddit
When I was a teenager, not as an adult though
ChaosTorpedo@reddit
I don’t know if you mean “big thing” as in it’s a “big deal”/important or just common.
At the end of the month, my husband and I plan to drive seven hours to the next state over to see a baseball game.
Capelily@reddit
The car culture is strong here in the States.
cleareyes90@reddit
Very common, would do it in high school. Pick up a friend and go cruise, get a $1 sundae at McDonald’s, playing some bangers.
JungleCakes@reddit
It’s how my wife and I met.
edcRachel@reddit
I'm Canadian but my parents do this every single day as their recreation and have for my entire life. Literally just driving around aimlessly.
They usually get a coffee but they don't go anywhere or do anything.
4point5billion45@reddit
It's great because you're in a moving living room with your pals.
KatTheGreatest@reddit
Our cars are the only third space we can afford and hasn't gone out of business
satellite_station@reddit
Yeah, all the time before I left the states. Sometimes, my gf and I would just leave our apartment in the middle of the night and aimless drive around and chill and then go to a First Watch for breakfast.
unix_name@reddit
Yeah we did it as kids, and now my wife and I still do it today. It’s one of the ways we actually became friends before we started dating.
crogers94@reddit
In high school/before I had my own space, sure but at this point, we'll be more comfortable in my living room and we can smoke
Overall-Magician-884@reddit
I miss those days, just driving around for hours. Now with the price of gas, there’s no way I’d drive aimlessly. I do like paying my bills in the car, it’s quiet and there’s nothing distracting me
IcyGrapefruit5006@reddit
For hours? No. But I love a good nighttime drive with music. When my kids are in bed, I love going for a drive and then I’ll go to the grocery store or a gas station for a snack or something.
IcyGrapefruit5006@reddit
As a teen, I guess we did hang out in the car for some time.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
One of the worst ways of driving around is when you have a bunch of people and you're trying to go out and get something to eat. For some reason nothing you find fits. Someone's not in the mood for that kind of food, you find one but it's closed, you can't find the place because it moved. Sometimes it feels like you've been driving around forever and everyone starts getting cranky. My friend's wife usually declines come along when we say we're going to go drive around looking for something to eat. Often that might mean a barbecue food truck, which aren't always easy to find.
notthegoatseguy@reddit
That doesn't sound like they're doing nothing, they are actively going around and doing things.
But yeah as teenagers your options for hanging out late at night are your parents' home (people might be asleep, teens are terrible at volume control, slamming doors, etc...), your car, any 24 hour spots (not as numerous as they once were), and that's about it.
the-sleepy-mystic@reddit
This was pretty common when I was a teenager in Detroit. You had your shit box car and a night of nothing to do so you'd cruise up and down woodward, stop at this park, play on the play structure, head down into the city try and buy booze underage from the few shops that sold and when we were denied we'd go to another park, do donuts in the snow, drfit around the neighborhood, bust through leaf piles, and be slight menaces. After a while you might decide to save on gas and park the car in an abandoned place and just hang out for a little while, talk, listen to music.
Idk how common that is now a days since back before smart phones if we wanted to hang out we had to physically get together. Now kids jump on discord, or a group chat. The used car business has basically sky rocketed so parents or kids can't buy a decent beater for $500 anymore.
SomebodyGetMeeMaw@reddit
💯
2muchtequila@reddit
As a teen in the late 90s and early 2000s absolutely it was a thing.
We'd fill the car up with kids, pull out the binder full of CDs and drive around for hours listening to music and smoking cigarettes.
Keep in mind, gas was around a dollar per gallon back then and cars were cheap.
Sometimes we'd pick out a destination like a park where we could get out and walk around, but if the weather was bad we'd cruise around on country roads out in the middle of nowhere.
otetrapodqueen@reddit
I did as a teenager, not as an adult. As an adult I have an apartment and I like it here lol
East-Tangerine1673@reddit
60+ still talking in cars!
It's a confined space, you have their full attention, privacy, air conditioning, music, seating is comfortable, you can put the seats back and relax, no interruptions, perfect place to talk!
If you get hungry , you can just drive someplace, get food, and start all over again!
Heartless_Genocide@reddit
I live in a tiny Canadian town. That was most of our lives from the age we can drive to when we actually made families. There's nothing to do so I'll pick you up. We'll get timmies and sit there. Then drive around town to over there. Then sit there. Then you'd see other people just sitting in their cars so you pull up and talking. Now there's a line of 5 cars just parked window to window shooting the shit.
dontforgettowriteme@reddit
Omg yes this is all we did as teens!
freddbare@reddit
As teens the windows were always hot boxed and we were always rolling somewhere
PluckyPerspicacity@reddit
When we were teenagers, one of our main activities was “riding around.” We had places outside of town where we would park and hang out in or on the car. (We often sat on it.) Cars are a big thing with us I guess.
let-it-rain-sunshine@reddit
People do that on their phones. Pull over, chat with friends via facetime. It's common.
CupcakeSeaShanty@reddit
Yes and still is though it seems to be dying out.
When I was in high school 20 years ago, my typical Friday night would be:
- Get in car to drive out into town at a cafe, gas station, or the teen rec center.
- Get in a car again, wander a bit, maybe the mall if it was still open or if we wanted to see a movie until we got hungry around 11pm-12am.
- Hop in a car yet again to loiter at a diner by ordering only a plate of fries and a coffee for a bit then we would go home or hang out somewhere.
Unfortunately, this is an increasingly lost world. Costs (that plate of fries was $3, gas whatever it was back them), the lack/closing of third spaces to hang out (malls, 24/7 diners, etc), fewer drivers (it used to be weird for suburbans kids to not drive), and smartphones (there wasn't an easy way to keep in close contact other than hang out) basically made this increasingly impractical.
rm45acp@reddit
I'm an adult with kids and I still pack up both kids and my wife and head out for a drive. We grab some snacks and drinks and cruise around, driving by people's houses we know or down roads leading one direction or another, then come home after an hour or two, or more if it's a good ride
Trinx_@reddit
Definitely was a thing when I was in high school. It's a bit weirder now in my 30s. One of my friends recently did this with her crush. She's a hoarder so that's kind of a special case in that she didn't want to bring the guy inside. But in the winter, I still might drive around and look at light displays while sipping gas station hot chocolate. Especially if I'm babysitting.
Crayshack@reddit
It's not a universal thing, but it's definitely a thing people are into.
CoffeeBaconEggCheese@reddit
Just about every weekend. Small town, nothing to do but maybe see a movie then drive around, park & listen to music (on cassette).
ratrodder49@reddit
Did it alllll the time in college out here in rural central Kansas. We’d go for a drive down gravel roads, find a cool street sign to strategically acquire, listen to music and talk. Or, go camp out in the McDonalds or Walmart parking lot and eat food, shoot the shit, goof off.
My then-gf and I would drive way out into the middle of nowhere and then just stop on the side of a random intersection and sit and talk about whatever. Early on it was about our exes and the shit we put up with from them.
AffectionateValue232@reddit
I’m curious, where are you from and what do teenagers do in your area for fun and where do they hang out? As a teenager in the 1980s, we definitely drove around a lot! That was usually after closing hours for stores and our one arcade. I was in a rural area so we didn’t have much to do unless we drove 45 minutes to an hour to a bigger city. I kinda miss those driving around listening to music and being silly days
PeaAccurate5208@reddit
I think it’s fairly common due to a lack of third spaces for young people in most places. The drinking age when I was young was 18 and it wasn’t strictly enforced- I could and did get into bars,nightclubs at 16. There were also a lot of late night restaurants and cafes,etc not to mention usual parties. Society has changed enormously in the last few decades,it’s astonishing.
FinanceGuyHere@reddit
Because you can’t drink/go to bars until 21 and all the teen and youth centers feel kinda weird once you’re around 16/17 and creepy at 18, there’s effectively a gap of 3-5 years where you can’t go anywhere or do anything at all at night unless you have a fake ID. So a lot of people take cruises or meet up in the woods somewhere to party.
You can technically go to a lot of bars at 18 but bars have learned that it’s better to just not let you in, as you take up space in the establishment without ordering anything and are a risk to their liquor license.
oceansapart333@reddit
In high school in the 90s, my senior year I took a “zero period” class - started earlier than the official start. This many I was able to have the last period free. Except I had marching band practice after school. So another friend who has the same and I would go driving around that period. We’d listen to music, go get slushies at the nearby gas station, and just drive around town. Fun times.
GrahamCrackerCereal@reddit
Yeah. Especially when I was in highschool, but even now again with nothing being open 24hrs anymore since covid.
WeirdOk1865@reddit
My great-uncle called it “dragging main.” He came from a small midwestern town where there wasn’t much to do for adults, so even less for teens. So they’d just get in a pick up truck and drive up and down the main roads
There’s even a country song called Real Life that mentions this. “I grew up in a real town where the prom queen had a plastic crown, and we really did just drive around cuz there wasn’t shit to do”
Oploplou@reddit
Before my child was born, I’d go for a drive every Sunday morning. Where to? Nowhere specifically. Some days I’d have my wife, some days I’d be solo. Some days I’d find a breakfast spot a hundred and fifty miles away from home, some days I’d just grab McDicks and keep going.
Now that I have a child, and gas prices are doing what they are, not so much. I think I’ve had one time I’ve done it since.
TypePuzzleheaded6228@reddit
yes for sure. we would try to get lost and then find our way home again. it was the ultimate freedom, especially before cell phones!
Temporary-Boot-2247@reddit
Oh you better believe it. I’ve spent some of the best hours of my life discussing things with my friend in their Passat. Haven’t seen him in years though which sucks
Flimsy_Equal8841@reddit
When I was a teen we'd drive around all the time. We'd pool our money for gas and see where this or that road would take us. It was a favorite pass time for rural kids.
Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit
As a very grown up adult who parks at the curb in front of his house I often pull up to my curb to park after work and don't go inside right away. I don't really listen to music but I usually have some sort of YouTube video playing on my phone while I'm driving. (I only listen to it, I don't watch it.) When I pull up to my curb I'm often tempted to finish the video that's currently playing (including watching it in that case). Then after that there's often another interesting video and then another. In nice weather with my windows rolled down and my car turned off I often sit there for a long time, enjoying the fresh air. My seat is very comfortable so I have no problem sitting there for quite a long time. Often, going inside means having to start doing some chore or task inside so it's a lot more fun sitting out by the curb in the fresh air until I'm ready.
QuercusSambucus@reddit
My kid just turned 16 and they've been driving around aimlessly doing this stuff since they got their license last week. We have an electric car that charges at home so gas money isn't an issue.
battlecat136@reddit
Yep. Especially when there's no "third place" to just hang out and be. In your car you can go wherever you have enough gas to reach, listen to whatever music you want at whatever volume, pick up whoever is around and wants to hang. It's the closest to pure freedom you get as a young person.
Cathode335@reddit
I think it's very common when you're an older teen. A lot of teens in America have access to cars because our infrastructure is so car-based. When you're a teenager but still living with your parents, driving around and hanging out in cars is one of the only ways to get some independent space where parents aren't around.
I will say that when I was that age, the aim wasn't just to drive around for the night. Usually you'd have some destination that you were either coming or going from, but it wasn't unusual that the trips got extended quite a bit because you were hanging out, talking, driving around, making different stops, having sex, etc.
Impressive_Sir_8261@reddit
Yes for younger people! They don’t have money to go to a coffee shop and talk lol so they drive around instead!
Santasreject@reddit
As teens a bit. But in our area we more went to “the beach” which was maybe 20 feet of sand before the river. But it was rather popular and had a couple restaurants that most of us never went to.
DVDragOnIn@reddit
Teenagers in my state are required to drive a certain number of hours under adult supervision to get their drivers license. I cherished that time with my young teen son. While his driving could be a little scary at times, he would open up so much about his life when he was driving and feeling in control. I told my husband how much I was enjoying it and he started taking our son out too. Something about being in a car, watching the scenery roll by, brings out confidences and an openness that few other activities do (for us, a nice long walk can do the same thing, but not everyone is up for a nice long walk).
thedustyones@reddit
Definitely when I was younger about 15 years ago. When you have no money and too much time it was a great way to have some fun with your friends. Blast some stupid songs and have a great time. Of course this was before there was bumper to bumper traffic at 10AM on a Saturday so I don’t know if it’s as popular these days lol
CantHardlyWait414@reddit
Yea, if you’re not in a super walkable area, aren’t old enough to go to a bar, and don’t want to just sit at home, it’s sort of your only option to hang out with friends at night. Our cars and roads make this a lot more feasible than in many other countries.
This is all I used to do with this one girl I dated because I didn’t want to tell my parents. I’d just sneak out after they went to bed and go pick her up and we’d drive around for hours and occasionally stop in a parking lot and make out. In high school, my friends and I would always go smoke in a parking lot somewhere since we couldn’t at our houses.
It provides freedom from your parents but also a degree of privacy from the outside world.
9inez@reddit
High school era (70-80s for me) that was how you got out of the view of parents to do all the things teenagers might do.
Sometimes cruising around, arcades, or finding the spot where others were hanging out or a parking garage to skateboard etc, empty suburban streets where houses weren’t built yet, parking lots, dirt roads on the other side of the dam, industrial office parks under construction.
These days, many of the types of places we hung out are way more physically secure or monitored with cameras than in my era.
iknowyouneedahugRN@reddit
A generation or two ago, it was common to go on a "Sunday drive." Typically people would go to their church service in the morning, then go out to lunch or take a leisurely drive and have a picnic lunch. It could be a scenic drive or somewhere new, sometimes it would be driving around town.
Driving around for hours isn't as common in my area (gas prices, wanting a destination), but often acquaintances will drive around and explore a new area of the region. Typically they will stop to get something to eat or a beverage and talk.
Upbeat-Mushroom-2207@reddit
Yes, did this a lot in high school. There are friends I’d still do this with.
Fae-SailorStupider@reddit
I used to do that all the time as a teen/young 20s. Stopped around 21 when bars became available lol
Soggy-Attempt@reddit
When you live with your parents, but have a car and can drive? Yes!
But it really is only a short period between the time you get your license till you move out, usually 16-18ish.
Elrohwen@reddit
We did this all the time as teenagers. There wasn’t always somewhere to go so we’d just hang out in the car and listen to music and talk. We couldn’t go to someone’s house because parents might be sleeping.
Funny story. My friend and I got kicked out of a park by cops because that closed at sunset so we went back to my house. Everyone was asleep so we parked in the road and talked there. Then the cops showed up. My nosy neighbor saw a car and called the cops, not realizing it was me lol. The cop was totally fine about it when I said I lived there and didn’t want to wake my parents and my neighbor felt so bad when we told him the next day.
Earl_E_Byrd@reddit
This one is going to be very dependent on income, but in general, it is very common for US teens to have access to cars. Not every kid has a car, but almost everyone will know someone who does.
Once you get too old for the playground, the acceptable spaces outside of the home for teens and young adults to "hang out" starts to get very thin. They also require money.
In the 60s and 70s the term "cruising" directly referenced the teen culture of literally just driving around at night with friends. "Cruising the strip" etc. It was a big enough deal that towns literally started enacting laws against it in the 80s, as well as curfews and other morality policing (see Footloose lol.)
That's when malls became a huge deal in the 80s/early 90s. That became the spot to drive to and hang out. As the malls died off, teenagers went back to aimlessly driving wherever they could just to get some unsupervised hangout time. Late night fast food places, 24/7 stores, the rural kids might drag race on country roads, or have a designated field/barn that became a party hideout.
It has started to disappear again with the how constant nature of surveillance/phone tracking/rising costs/etc, but it's still very much an American thing.
ChloeKittenCat@reddit
It is for me.
EuphoricGoose4735@reddit
My friends and I used to do it in the late-2000s and early-mid 2010s. Nowhere to go where we could cut loose without having to worry about parents getting mad about us being loud. Eventually we grew into car parties where we would have a bunch of us take shots and sit in the car talking dancing and other stuff.
This is definitely a 3rd space problem. There’s nowhere for people to go that doesn’t require payment where you can just hang out.
Gremlin1001001@reddit
We even had a band. They were called The Cars. 😀
ABelleWriter@reddit
Yes. We did this when I was a teenager, we would pile into a car and drive, listening to music. Then we would meet up with other friends, usually a particular Wendy's parking lot, go through the drive through and hang out. Often we would leave in a different person's car then we started with. This was usually 3 or 4 hours.
Even now, if my bestie and I go get coffee we will end up in a parking lot talking.
carry_the_way@reddit
If you were too young to get into bars and too broke to do anything else (or if you lived anywhere other than a major city), yes, this was a regular thing.
Now that gas is $6 a gallon, not so much.
qui_tam_gogh@reddit
Yes - for a lot of folks in more suburban / rural areas it was very common.
Discomidget911@reddit
I'm honestly surprised it's surprising to you.
I didn't associate it with an American thing I suppose when my friends and I did it. I just thought it was something you did with friends when you didn't have a good hangout spot anywhere.
DruScarymore@reddit
Absolutely.
MakeStupidHurtAgain@reddit
Yes, absolutely, whether you call it cruising or “country drive”.
StoneyLaw830@reddit
Yes. In the rural areas and suburbs where people are more car dependent almost everyone has a car. Plus with so many people still living with parents/family or roommates, the car sometimes becomes the only place you can just go and have a private conversation.
TranslatorBoring2419@reddit
For young people it's a great way to get privacy, and it's fun just to see places at night. There's something special and serene about a place that's bustling during the day but cold and empty at night. It's eerie and beautiful.
MuthaFirefly@reddit
I grew up in a small town in rural Maine and we did this, we called it "doing loops" which meant you went from point A to point B, then back to point A. The information booth in our town was also a hot spot if you just wanted to hang out with other friends in cars.
FireCorgi12@reddit
When I was in high school and college we did this a ton. My boyfriend (now husband) and I would drive for hours in the evening and get food at late night diners or sit by the lake.
Pomeranian18@reddit
It depends where you live. I never did that because I live in an area with tons of things within walking distance. But it's common in more rural/not-dense suburban areas.
meganemistake@reddit
Yeah when i was a kid and up into my 20s? I haven't gotten to do that in a while but honestly I think me and my friends just hang out in our apartments now since we mostly have our own space lol
Ogrimarcus@reddit
When I was younger, all the time. It's basically how my wife and I started dating, hanging out in parking lots. Truly one of the only places we had to hang out in our small town. We'd hang out in the school parking lot until people got hungry, then we'd do some light street racing and go to the Wendy's and hang out in that parking lot.
As an adult, I don't really hang out in parking lots as much because I have my own house and so do most of my friends, or at least an apartment. Maybe after a movie we'll sit in the parking lot and talk about the movie for a while. We do still drive to get food together, there were a good few years though where it looked like Doorsdash and Uber Eats and stuff was going to kill that, but now food delivery is so expensive and also bad, I'm back to driving to get fast food most of the time.
giraffeinthewild@reddit
Very common
SecretTater-Tot@reddit
It never was an intentional thing, though sometimes we'd stay in the parks car talking if a conversation had gotten deep during a drive. I haven't heard of it being a deliberate thing. It certainly isn't now, when gas is so expensive lol
Bubbly_Following7930@reddit
For some people. It's not something my friends or I ever did
SugarHooves@reddit
Before I had my own apartment, we did this all the time. This was in the 90s. If we had money, we'd hang out at IHOP (a chain diner) for several hours. They had unlimited coffee and a smoking section. If we were broke, we'd park in a parking lot, sit in the car and talk. Eventually people we knew would show up. Then we'd stand around outside the cars and talk with each other.
jjmenace@reddit
It's about privacy for teens and young adults. The cars gives them the freedom to get out and away from their parents.
Fine_Palpitation5027@reddit
Honestly, yes. Sometimes the best conversations happens in a parked car at night with good music and no distractions.
isittimefordinner@reddit
I still do this with my kids. They want to get out of the house so we go screw around and waste gas.
WinterRevolutionary6@reddit
For a couple years in college the old high school friend group hangouts were all of us driving to the HS parking lot after hours and just sitting in our trunks talking for a couple hours to catch up
pinkgallo@reddit
My friends and I did this constantly in the early 2000s. We’d pick a road and drive til it ended just to see how far we could go
Agitated-Sock3168@reddit
Driving around for hours - sure, when gas was cheap... That's different from hanging around at a meeting place with friends, or sitting in a car talking for hours - the latter of which (in my mind) is most common in the early stages of dating.
alwysumthin@reddit
Listening to music in a car is a different experience than listening to it anywhere else. Cruising is fun!
igotplans2@reddit
Much more popular and common in years past when there was no internet and only three channels on TV. Entertainment was hard to come by, so we made it up as we went along. Car culture is probably a bigger thing here than in most countries. We do spend a lot of time in cars, and for teens it's basically a private room they can get away to and chill without parents.
VergaDeVergas@reddit
I used to do it with my grandma all the time, we used to look up a mansion on Zillow late at night and go there or we’d just drive around a rich neighborhood and chat while looking at the crazy houses. We’re from California near LA so there’s some crazy places out here lol
Impedimentita@reddit
All my teenage friendships were based around this. Now it’s limited to my brother and the occasional old friend from those days.
AnneChovie264@reddit
Very popular back in the day. With astronomical gas prices, my kids park the car and talk, even in our driveway.
Living-Night4476@reddit
Before gas was more than $4 a gallon driving randomly around in the world was my entertainment and I learned what roads were connected to where and I didn’t need a gps to find home. Now after I moved to a new place for work I have no idea what is around me anymore and I’m too poor to just drive around and find out and I’m glued to gps on where to go. But once I hit a spot I used to roam in I ignore the gps again.
StirctlySatisfaction@reddit
Depends on where you live. I live in Nevada. No way I'm spending anymore time than necessary doing anything in my car 6 months out of the year because of the heat haha.
kingloptr@reddit
I never thought about just how American being randomly in the car is. Huh. But yes going with everyone else, super common. So many amazing memories are of convos just cruising at night with someone, or in the car parked by some nice view.
Barutano74@reddit
Probably not as common as it’s used to be, and I never did it when I was a teenager, but yes it’s common. For a way-back version of this, see the film ‘American Graffiti’
ghoulthebraineater@reddit
Way more common in the past. In the 90s in smaller towns it was very common for teens to drive up and down the main strip for hours on end. When gas was under a dollar a gallon you could afford to burn it.
sean8877@reddit
Cruising with your friends was definitely a thing when you're young (probably still is).
Ok_Concentrate4461@reddit
My teenagers did. Like dropping off a friend and then talking in the car on the driveway for an hour. Usually with the engine off bc gas is expensive lol.
ixsparkyx@reddit
I did as a teenager
meowmix778@reddit
I grew up in a small town and yeah, my friends and I would just get into a car/drive an hour or so to a store, buy something or just walk around, and then drive around aimlessly for a lot longer.
When I was dating kind of similar. After a date , go drive around, maybe go to a park late at night, drive around and just park somewhere to chat.
Past like 21 , I wasn't doing that shit.
425565@reddit
For most of our car history, fuel has been relatively inexpensive in the US, and so it it has become an integral part of our social scheme to incorporate the car, a strong symbol of freedom, into it.
Fun-Yellow-6576@reddit
Maybe when you’re 20, but as adults, no.
No-Heat-436@reddit
When I was younger, yes! Not so much in my adult years. Lol
the3rdmichael@reddit
During my "coming of age" years, 1969 to 1971, we did i every weekend, just cruising up and down main street and out in the countryside. Loud music, sone snacks, and even beer at times when we could get it. Yes, we did far too much drinking and driving back then, not something I recommend now .....
Joseph_of_the_North@reddit
Xi is gonna fleece Trump.
TokyoDrifblim@reddit
In high school yes, all the time. We didn't have anywhere to go or be so you end up just hanging in the car chilling
SassyMoron@reddit
I often make calls while driving using my hands free device, yes. I probably average about 20 hours a week in the car so I need to use that time. I'll also listen to audiobooks and podcasts. I don't find it excessively distracting now that voice assistants exist etc. I got a ticket once for using my cellphone while driving, when I was actively fiddling with it, but I generally don't do that. I've been driving for 20 years and I've never been in a cell phone use related accident. I live in NJ and I think I'm typical in this regard.
CowboysFTWs@reddit
Called cruising. Was a big thing when I was a kid Friday and Saturdays. Idk about now with smartphones and current gas prices.
InternationalBug159@reddit
As a teen (and sometimes still as an adult), both my most and least serious conversations have taken place in a car. You do a lot of driving if you’re living away from a city with decent public transportation, and car time with friends is quality time
My friends and I would drive around a lot to either find urbex spots or end up hanging out in a parking lot late at night
Zatzbatz@reddit
Very common
BakeResponsible4637@reddit
As a kid/teen/young adult absolutely. Now at this big ole age, come on and have a seat at the kitchen table or on the couch and I’ll pour you a cup of coffee.
DragonScrivner@reddit
For some people, absolutely a thing
Honest_Swim7195@reddit
It’s a way to get some privacy when you have roommates or live with parents still.
Remarkable-Pie-8873@reddit
Yes
Some_Rando2@reddit
It's a thing young people do. Common for them, less so the older you get.
BiteDue5408@reddit
From Canada, just out for a rip.
ShoppingUnhappy9320@reddit
My best friend and I used to do this all the time as teenagers/young adults during the late 00’s-early 10’s. Literally just get fast food and then sit in a parking lot somewhere and talk
limbodog@reddit
Yes. Less so right now because we're paying a high price for gasoline. But it's common.
ToxDocUSA@reddit
There's a period of your life where maybe it's a thing, especially teenagers who get a license and a car through maybe college?
I also have a different perspective because I went straight from college to medical school, got married part way through medical school and had our first kid before we graduated, so I wasn't doing the whole trying to find a way to fill time thing past my early twenties.
LibrarianByNight@reddit
I don't think most people spent their early 20s driving around with their friends; not just you. Most people get jobs after college or already have them if they didn't go to college.
Thedollysmama@reddit
Only if you’re hiding something from someone.
muckduck99@reddit
I did this growing up 10 years ago. America is diverse so it will depend where you grow up. Someone growing up in NYC probably couldnt care less about getting a drivers license because they have access to great public transit. However, in the midwest, a drivers license is the first big step toward adulthood and freedom.
I always got good grades, so my parents didnt give me a hard time about getting home late though I probably pushed it further than I should have.
I’d often drive around for a few hours late at night with friends or girlfriend at the time. If it was cold, staying in the car with the heat on, or going to some kind of park/river.
I have fond memories of pulling up to boat launches and just listening to the river, watching the stars, and talking about life.
MortimerDongle@reddit
As a teenager who doesn't have their own place, sure. At least in my experience that basically stopped once people had their own apartments / houses
PorcelainTorpedo@reddit
Maybe not necessarily for hours at a time, but I’d say it’s relatively common. Especially with kids and younger people whose only real private personal space may be their car. Especially now that “third spaces” don’t really exist and real hangout spots away from home continue to decline.
Even in my 40’s, sometimes I’ll intentionally take the long way home or sit in the car for a bit once I get home. Cars are definitely a bigger part of our culture than in most other places.
ArkansasTravelier@reddit
When I was 19 I still lived at home and my paychecks pretty much just went to whatever I wanted to spend money on, on days off me and my friends would start driving in the morning and just drive to different towns back and forth until we couldn’t stay awake anymore. Talking about everything, listening to music, smoking, and eating fast food.
It was a fun time, one of my favorite things to do at that age, just explore.
BenDubz@reddit
In high school we did it all the time, bonus points when it’s just you and the girl you’ve been crushing on. Great times
Appa_yipp-yipp@reddit
Did it the other night with some friends. We got Taco Bell and sat in the trunk of the car and talked for hours
r2d3x9@reddit
In my 20s did that a lot
PuzzleheadedLemon353@reddit
Kids might do it because of them looking for privacy and no where to really go, so they just go driving around...but most adults only use a car to get from point A to point B.
Tall-Committee-2995@reddit
Our home city has a ton of third spaces and loads of walking and biking paths. So no, not a lot of what you described.
breadlyplateau@reddit
Yes, especially when you live with your parents because you want to hang out with friends and there's no privacy.
Gloomy-Will-9898@reddit
In my experience, fairly common. I live in a more rural state and plenty of times friends and I would just randomly head out to the middle of nowhere to chat in the car and maybe go stargaze in the middle of the night. Sometimes we'd just head out to get food and chill in a parking lot. The cheap vehicle I had in college was old enough to have bench seats so it was perfect for lounging around and talking for ages comfortably.
Disastrous-Ruin8411@reddit
when I was younger
OwlCatAlex@reddit
Not exactly a big thing, but not crazy. I doubt many people have done this since the pandemic though, due to higher fuel prices, most businesses not staying open late at night anymore, and the general societal shift away from spending time together in person. A lot of young people do most of their chatting on discord or FaceTime or inside video games now.
hippoluvr24@reddit
Depends on where you live. In a rural area, there isn't much else to do at night, and driving is a novelty for teenagers. In a city, it's less common because driving there is more of a hassle and they're more likely to have places to hang out.
But yeah, it's definitely a thing and very American (although the Canadians I know also enjoy their drives).
Wrap_Brilliant@reddit
I've absolutely done this quit often starting in my teens until maybe my late twenties. It still happens sometimes but not as often. The hanging out in parking lots things, for me, is usually an after-an-event kind of activity where we're at our cars but still talking/not ready to go home yet. I do enjoy driving around for no reason, gas prices permitting, though.
Ok-Task5336@reddit
Im 33. My friends and I did it all the time when we were teenagers. Now I live super rural with my wife and well go drive out into the desert, offroad, look at the stars, etc at night. I just bought a 96 diesel f250 4x4 because it has a bench seat in the front.
jxd132407@reddit
Common as a teenager when your parents are at home so there's isn't a great private place to hang with friends. I did this all the time in high school.
DOMSdeluise@reddit
I don't think anyone is doing too much aimless driving these days with the way gas prices are lol
LibrarianByNight@reddit
We used to do this as teenagers, like between 16-20, when we couldn't go to bars yet. We'd get dinner or go to a movie or the mall and then drive around. Maybe get snacks and drinks at some point.
It wasn't like an everyday thing though. It wasn't like we got out of school and piled into cars and didn't leave them for the next 8 hours.
IceFireHawk@reddit
When I was younger yes. I think it’s a thing with teens since you aren’t old enough to go out to places like bars and there isn’t that much to do in certain areas past a certain time or if you have no money. So yea I would spend time with friends just driving around or after work sit with co workers in our cars just talking, listing to music, eating. Or if you want to get crazy you can park and stand around the care and talk, listen to music and eat.
sitewolf@reddit
That's what you do when you're not old enough to go to bars.
aalex596@reddit
I did it when I was a student. Sometimes it's the only place you could get some privacy. Not so much as an adult. I have my own house to hang out in now.
aznsk8s87@reddit
In college all the time. Older as an adult, not so much since I need to be at work at 7 lol.
Background-Passion50@reddit
When I was young and bought my first car I might as well of been a ghost at home. If I wasn’t at work or school I was at the mall or the 24 hour diner with friends or over my gfs house.
Bcatfan08@reddit
For high schoolers, yes this happens. They don't have a lot of places to go. They don't want to hang out with their friends in their parent's house and there aren't a lot of places to go. Maybe hang out at the mall, but that gets old.
Creepy_Push8629@reddit
I used to always sit in the car
YoshiandAims@reddit
Yeah. Where I grew up, that's all you had to do. Still is. (Apart from the massive gas prices...that gets in the way. )
funktion666@reddit
Yep. Listen to music, hang out, privacy from family, some people would smoke too, or go get fast food and eat in the car too with friends.
Sometimes we’d hang out in the driveway for a couple hours without driving.
MamaLlama629@reddit
Sitting in the car for hours, no. Driving around with friends and going no where in particular, yes! Some of my best memories from my teen years were driving just to drive.
Designer_Head_3761@reddit
I know when they wife and I were dating, this was something we enjoyed doing. Back then gas and food was relatively cheap so it was a cheap date for us to run the back country roads and some fast food.
Positive-Avocado-881@reddit
My boyfriend and I still do it and I’m 30 😂
Book_of_Numbers@reddit
This was totally a thing in the 90s in high school and then college. Not sure if young people still do this as much though.
whatisakafka@reddit
Yeah, especially when you’re younger and have fewer responsibilities
Razoras@reddit
I did it all the time as a kid (90s).
damutecebu@reddit
Yeah, when I was in high school back in the 80s, we did this all of the time.
UglyInThMorning@reddit
When I was in high school 20 years ago, yeah, because we were up late and lived in the middle of nowhere. We didn’t want to be at home because our parents were there and the diner closed at 10.
Real_James_Bond007@reddit
Yes very real. My buddies and I would drive around or just chat in a parking lot or drive around for hours just talking in highschool. I think it has a lot to do with the lack of cafe culture in America so the next best thing is driving around.
ayebrade69@reddit
I did as a teenager
El_Culero_Magnifico@reddit
It certainly was when I was young. Drive around, park somewhere, drink and smoke pot.
CLG-BluntBSE@reddit
It's a little unusual but I wouldn't bat an eyelash at someone who did this. Most of America's very isolated and boring. But we've got cars, long empty roads and pretty nature.
marylander_@reddit
Relatively common yea. When you're a teenager who has a car it's a place to hang out with friends. not much open that late and more private than your parents home
JettandTheo@reddit
Well yeah. Especially if you live with parents, you want privacy
BioDriver@reddit
Like most things, not everyone does it but a good chunk do
emmasdad01@reddit
No