When I was a teen I could not wait to get my learner’s permit. Then I was on pins and needles the whole time I had it, waiting for that big moment when I was finally fully licensed to drive a car.
Never mind that I didn’t have my own auto, that I always had to ask my dad for the keys: That little plastic-coated card was freedom. It was mobility. It was power—the pedals under my feet, the wheel in my grip.
It’s not quite like that anymore. Not for as many teens as it used to be, anyway. According to the experts, getting a license just isn’t that big a deal in 2013.
The stats first: In 1985, 500,000 new cars were sold to youth between the ages of 15 and 20, reports the Los Angeles Times. Last year, the demographic bought just 300,000. And according to a study by the University of Michigan, just half of 17-year-olds had licenses in 2008—a significant decline from 1983, when nearly 70% of 17-year-olds were licensed to drive.
The whys second: Thirty years ago, it was the car that bonded teens. It was the car that served as both hub and spokes for young adults. It was the car that became the core of their intricate social network. Now there are so many other ways to stay in touch. Facebook. Texts. Twitter. There are so many entertainment avenues available without leaving the living room. Netflix. YouTube. iTunes. Says Michael Sivak, a research professor at the University of Michigan (in Time):
It is possible that the availability of virtual contact through electronic means reduces the need for actual contact among young people. Furthermore, some young people feel that driving interferes with texting and other electronic communication.
Or, as Lindsey Kirchoff, a millennial trend marketing consultant, puts it (in the L.A. Times), “The Internet has made the freedom that comes with a license anticlimactic.”
I just would not have believed that to be even vaguely possible when I was 15.
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