I have to disagree with Prof. Miyazaki’s blog post this week. I do not believe that the reason for the decrease of teenagers buying cars is Internet and social media use. Even thought teenagers spend a lot of time in front of the computer meeting new people and chatting with their friends, they still drive a car to go to school and go shopping for example. They might meet a lot of people online but they still meet with them in person to hang out. Just pay attention to the number of teenagers groups at the shopping malls, fast food restaurants and public parks during the weekends.
I did some research on car ownership by teenagers and I found out that some of the reasons for the decrease in the number of teenagers buying cars are lack of money for gas and insurance and the tougher restrictions on teen drivers. Due to the high unemployment rate, some teenagers who used to work before cannot find a job, and that is the reason why they don’t have access to the money to buy a car.
Teenagers can spend a lot of time in front of their computers but they still need a car to get to the places they want and need to go such as work, school, shopping mall and friend's house.
I too agree and made similar discussion in my post. Although we do meet a lot of people online and conduct some business there to, work and school, there are still aspects of each that we prefer to do in person.
ReplyDeleteDuring such tough economic times we also lack money and moreover most of us still receive financial support from our parents.
Good insights.