Sue Ontiveros

⚡️The deeper signal is youth risk did not disappear. It migrated inward. Teen drinking fell because the old physical world of adolescence got dismantled. Alcohol belonged to a social ecosystem: unsupervised time, cars, parties, local jobs, malls, basements, boredom, flirting, older siblings, house gatherings, and the chaotic peer world where teenagers learned who they were by colliding with other people in real space. That ecosystem was replaced by phones, surveillance, parental tracking, algorithmic entertainment, social anxiety, online status games, and a much thinner physical commons. So the surface looks healthier. Fewer kids drinking. Fewer kids using weed. Fewer kids doing reckless things in public. The hidden layer looks worse. The young are less reckless because they are less socially embodied. Less initiation. Less unsupervised friction. Less courage-building. Less embarrassment and recovery. Less real dating. Less independence. Less contact with the physical world before adulthood demands it. The old teenage world produced damage, stupidity, alcohol abuse, pregnancy risk, fights, accidents, and bad decisions. No need to romanticize it. But it also produced social reps. It forced young people through discomfort. It made them practice attraction, rejection, conflict, reputation, risk, repair, and status in the open. The new world suppresses visible risk while increasing invisible fragility. That is the trade. A teenager can avoid drinking, avoid parties, avoid sex, avoid driving, avoid real confrontation, avoid rejection, avoid shame, avoid danger, and still arrive at 23 emotionally underbuilt. Cleaner behavior does not automatically mean stronger formation. This is why the marriage chart and the teen drinking chart are the same story at different stages. People are not suddenly failing to pair in adulthood. The whole pathway into embodied adulthood has been slowing for years before marriage even becomes the question. The real truth: society solved part of the teen vice problem by shrinking the arena where teenagers become adults. It took away the dangerous commons and replaced it with controlled isolation. The result is safer kids with weaker initiation into real life.

How many people actually have library cards as adults? 🥸

The odds of having dementia at age 85 were close to 1 in 3 in the 80s; now they are 1 in 10. I don’t think we have a great explanation: better cardiovascular health, diet, and education are often mentioned. Good news nonetheless. Carnall Farrar. (2025, March 27). Dementia trends.

DID ANYONE GO TO ALL THREE GROWING UP... BOWLING ALLEY. SKATING RINK AND DRIVE- INS?

this photo of pritzker always makes me laugh because what the fuck are those shorts

I must speak my truth. Coke Zero is astronomically better than Diet Coke

Be honest… does ANYONE actually use these words in real life? 🤣 Bamboozled Flabbergasted Discombobulated Shenanigans Cattywampus Lollygag Malarkey Kerfuffle Brouhaha Nincompoop Skedaddle Tomfoolery Flibbertigibbet Pumpernickel