i feel that fortnite thread is kinda saying a bit of the obvious, so i'll inject a lil that goes unsaid: of course kids are gonna flock to digital spaces to hang out as people make it more and more impossible for kids to use physical spaces to hang out at all
the amount of laws and police enforcement and tech like fucking "sound frequencies that only kids can hear to buzz horribly and try to keep them out" to keep youth from Doing Anything Anywhere will of course result in having to find spaces elsewhere, and that accelerates in games
part of the reason is of course just People Like Playing Video Games but more and more public places are closed off to youth for use of any kind - i spent tons of time online myself as a kid, but i was Just That Way. there's less physical spaces for kids who aren't like i was
for the types of kids who want to go and fuck around in various places, there's less and less places that will let them do so. hardly any room for 'unsupervised youth hang out wherever' without getting the cops called on them
all you gotta do is look at nextdoor screencaps of people panicking everytime they get reminded that 13 year olds exist, and you can watch this shit in action.
mix that in with underfunded public schools with no after school activities, and schools themselves policed, well.
mix that in with underfunded public schools with no after school activities, and schools themselves policed, well.
"existing in public" is considered a suspicious act for kids in a lot of places, and it of course goes 100x when those kids are POC.
there's less spaces for them to use, community spaces are heavily defunded and policed, so, fuck it. kids hang out where they *can*.
there's less spaces for them to use, community spaces are heavily defunded and policed, so, fuck it. kids hang out where they *can*.
