What happened in the 1970s? Klinenberg, the sociologist, notes a shift in political priorities: The government dramatically slowed its construction of public spaces. “Places that used to anchor community life, like libraries and school gyms and union halls, have become less accessible or shuttered altogether,” he told me. Putnam points, among other things, to new moral values, such as the embrace of unbridled individualism. But he found that two of the most important factors were by then ubiquitous technologies: the automobile and the television set.
The crux of the issue.
There used to be places for people to congregate.
Now if you're not spending money, there's very few places to go and just coexist with people. Every place you can go is going to squeeze every cent possible out of you.
It's been like this for a while, even in my partying days I'd always pick a house party over a night at the bars.