VIDEO arcades, fast-food restaurants, street corners, local convenience stores —in both rich and poor neighborhoods— have become the gathering places where young people hang out.
Researchers Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Reed Larson report: “Again and again, [youths] described these occasions [of hanging out] in terms of ‘being rowdy,’ being loud, crazy, and wild. . . .
Frequently the products of broken homes, they sleep wherever they can find a space during the day, and cruise the discos, where the sailors hang out, at night.”
The survey reveals that when youths pursue leisure activities —such as listening to music, engaging in sports, or just hanging out— they are almost always with other people.